Passion drives excellence. This saying explains the story of Theophilus Babarinde , a student of Industrial Design of the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), who continues to express himself through various art forms , a passion he began from his primary school days.
The Vice chancellor ,Professor Adenike Oladiji, recently got a present from the budding artist in the form of a artistic drawing of herself.
The Vice Chancellor appreciated Babarinde for the gesture and encouraged him to forge ahead with his passion.
Babarinde Tells the story of his romance with fine art:
The first artwork in form of drawing was in primary one and we were asked to draw a table in fine art class. After submission , the teacher called my name and said my drawing was the best, so that was the first drawing I did and I realized that I could draw.
Although I believed that everybody can draw, if they are ready to learn, because the only difference between artists and ordinary persons is that, we have the ability to edit our current view based on how it looks like from our memories. For example if a cup is placed in front of an artist and an ordinary person to draw, the artist will surely draw the top of the cup as an eclipse while an ordinary person will surely draw the top as circular, that’s the difference between an artist and others
On the Gift for the Vice chancellor:
I felt like doing the portrait drawing and presenting it to the vice Chancellor during the FUTA LIGHT UP program would be nice and used as an opportunity to draw her attention to the exhibition that we were planning. I’m happy that the VC recieved it with joy and called me a FUTARIAN indeed.
About FUTA:
Federal University of Technology Akure Akure is a very good school and my department (Industrial Design) is one of the best departments in FUTA. Everything is well planned and organized in FUTA, I have seen a lot of FUTA graduates and it’s obvious that they have gone through well planned and organized school of technology. And right from my secondary school days FUTA has been my dream school and now I am proud to be a FUTARIAN.
Furthermore, my department Industrial Design is a great department and we have three sections; ceramics section, graphics Section and Textile sections. I am in ceramics section and ceramics itself is very wide, we have traditional ceramics, technical ceramics, structural ceramics, functional ceramics and BIO Ceramics. Also some artists use ceramics as a medium of expressing their art.
Life sometimes has a way of putting you on the path of Destiny, Right from start I chose graphics but due to the fact that I did my registration late, I was given ceramics, now I’m in love with ceramics.
Ceramics is not only about clay, there are some other things that ceramics materials are used for. For example we have Bio-ceramics, Bio Ceramics materials that are bio- compatible like Alumna and Zirconia, bio active glasses, coatings and composite hydroxyapatite and a lot more. Also ceramics materials are used as insulator in the production of some devices because ceramics materials doesn’t allow the flow of electricity through it. So ceramics is not only clay.
Dream and Aspirations :
Being a professional Artist is my dream and God has shown me that doing art is my way even though I have no idea of where my art can take me to tomorrow, but I know with time and consistency my dreams will come to reality.
I have a lot of tools and material that I have to buy to improve myself too apart from being consistent and hardworking.
There are a lot of tools that I need like : Faber Carlell polychromes pencil, Faber castell graphite 9000, wolfs Carbon Pencil, Jakara Charcoal Electric Eraser and A lot more.
I am happy studying Industrial design and being in ceramics section is even my joy, because I see ceramics as another medium to express my art. All artists have their own inspiration actually my own inspiration is to tell story, I see myself as an ambassador of where I came from and I am willing to tell our story with art
Any Role model: Yes the name is Arinze Stanley, he draws with charcoal, graphite and pastel pencils ,he is my role model, and I admire him and his skills a lot. I am actually not planning to be the next Arinze, I am planning to be the first Theophilus.
Message for His Generation:
My message to Nigerian Youths is that we should be hardworking and continue to do whatever we love the only way to enjoy life to is to get better at what we do.
Peoplesmind