Gasali Adeyemo
Gasali Adeyemo was born in the small rural village of Ofatedo, located in Osun State Nigeria. From a very young age, he realized his artistic potential and would attend social gatherings such as weddings, naming and burial ceremonies, and other cultural parties offering to sketch portraits of the guests for a small donation. He discovered the Nike Center for Arts and Culture in 1990, where he remained for a total of six years. The first two years were spent mastering batik painting on fabric, indigo dyeing, quilt making, embroidery, appliqué, and batik painting on rice paper with the following four years spent teaching these skills to incoming students. In 1995, Gasali’s artwork was exhibited in Bayreuth, Germany alongside the work of five other artists from Nigeria launching his career. In 1996, the opportunity arose for him to travel outside of Nigeria for the first time when he was invited to come to the University of Iowa to do a series of exhibitions and workshops. Once there, the Octagon Gallery in Ames, Iowa took notice of his work and offered to exhibit it and he was also invited to work with a group of teenagers doing storytelling and art workshops to share with them the traditions of his own Yoruba culture. He has since traveled the world conducting more workshops and exhibitions. He has recently taught workshops at the World Batik Conference, Cross Culture Collaborative Inc., Snow Farm, and the Fiber Arts Center. Gasali plans to continue to travel worldwide, sharing the arts and culture of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. He currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.