DENVER — The Denver Center for African Art has been showing artworks from art collectors around the country to educate others and preserve history.
The nonprofit cultural education center shows a variety of art from Ghana, Mali and the Ivory Coast ranging from sculptures to ceremonial headdresses. The center located at 7050 Montview Boulevard in Denver has been open for public tours since November with the purpose of educating students young and old.
"Some are just inspired because it touches them in a way and on a level, they didn't expect when they walked in,” said the CEO of Denver Center for African Art, Ron Williams. “There’s a deep beauty and it resonates especially when someone is open to experience the resonation.”
The mission of the Denver Center for African Art is to educate individuals and communities through the beauty, power and diversity of African arts and cultures to inspire conversations that expand the way we see ourselves, others, and the possibilities for a more connected and empathetic world.
“We see that as an opportunity for us to present it in the light that it truly commands,” Williams said. “To the extent that we we’ve done it so far, we’ve noticed the affect that it has on people."
The center displays around 70 pieces of art from various collectors around the country including Dr. Paul Hamilton, a Denver art collector who’s been collecting African art since the 1980s. Hamilton has more than 1,2000 pieces of artwork in his collection and said each piece has meaning.
“I saw a whole new way of looking at African art, African people, African culture and who I am,” Hamilton said.
According to the center, they house one of Denver’s largest African art collections. Williams feels it’s part of our history that’s been disregarded and underappreciated.
“African art is probably the beginning of art,” Williams said. “Its roots go back to the beginning of art when you look at the history of Africa and the history of other parts of the world.”
Yaking Masani is the art center’s collections manager and tour guide. He said the purpose of the center is to show the quality, the value, and the spirituality of the African people.
“It has a meaning,” Masani said. “If it was made for a purpose in terms of household items it was made for utility reasons, it was made for spiritual reasons in terms of ceremonies so African art was made to be used.”
Masani said it's an art form that’s even been an inspiration to other artists — like a headdress of the Baga people of Guinea.
“In 1910 to 1920, Picasso had what is called his African Era…he was a collector of African art,” Masani said. “When you look at the distinction of this nose, this nose was used by Pablo Picasso. That nose became a very distinction in his work.”
Williams hopes the center will teach history about a culture and the artwork that’s been a mystery for so long.
"I would like for people to walk away with a feeling of gratification, inspiration and some additional knowledge of African art and also its influence on artists and art around the world," Williams said.
For more information about the Denver Center for African Art, click here.
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