Saturday Nation
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Patrick Mukabi: Master mentor and teacher finally has space to call his own
PATRICK MUKABI: GENEROUS MENTOR OF A MULTITUDE OF ASPIRING ARTISTS, BOTH YOUNG AND OLD
by margaretta wa Gacheru
Patrick Mukabi aka Papa Supaa (to those TV fans
who watch him teach children about art regularly on Saturday mornings
during the ‘Know Zone’ which is part of Makutano Junction on
Citizen TV) had been sharing his studio space for years with countless
up-and-coming young artists keen to rub shoulders and learn from the
Master Mwalimu Mukabi.
Mukabi always
had an open door policy at the GoDown Art Centre where he’d been a
resident artist practically from the day the GoDown was born at the turn
of the new millennium.
SPACE TO CALL HIS OWN
But
the time came when Mukabi realised he needed studio space that was all
his own. Not that his new ‘Dust Depo Art Studio,’ situated just next
door to the old Railway Museum, isn’t still welcoming aspiring young
Kenyan artists (and those from other countries as well, such as China,
Holland, UK and USA).
It’s just that since April 1st
when Mukabi fully and finally moved into the space that used to be
known as the Railway Museum Art Studio, he’s now in charge of how his
studio is run.
He had never planned
to move into spaces related to the Railways but now that he’s in, Mukabi
says he feels as if, in a way, he has ‘come home’.
That’s
because his father was a top executive with Kenya Railways which meant
some of Mukabi’s happiest times growing up were on trains traveling
first class with his family as it was one sure way his father could have
quality time with his son.
The real
irony of his ‘coming back’ to railways turf is that even his grandfather
Mukabi was an employee of the East African Railways.
“He
used to sleep in the back of the train since his work involved him
traveling back and forth, from the Coast to Kampala and back,” Mukabi
recalled.
A KENYAN CLASSIC
His grandfather also often took his family with him on his travels.
“Since
my grandmother, my father’s mother, died when my dad was still a small
boy, my grandfather would take him with him so my dad ended up learning
nearly every language of the people who lived on or near the railway
line,” he said.
Today, Patrick Mukabi
is in a sense also doing as his father and grandfather had done. He too
is bringing along young people, many of whom consider him their number
one mentor (meaning more like a father), as they journey towards
constructing a really strong contemporary Kenyan arts community.
Already,
many of the young artists who’ve studied under him, youth like Nadia
Wamunyu, Alex Mbevo and Dickson Kaloki, have gone on to make names for
themselves as ‘emerging’ East African artists of merit.
Mukabi is definitely a Kenyan classic, a generous spirit and soulful mwalimu who’s recognised all over Kenya and beyond for the quality of his art.
They’re
not surprised to hear that Mukabi also has a mentor, only that
Michelangelo died several centuries back; but he’s still a key source of
inspiration and serves as such a high standard of excellence that
Mukabi humbly admits that he still has a lot to learn as a fine
artist.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Patrick Mukabi: Master mentor and teacher finally has space to call his own
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