NAN-ELS-1
Arts
By Taiye Baiyerohi
Lagos, Jan.9, 2017 (NAN) Parents who have discovered that their children have special flair for arts should encourage such children to pursue it.
Mr Kolade Oshinowo, a renowned Visual Artist, gave the advice on Tuesday in Lagos.
He said that such encouragement would allow the children to develop and hone their artistic talents.
Oshinowo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that he would not want children to continue to be victims of academic neglect which he experienced because of picking a career in Fine Arts.
He noted that parent’s encouragement was very important in children’s career development for them to excel.
He said that parents should focus more on guiding and counselling their children rather than forcing their preferred careers on them.
The artist said that his father never sponsored him in school because he chose to study Fine Arts.
He said that he succeeded because he was determined to pursue a career in Fine Arts
Oshinowo said that his father later identified with him and apologised when he saw him excelling in Fine Arts and was getting paid handsomely from his paintings and drawings.
He appealed to parents to also respect their children’s talents; saying such talents could pave way for them in life.
“Talents are divine, God has deposited talents in everyone, people’s talents make way for them but the society gives little recognition to arts, they feel artists are not professional.
“Forgetting that the arts sector is capable of spinning huge revenue for the country through tourism.
“ I suffered so much in school because my father never supported my career in arts initially; he wanted me to go for Medicine but I had no interest in being a medical doctor.
“I want parents to respect their children’s choice of career, never force them to study what they have no interest in because that can destabilise such children,” he said.(NAN)
PTB/PAD
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Edited by Peter Dada