WHO is that media personnel interested in art and ceramics in contemporary Nigeria? Who is that political personage interested in the promotion of art and ceramics in the real sense of the word in present day Nigeria? Who is the millionaire or billionaire that is a true patron of the arts in today’s Nigeria?

We can ask series of questions in the endeavour to demonstrate the argument that ceramic art, even though it is a laudable discipline deserving of correctly firm attention, is one profession that its practitioners will continually strive to prove and underscore its relevance that they and their solid admirers do not wish many a people to take for granted. This remark needs some qualification, no matter how little it may be. The series of questions, which are not rhetorical ones that we pose, will always get answers that are not clearly affirmative despite the straight and unblemished fact that without ceramists our kitchens, homes, offices and industries in every respect and material will be appallingly un-kitchen-like, un-home-like, un-office-like and un-industry-like. Just allow us to imagine for one minute all the decorations and designs that grace our kitchens, homes, offices, industries (even in their threadbare states without varnished clay and porcelain!). Just contemplate for one minute the utilitarian and aesthetic values they contribute to our lives! Who says, in his or her right senses, that ceramics should not be accorded its rightfully laudable and laudably rightful place at all times which must stretch beyond contemporary Nigeria?

What point are we trying to demonstrate? Can ceramists ever give thought to the idea that our environment is losing something of value by the acts of their creations? Proprio motu, that is, by their own initiatives our ceramists are thoughtful of our environment, and are concerned about the hazards that their acts of artistry are causing our environment. This thoughtful engagement as well as concern clearly indicates that our ceramists after all are environmentalists, scientists, health-conscious initiators, and not the least, humanists.

What all this highlights is that the present task is a burdensome one. A task worthy of praise, I must restate the point, but one which the ceramists themselves alone cannot embark upon successfully. They need to collaborate with professionals in other disciplines that go beyond the immediate academic locale of ceramics. They need to collaborate with electrical, mechanical, civil and computer engineers and scientists including mathematicians, biologists, technologists and chemists in the task, especially in the areas of equipment and design and spare parts to take care of their maintenance value and health-friendliness. They also need the collaboration of environmentalists including environmental journalists to realize the goal of the conceived endeavour. They also need to work hand in hand with community health personnel and doctors on how to prevent and control communicable ceramic diseases. These specialists and experts will assist the ceramists in the areas of environmental sanitation, purification and necessary information needed to further their goals. Our ceramists also, of course, need the cooperation of the heads of their respective institutions, at least in the area of adequate funding of their proposals, projects, experiments, exhibitions and publications. With regard to funding, they equally need the support of patrons from time to time to fund their ideas for the benefit of all including the plants and other ecological beings that inhabit our environment. We are merely saying that we non-ceramists support the selfless initiative of the ceramists whose concern for the safety and wellbeing of our environment and those who inhabit it – human beings, animals and plants – touches our hearts in such a manner that commands and conjures up applause from us. And because ours is an age of reckless environmental degradation and pollution the present enterprise of the Ceramics Association of Nigeria is appropriately timely and timely appropriate.

A few days ago, in Port Harcourt, I witnessed a bad event which cannot but make me appreciate further the concern of our ceramists for our environment. A big generator was oozing, vomiting and fumigating some dark, dark and black, black smoke unpleasant to one’s sight and nostrils. One of us challenged the technician in charge of the life-span of the giant generator on account of the offensive aroma the generator was inducing and oozing. His response was: which did we prefer: darkness in our rooms or power that would make our stay in the hotel comfortable? I answered for us all: darkness (that would not impede our health) with the simple rider that the generator should not even be on any time until we finished our literary business which took us to Port Harcourt. Our demand remained as we demanded it.

The ceramist’s kiln can be similarly offensive to our nostrils and lungs as well as the ceramist’s. The wastes the ceramist’s wares generate can be similarly injurious to our health and environment. So the ceramics association deserves commendation and all kinds of panegyrics we can devote to the members for being the humanists and environmentalists that they are.

Now I must ask thus: which other associations and professionals whose acts of labour are injurious and hazardous to the environment have given thought to the subjects as members of the ceramics association have done and are doing? I am not aware of any in contemporary Nigeria.

Excerpt from a lecture delivered at the 9th Annual Conference of the Ceramic Association of Nigeria, held at the Department of Fine/Applied Arts, University of Benin, Benin- City.

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