Art Extravaganza for Investment!!!

Great gifts to the people who mean much to you, for housewarming,and to adorn your place for only 300 Birr.Yes,you could have 12 chances of winning wonderful art works on January 10,2012 at the Hilton Hotel at 6 PM. AWiB has organized a campaign to keep our promise to two startup businesses to inject much needed finance for expansion.

We have great art works by upcoming,very talented artists.This campaign has two folds:to empower women economically and to raise awareness of our community the benefits of creative thinking through the art world. Join us in initiating a creative way of giving back to our community that sustains us all—the moral compass of AWiB.

Download the Pdf documents  Art Extravaganza for Investment!!! (3.77 MB)


The story of an artist told through his arts: Meet four up and coming artists that AWiB selected for our Campaign of “Art for a Good Cause”.

Estifanos Bogale with his dreadlocks, handsome face and a tall stature looks more like the monks or “bahitawis” he depicts in his paintings. He grew with a controlling father getting a large dosage of religious education that helps him a great deal in his works. But when he realized his talent and wanted to pursue it, the father wouldn’t hear any of it. He left home, became homeless and struggled to survive turning every trick in the book and made it finally. Today he has his own art studio that also serves as a residence and puts his wonderful creation to use. He says he is inspired by music and movements and his best time to paint is early in the morning perhaps with the help of morning bird’s songs.  His paintings are mostly religious based but to show the complexity of the artist, they turn into dancing women from the south and Harar — his mother’s birth place. His vision is to create a genuinely caring movement that is inclusive of all the wasting talents.

Chernet Degu is a product of unintended union from a wealthy father but a poor woman. He grew up justifying his existence and looking for love he never had. In order to live out his desire—to be an artist, he had to survive harsh environments. His focus is very traditional using all available material locally. He uses tibeb, local music instruments and tells local stories. His beautiful paintings are collages of all valuables our nation amasses.  His works mostly are half revealing– half face or half body. He says our culture doesn’t tell but half a story. He says he wants to show that in his paintings and is always looking for the love that seems to elude him. But Chernet is a generous soul. When he heard what we wanted to do, he gave us one of the most precious paintings that will be one of the prizes. We told him he is lovable and asked where did he get it? He says he gives love to others but still waits for his share to come to him. AWiB thinks otherwise. You don’t give what you don’t have. Hopefully Chernet will reflect realistically.

Abraham Abera is a self assured, very confident artist. His confidence must have emanated from his upbringing. He realized his gift at a very young age and an art teacher in elementary school encouraged him to do more work and guided him in his work. That left an impression on him and a desire to develop more. He came from a supportive family that nurtured his talent. His older brother paid for his art education.  Abraham’s paintings are cityscapes and Mercato is his fertile ground for the creative work he does. His role model is Monet and he is a successful artist. His works tell our neighborhood stories that bring nostalgia to any viewer.  He is fluid in his thinking and paintings and it shows in his works.

Elias Areda is an artist in every sense of the word. His universal thinking fascinates anyone who sits with him to discuss about life and about his being. To the question who is Elias Areda? He responds: “I am all and all is in me”. He says that all the knowledge of the universe is embodied in him and when he draws or paints, he is painting something that is already created somewhere in the universe and recreated with perhaps a different form and version but same idea somewhere else in the world.

Elias is also a cartoonist and is one of handful cartoonists in the nation. His works exclusively for the Reporter newspaper; but he feels his life is art. Elias was fortunate enough to have a solid education in Art. When he was 12 years old, he was selected to be part of the Derg’s experimental art school for young and promising artist. When he was 15, he applied to continue his education at the higher level at the only art and design school now turned into a college, Ale Felege Art School. Elias was accepted partly because of his background and strong foundation in art education.  The school has limited space and accepts not more than 25 students and is highly competitive.  Elias’ parents are illiterate and didn’t know what their child has come up to be in life. They took whatever they were told by this ambitious and talented son and never interfered with his plan. Elias is originally from Arsi and grew up in Asela, the capital city.

Elias believes we all are the result of all the knowledge in the world but some get it and some don’t. He says all of us are interconnected and knowledge is dispersed that way and is for the taking if we pay attention. He says artists are free thinkers otherwise they can’t create. Elias, in our eyes, because of his art education, is a sophisticated and matured artist, but he is not so sure about maturity and artists. He says when we mature, we stagnate and don’t create. So, he tells us an artist is always on the lookout for fresh ideas, fresh styles and fresh ways of looking at life. He doesn’t believe in maturity in artists but in curiosity, fresh start full of vigor and curiosity.

We have two paintings by this prodigious artist: “a Girl with Milk Content”and “Masinko Girls”. He tells stories of the beauty found in women and the nurturing aspect of the female species. The mesmerizing and nostalgic music that comes out of the Masinko, he believes, signifies a woman’s beauty and he uses the girls’ long and beautiful necks as this great musical instrument of Ethiopian origin. And he lets the girls create their own music.

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