Nike Okundaye, who turns 63 on may 23, is an icon of the art. She tells Assistant Life Editor, TERH AGBEDEH, about her career
Nike Okundaye
The story of Mrs. Nike Okundaye, who turns 63 this year, is as fascinating as it is enlightening. From humble beginnings, the agile dame has attained enviable heights in her chosen career and is now a renowned artist, teacher and mentor.
She has taught the art and craft of her people at home and abroad as well as started the Nike Arts Centre based in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria. The sprawling centre also has presence in her Ogidi-Ijumu hometown in Kogi State; Osogbo in Osun State and in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, where she teaches and mentors women and young people in textile design, clothe weaving and art generally.
Mrs. Okundaye’s story in art started in Osogbo, a city with a rich tradition of art and culture, when she was six; so it is no surprise that by 1968 she had already staged a solo exhibition hosted by the Goethe-Institut in Nigeria.
She has gone on to lecture at several American universities as well as facilitate workshops in many other places in the world and been honoured globally.
Despite this intimidating credential from one whose education was largely informal and whose talent was hereditary, the artist has no airs about herself.
“I will say it is God’s gift,” she said one Sunday afternoon at the Lekki centre. She was referring to her humility and the fact that she has continued to do the work she has always loved to do.
The artists also holds God’s gift responsible for her ageless beauty, but is quick to add that it also depends on diet and physical activity.
“It depends on what you eat and the exercise you do. My exercise is the work I do. I cannot see myself sleeping for eight hours straight; it is impossible. I always work from 10pm to 3am at night,” she said.
