How talented Louise is painting her future
Peering into the future is impossible for any ordinary mortal, Louise Kanyange knows.
But, in her gifted hands, Louise holds some delicate talent strands she is diligently and patiently weaving into the future she dreams of.
In her own words: “I am an artist. I do art that focuses on the beauty of the world – painting, fashion designing and illustration.”
Louise confidently wields brush and palette to paint images she believes will appeal to art aficionados or even the untrained eye. Painting is one of her talent strands.
She has had a challenge, though: How to make her art unique and not a run-of-the-mill stuff.
It bothered her that, like other artists in Rwanda, she would dash to the internet to scour for impressive images to paint. This, she acknowledges, is not that original.
“I focus on realism, which involves producing with paint, something as it is in rea life,” Louise explains. She adds that her technique requires that she uses a photo to reproduce the object in a painting.
What has been her problem? “I used to download images from the internet in order to paint them,” says Louise.
Why did that bother her? “I would suspect that the image may have been downloaded by others from one source and you find we painted the same in different artworks,” says the budding artist. “Finding similar artworks of the same image would hurt my pride as an artist.”
Louise decided to take her own photos instead of downloading from the internet.
“Nowadays, I make original paintings based on pictures I have taken,” says the proud artist, adding that she also decides on her objects’ poses.
What is it that changed for Louise, that made her adopt an avant-garde approach to this form of art?
Louise is a second year Bachelor of Arts in Mass Media student at MKU Rwanda. She credits her photography classes with the change in her painting approach.
“I studied how to take photos and now I am a better, skilled photographer,” she explains, adding that, “this helps me to be a good artist and a painter with uniqueness.”
Photography skills are not the only thing Louise has gained while studying at MKU Rwanda. She says her public speaking skills have improved.
Louise is a leader at Rwanda’s Art Federation.
She explains the importance of acquiring public speaking skills: “As an artist, I attend various exhibitions and workshops and it requires great communication skills to communicate with different people.”
This journalist student declares that she speaks with confidence and will never again be afraid of standing in front of people to explain her artworks. “I am now a good speaker,” she declares.
Louise says after completing her studies, she “will create an art show to promote artists in Rwanda”. The reason? “I am one of them,” she says.
Louise is studying for a degree in journalism courtesy of a scholarship she received from Imbuto Foundation after emerging “the best candidate from all the Rwanda TVET schools in 2017.”