With Exquisites, Orhonor finds a voice for pots

By Yemi Olakitan
Published in The Guardina Newspapers
Friday, December 18th 2009

ALTHOUGH she is not trained in the art of pottery, her love for this genre of sculpture makes her an emerging name in the business of decorative pot.

The art promoter, Lovett Orhonor, recently held another exhibition titled Exquisites at the Moor House, Ikoyi, Lagos, where pots of various sizes and designs were on display to the admiration of art lovers, who visited the show.

Speaking about her new set of pots, Orhronor said her inspiration comes from a sense of deep respect for arts and culture, adding that her team of potters assisted in producing the pots.

She was hopeful that all lovers of creative art would find their choice in the body of work on display.

According to her, this work can be used to beatify public places, homes, hospitals, hotels, schools, and offices. They are especially relevant in the Christmas seasons because they can be given out as gifts.

"Sometimes, you want to stand out from the crowd in the season of goodwill, and there's no better way than with unusual Christmas gifts. If you're looking forward to pleasing a person you love, you need some unusual gift ideas for your Christmas shopping list and there are plenty of unusual Christmas gifts to choose from right here at our exhibition of Exquisite Decorative Clay Pots and Designs.

"The best gifts are those that serve as a memorial; last beyond the seasons in which they are given. This is one area the African spirit of excellence and beauty has been expressed," she said.

She noted,''hampers and the regular gifts have become very boring. A lot of people and organisations can't find gifts worthy as presents for friends, family and clients. Thus the best gift is an artwork that speaks creative languages.''

Orhonor said the pots were made of total clay as the raw materials were imported from Ghana and Togo, arguing that Nigerian clay is sandy and salty and cannot be used for such creative arts. "They cannot be used to produce high quality pots. Some of the raw materials include radia and cowries shells."

Orhonor is a graduate of Mathematics from the University of Caliber and worked with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for about seven years before she quit the job to work in the arts business.

This was as a result of her passion for the arts. She has staged similar shows in Port Harcourt, Abuja and in several venues in Lagos.

She was invited by the Nigerian Tourism Development Commission (NTDC) to showcase her works at the presidential Villa, Abuja alongside other notable Nigerian artists.

The exhibition in Port Harcourt, she recalled attracted an impressive art collectors from various works of life because of the uniqueness of the presentations.

Other past exhibitions were at the IBB Golf Club and the DiDi Museum, Terra Kulture Victoria lsland, Lagos.

She hoped that her company Honeycomb Resource Services Limited would do more shows in the future.