GEORGINA BEIER

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Georgina Beier (b. 1938) was born in England and studied art in London before moving to Zaria in northern Nigeria. In 1963 she moved to Oshogbo, where she lived with her husband Ulli Beier. Georgina Beier designed costumes and sets for Duro Ladipo's theater and conducted the Oshogbo art workshops from 1963 to 1966. She then moved to New Guinea with her husband but returned to Nigeria in 1972 and became a research fellow at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ife. She assisted at the Design Workshop, which produced textiles, posters, ceramics and graphic prints, in 1972. She and Ulli Beier returned to New Guinea but would return to Nigeria where she conducted workshops throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Beier maintains that she was successful in Oshogbo because she never considered herself a teacher; she was merely looking for opportunities to confirm the individual vision of the different artists.

While celebrated as a catalyst who helped inspire the careers of a number of African artists, Georgina Beier was a prolific artist who worked in a variety of media including painting, sculpture, prints, textiles, theatrical sets and costumes. As this small sample of her work indicates she has a sense of line and color that complement one another to produce images that are bold, fresh and spontaneous.

Today she and her husband Ulli Beier live in Australia.
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