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A plaque next to the painting quotes Tesfaw: "The painting is my gift to help teach. I am a painter so I teach through my paintings."
It is for his efforts to relay Ethiopian culture and history through his paintings that Tesfaw was greeted with so much reverence by his fellow countrymen at the workshop. There was the utmost respect between the artist and his admirers, but perhaps even more so from one Ethiopian to another. When they shook hands, they also made the effort to bow and support the shaking hand with the free hand.
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YANG-YANG JIN/daily bruin
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| Qes Adamu Tesfaw talks to a child who worked on a mural at the Fowler. |
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"We're impressed with his work and he's impressed with the fact that we're impressed with his work. He's very humble," said UCLA alumna and elementary school teacher Hirout Dagnew.
Everyone present at the mural-making workshop could appreciate the formal, aesthetic qualities of Tesfaw's paintings, like the bold, bright colors he likes to use such as yellow and hot pink, the sense of movement and their seemingly monumental presence. Many of his paintings are extremely large murals with life-size depictions. Tesfaw also seems to have the ability to draw in an art viewer's eyes through unusual techniques like viewing a scene from behind, the truncation of figures, and fused images.
But the Ethiopians in particular, who made up a good portion of the guests at the workshop, have gained a greater sense of pride in being Ethiopian with this exhibit. Silverman himself had been greeted with many thanks from Ethiopians at the art exhibit's opening.
"One of the things that I began speaking with the staff of the Fowler museum about very early on in planning the exhibition is that it was very important for the Fowler to do what it could to connect with the Ethiopian community in Los Angeles," Silverman said.
To accomplish this, the Fowler created a series of events interspersed throughout the duration of the exhibit, like the family mural-making workshop, a music and dance performance by local Ethiopian church groups, a visit to Little Ethiopia and a family festival of Ethiopian music, food and art.
"It's extremely important that the exhibit be used as a vehicle for people learning more about Ethiopian culture and history," Silverman said. "One of the things that drove me to become a specialist in African art and African culture is because this is a part of the world that Americans know very little about, and often what they know is erroneous."
Like many guests at the mural-making workshop, Iasu Gorfu, an Ethiopian Engineer from Garden Grove, has brought along his three children, and even a nephew. Gorfu had seen a flier one month prior for this event at a festival in Culver City celebrating the three-day holiday of Ethiopian Epiphany.
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YANG-YANG JIN/daily bruin
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| Two girls paint in the mural drawn by Qes Adamu Tesfaw at the Fowler Museum. |
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Gorfu's 12-year-old son Jessie, upon sprinting up to the mural, promised his father that he "(wouldn't) mess it up," although later, upon leaving the room, he said, "I messed it up really bad." One of the men on the mural who Jessie painted in looks like he's wearing a brown mud mask and smudged bright red lipstick. But 4-year-old Hannah Endawoke ended up painting one man's face completely over with red, orange, brown and green paint.
The resulting mural may not be a masterpiece, but the event was a success in terms of bringing some of the Ethiopian community together and educating non-Ethiopians about Ethiopian culture. The group of 21 guests at the mural-making workshop was diverse in both ethnicity and age, with both Ethiopians and non-Ethiopians, and also extremely young children as well as the elderly.
Observing her daughter paint the mural, Dagnew said she was disappointed Tesfaw wasn't staying longer in the United States because she felt that this was an extremely important cultural experience for the young in particular.
"I wish he would stay longer," she said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I would have loved to invite all my nieces and nephews, especially those born here (in the United States)."
But for Tesfaw, it was clear that his trip to the United States was only a short visit, even though the museum and his traveling companions made every effort to make him as comfortable as possible. He ended up staying over at an Ethiopian Orthodox church in Compton, where a church lady served him authentic Ethiopian food.
And for all his other meals, his traveling companions provided him with pasta, a food he is familiar with because of the Italian influence in Ethiopia. They took him to the Olive Garden twice because he liked it so much. He also found the spaghetti from the Sbarro's La Cucina on campus to be quite delicious as well.
Before the workshop started, he joked that he might just stay, but it was clear that there's still no place like home for him. He was looking forward to returning to Ethiopia, and now free of the fear of flying, he was even looking forward to the flight back.
Fowler Museum school and teacher service coordinator Gina Hall said Tesfaw had been amazed at how he was able to be up in the clouds and then come back down again. He told her it was really miraculous.
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