TITLE:
Investigating the Documentation and Conservation Process of Outdoor Artworks in Ghana
AUTHORS:
Fredrick Boakye-Yiadom, Evans Kwadwo Donkor, Victor Kweku Bondzie Micah
KEYWORDS:
Contemporary Outdoor Artworks, Conservation, Catalogue, Restoration, Takoradi Technical University
JOURNAL NAME:
Art and Design Review,
Vol.10 No.2,
March
18,
2022
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to investigate the documentation and conservation process of outdoor artworks in Ghana citing Takoradi Technical University’s main campus as a case study. A total of 22 outdoor sculptures dating from 2002 to 2020 was catalogued in the various parts of the institution including the artworks by sculpture students and lecturers. A comprehensive data was created for each sculpture with information on the location, artist, materials, historical and technical notes, state of conservation. Direct observation and face-to-face interviews were conducted with sculpture lecturers, studio technicians, past and present art students who were purposively sampled for the study. Through the interpretive analysis, the study revealed that with the twenty-two (22) outdoor sculptures, none of them had been conserved and restored ever since they were created for artistic purposes. The artworks were made from wood, metals, concrete cement, tyres and sachet plastic rubbers. The cataloguing of the outdoor artworks serves as a reference of representation, inspirational intuition, aesthetics and symbolic importance for the institution.