By Angelita Faller
Most people would consider a one-time donation of a rare African art collection to their alma mater to be more than generous. For Grambling State University alumni Ira Wayne McConnell, this is his second time around.
Ira Wayne, who is a managing partner for the Houston-based accounting and consulting firm McConnell & Jones, and his wife, Judy, first donated a collection of 19 pieces valued at $318,000 in 2008. The collection is currently on display in A.C. Lewis Memorial Library.
The second collection has been valued at $238,000. It is not yet known where the art will be displayed, since members of the Art Department have just begun to explore the additional 19 donated pieces. “The first thing is we will unpack it and check it and document. We will take photos of every piece. Then we are planning a show for next fall,” said Donna McGee, an associate professor of visual arts who is responsible for reviewing the donated art collection.
The collection contains 19th century African wood sculptures from the pre-tourist phase, a time when people did not consider what they were making to be art, simply another relic of everyday life. “Most of these were used in daily life for some purpose, ritual or ceremonial purposes. Offerings have been made on these figures,” McGee explained. “Now when you travel to Africa, they make art to sell to tourists. It’s still made by Africans, but it’s not made with the same concept in mind. It’s made to sell as art, not for traditional purposes.”
McConnell has been collecting African art since 1991, when an interior designer who was working for his firm recommended the firm purchase tribal spears for display in the firm’s reception area. McConnell graduated from Grambling State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1972 and a Master of Business Administration in 1975. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of GSU’s Black & Gold Foundation.
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