Augie Kuyowa N'Kele: Sculpture ~ Painting ~ Etching
Resume'
Augie N'Kele was born in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa in 1953. He has been a U S citizen since 1995.
Called "a storyteller with his hands" by DFW Connection Magazine for Forgotten Heritage, Augie N'Kele's first exhibition was in Texas 1992. The Africa- born artist has gone on to exhibit throughout the United States as well as internationally when Forgotten Heritage toured Norway for three years.
A recommendation from the Dallas Museum of Art led to his work being selected for a PBS special, Art Journeys Gallery: Out of Africa into America, produced by the Art Museum of South Texas at Corpus Christi in 1997. The program was syndicated nationally on PBS and broadcast to schools via Satellite in the Classroom.
In 2003, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, invited N'Kele to lecture in conjunction with their exhibition, Art of the Lega: Meaning and Metaphor in Central Africa.
N'Kele has conducted artist residencies in Irving, Dallas, Southlake and Fort Worth, working with students from kindergarten through college. His most recent Residency was working with teens at the DesignIT Studios at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.
Ithaca University in New York included N'Kele on a list of 20th century African Americans who have made important contributions to the humanities
Personal
Born, 1953, Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa, 1953. Moved to United States, 1982, became a U S citizen in 1995. Currently resides in Fort Worth, Texas
Education
1979 BFA Emphasis: Fine Art, Painting, , Universite Nationale du Zaire (Democratic
Republic of Congo)
1970-76 L'Academie des Beaus-Arts, Kinshasa & Lubumbashi, Zaire (DR Congo)
Additional Studies
1980-1982 Notre Dame de la Sagesse, Brussels, Belgium, Interior Design, E.S.A.P.E. (Advanced Studies in Plastic Arts)
1986, 1992 Tarrant County College, Hurst, Texas, Art History, Painting, Sculpture, Drawing, Design
Languages
English, French, Swahili, Lingala, and several African dialects
Click on photos to enlarge
Collections
John Humphries, Dallas, TX
Barrett Collection, Dallas, TX
Kenneth & Dorothy Holmes Collection, Corpus Christi, TX
Tom Feelings, Columbia, South Carolina
McNary Collection Richardson, TX
Stiftlesen 3,14, International Gallery, Bergen, Norway
Ginger Head-Gearhart, Fort Worth, TX
Dikembe Mutambo, New Jersey, USA
Dr. D. Markham, Dallas, TX
Dr. Diedra Roach, Baltimore, Maryland
Patricia Meadows, Dallas, TX
Nelson-Atkins, Kansas City, MO
John Davis, Dallas, TX
Kevin Vogel, Dallas, TX
William Graves, Charlotte, North Carolina
John Pronk, Dallas, TX
Diggs Gallery, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
John Owhonda, Fort Worth, TX
Dr. Robert Mumford, Dallas, TX
Gisele Nzau, Paris, France
Bohls Collection, Fort Worth, TX
John Fiadu, Bergen, Norway
Private, Republic of Singapore
Dr. Beatriz Para, Hurst, TX
Sonya N'Kele, Brussels, Belgium
Marge Henzel, Collyville, TX
Cheryl Nason, Arlington, TX
B E Noel, Charlotte, North Carolina
James & Beverly Lofton, Plano, TX
Mitti Jordan, Virginia
Rick James, Irving, TX
Black Historical and Genealogical Society, Fort Worth, TX
Eddie McAnthony, Fort Worth, TX
Anita Knox, Fort Worth, TX
Beatrice Lebreton, Dallas, TX
Heide Maria Briggs, Texas
Linda Taylor-West, Fort Worth, TX
Asantewa, Arlington, TX
Milo Hinojosa, Keller, TX
Victor Rodriguez, Arlington, TX
Artist Residencies
Museum of Science & History, Fort Worth, Texas, 2006
South Dallas Cultural Center, Dallas, Texas,
Schulze Elementary School, Irving, Texas
Clariden School, Southlake, Texas
Imagination Celebration, Fort Worth, Texas
Lectures
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, 2003, by invitation, in conjunction
with an exhibition of treasures from the Lega peoples of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Art of the Lega: Meaning and Metaphor in Central Africa
Selected Print Media
Art Times
DFW Connection Magazine
Winston-Salem Journal
Nashville Tennessean
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Metro, Northeast and Arlington editions
Fort Worth Weekly
Bergens Tidende, Norway
Dallas Morning News
Dallas Examiner
Dallas Observer
Positive Parenting
Minority Opportunity News
Arlington Morning News
American Visions Magazine, Smithsonian Institute publication
Liens En Paroles, N'Kele contributed to a French/English textbook that is used in college classrooms nationwide. Liens En Paroles was written by Dr. Jane Harper, Madeleine Lively, Mary K Williams, published by Heinle & Heinle, Boston, MA.
This Notes for You Too, Inbetweens Records, The Netherlands, Photo of N'Kele's Watusi Warrior used with permission in liner notes of Neil Young tribute CD
We believe that N'Kele's work demonstrates an important connection between cultures..."
Mary Williams, Madeleine Gelineau Lively, Dr. Jane Harper
Authors of the college textbook: Liens en paroles: Genre-based Conversation French
© All rights reserved
How this exhibit came to be:
A coffee table in the living room of a small apartment near Dallas, Texas became the studio from which most of the work seen in these pages was created. The body of work, which he called Forgotten Heritage: From the Motherland to the New World has grown into more than 200 sculptures.He utilized wire, scrap metal and other cast-off objects he found while working at one of the world's major airports, N'Kele's narrative sculptures represented African and American people with events plucked from the pages of history books and his own personal family history. One reviewer described his work as slightly abstract realism. Another said an aura seemed to emanate from it. All reviewers agreed Forgotten Heritage is a powerful, important, and many said unique, statement.
