El Anatsui

LESSON PLANS
LESSON 1
Research Activity: El Anatsui’s Life and Works of Art
Objectives
Using information gathered on websites, students will
research the life of contemporary artist El Anatsui and
examples of his work in a variety of materials.
Grades
4-12
Materials
Computers with Internet access, worksheets
Procedure
Many websites and image galleries feature El Anatsui’s
work. In this lesson, students will use these sites
to research El Anatsui’s life and select examples of
works of art in the variety of materials that he uses.
The worksheet included can provide a guide for this
research. Note: Teachers can assign any number of
questions to the students depending on the time. If
computers are not available in the classroom, this can
be done as a homework assignment.
1. Researching El Anatsui’s Life
a. Where was El Anatsui born? Where did he go to
school and get his training?
• El Anatsui was born in Ghana in 1944. He
earned a bachelor’s degree in sculpture and
a postgraduate diploma in art education
from the University of Science and
Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
b. Where does El Anatsui teach and work?
• From 1975 to 2010, he was professor of
sculpture at the University of Nigeria,
Nsukka, where he taught since 1975.
c. Where was his work exhibited?
• Anatsui’s work has appeared in group
exhibitions at the Fowler Museum of
Cultural History, UCLA; the Smithsonian
National Museum of African Art,
Washington, DC; the October Gallery,
London; and in the celebrated exhibition
Africa Remix, which opened in 2005 in
Düsseldorf and traveled to London, Paris,
Tokyo, Stockholm, and Johannesburg.
His work has also been included in
numerous biennial exhibitions, including
in Venice (1990 and 2007), Havana (1994),
Johannesburg (1995), Gwangju (2004), and
Sharjah (2009), as well as in Prospect.1 New
Orleans (2008). Gawu, a solo show of metal
sculptures, traveled throughout Europe,
North America, and Asia from 2004 to 2008.
d. What awards has he won?
• In 2008, Anatsui received the Visionaries
Artist Award from the Museum of Arts
and Design, in New York City. He is also a
laureate of the 2009 Prince Claus Award.
38 EL ANATSUI EDUCATOR’S GUIDE