I am Prince Olusegun Michael Adeniyi, I am passionate about Art and Art education

I am Prince Olusegun Michael Adeniyi and I am passionate about two things; Art and Art education. My story is of an ordinary individual doing extra-ordinary things to affect his world positively and to help improve art appreciation and practice in Nigeria.

I am an award winning art educator, who is dedicated, resourceful, imaginative, goal-driven and committed to creating meaningful and stimulating art projects to improve students’ ability, creativity, appreciation, perception, awareness, concentration, confidence, and motivation. I have a talent for instilling art appreciation, and promoting creativity and open-mindedness in students. I combine my talent with an excellent skilled background in virtual documentation to promote artists and young talents globally for e-community exposure.

In 2014, I was nominated for the Global Teachers Prize; also in 2014, I was awarded the Eminent Award for Innovative Teaching by the BBHS Old Boys Association (the Eminent, 1979-84 set), I was awarded Distinguished Merit Award by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation where I was a member of jury for its 2014 Art contest for Lagos state secondary school students; I got the Most Outstanding Teacher award of the 2012/2013 Academic Session at the Baptist Boys High School Mission; in 2013, I was TNJ Africa 40 Under Forty Achievement Awards honouree; and in 2010, I was awarded the Most Innovative and Dedicated Staff award of 2009/2010 Session,  at Anu Olu Int’l College, Abeokuta, Nigeria. I also bagged the best graduating student award for NCE Fine and Applied Arts from Federal College of Education, Abeokuta in 2000. I was trained as an artist at the University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria.

I am the founder of TEACHING VISUAL ART, creative social enterprises that provide diver platform for promoting, encouraging artistic engagements and to increase the community’s awareness on the importance of arts education. We have organized diverse art projects for the Nigerian children and also the Art Teachers Connect project for Art teachers with the purpose of encouraging, inspiring and stimulating creative conversation and exchange of ideas between art teachers towards improvement of quality of art education in Nigeria. Our current project is the CHILDREN ART CLUB; learn more about it at www.teachingvisualart.blogspot.com

(Art) Art is my passion, my calling. I discovered early that I enjoy art and my art has been evolving over the years. When I look back at my art, I see a thread of continuity, commitment and progressive improvement over time. My works are an embodiment of quality, creativity and originality. Every stroke, every daub of paint, every allure in my works, reflects the connection to my African cultural heritage. My technique explores themes dealing with basic human desires and cultural changes, through which I create art with the hope of finding answers to environmental issues today. Society has been my influence, and nature inspires me.

(Arts Education) I am committed to the cause of inspiring and championing the next generation of artists, art lovers and creative future leaders. I am so passionate about helping kids harnessing their God’s given talents and inspiring an artistic future in a child. My goal has always been to increase young ones’ motivation, awareness and understanding of the arts.

Creative impulses are present in all human beings, but for one to excel in art, this creative instinct has to be cultivated, nourished and exercised so that it can be stimulated in others. This debunks the impression that Art is only meant for the gifted.  One of my greatest strength as an art educator is that I connect effortlessly with the children and fuel their aspiration to create art through differ platform of artistic engagements.

The core of my mission as an art educator is to provide a platform for every child to experience the beauty and the rewarding experience of engaging in the art. It does not matter if the experience ends just as a hobby, a career, or simply as an appreciative observer. And to compliment that, my organization has founded the CHILDREN ART CLUB and I also manage a virtual platform for nurturing the kids’ talents and exposure of young budding and promising art talent to the global audience on: www.artscoutafrica.blogspot.com

My life of service has inspired certain individuals to make effort in imparting young ones, even when it’s just a child! Most importantly, I would love to connect with Art teachers and creative minds across the globe to improve the learning field of art! I invite you to reach out to connect and collaborate, here is my blog www.olusegunadeniyi.blogspot.com

Watch my videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxlQCedv4axDzfq5FhACjZg