Caring Too

Francis X. Nnaggenda

These paintings by Francis Nnaggenda are very significant to the arts program at Promega Corporation. The largest painting belonged to the original collection of about 60 paintings I brought from Kenya in 1995. The showing of these paintings, in addition to the large wooden sculpture of mother and child in the Promega BTC atrium, comprised the first exhibition I curated at the BTC.

The painting on canvas was created in response to the larger of the two. Many years ago, I bought and hand-delivered a roll of fine canvas, paints and brushes to Nnaggenda in Uganda. I wanted to assure this painting could be created with the best materials, as they are hard to find in Africa. My hope is to sell this painting and send money back to Nnaggenda. The third, smaller, painting was a gift from the artist. Although this painting is very small it has “size.”

The mother and child wood carving located in the BTC Atrium originated from a tree culled from the woods near the North Promega Building in 1995. That year, we cut down a black walnut tree, placed it in my Ford F150 and drove it to Nnaggenda at Indiana University at South Bend (IUSB). He carved it there during his artist in residence, which I arranged. It took five weeks to complete and was on display at the IUSB Gallery for one day, after which it was returned here, where it has been on display since.