By Nyang’au Araka
Famous sculptor, Elkana Ong’esa who emerged from Tabaka region of Kisii County is dead.
Ong’esa died on Thursday, a family member said.
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He had been to various hospitals including the Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital (KTRH).
The artist was battling cancer. He was 80 years old.
Ong’esa was among big names from Tabaka, South Mugirango Constituency, a region that has deposits of soapstone.
Like most sculptors from the area, Ong’esa learnt sculpting from members of his family.
He eventually became a professional sculptor, first using soapstone as the raw material before he transited to granite.
Due to his passion for sculpting, Ong’esa got assistance from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to hold the African Stones Talk Symposium in Kisii.
Several sculptors from across the world attended the symposium.
Ong’esa studied Art in Makerere University, Uganda at bachelor’s level before he obtained a Masters from McGill University, Canada.
In his practice, he created some of the most amazing and famous stone sculptures by a Kenyan artist.
They include Enyamuchera (bird of peace) in 1978, the Dancing birds at US Embassy Nairobi Kenya and the legacy monument for Adventist University- Nairobi.
His work – much of it inspired by nature – has been showcased at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the United Nations in New York and respected galleries in cosmopolitan capitals, as reported by AFP last year.
He also created sculptures for Caltex Oil Company in Texas USA and Coca Cola Olympics Museum.
His art collections open to the public are available at the Uhuru Gardens Memorial Park, the Nairobi Gallery and the Elkana Ong’esa Art Museum (Elcom) in Kisii town.
AFP quoted Ong’esa as saying that, “the Kenyan government does not give enough support to artists.”
He was recalling a 2014 fiasco that prevented his work from taking centre stage at the Smithsonian Folklore Festival in Washington.
Ong’esa had carved a monumental granite sculpture for the prestigious event and was offered 1.2 billion Kenyan shillings (then equivalent to $13.8 million) by an interested buyer.
The sculpture had been transported from Kisii to Nairobi and the collapse of the deal was widely covered by the media.
Nevertheless, he let it go and focused on other things including the museum in Kisii.
“I want the Elkanah Ong’esa Art Museum to be a place of memory,” he said as quoted by the East African in 2015.
