Emmanuel Tei Mensah
ceramist, Ghana
ceramist, Ghana
I was born in 1985. After completing elementary school, I continued my high school education at St. John Grammar School in Achimota. Due to a lack of practical at the school, I decided to apprentice with my father's friend who owns a ceramics studio, so after school I would go there to help him and to learn. After High school, I continued working with him for a year, when he passed away. I started using coiling methods to produce flower vases because I didn't have a pottery wheel. After producing my vases, I fire my works, and then paint them and send them to galleries for sale.
After my apprenticeship, in 2000 I decided to do a one year course at the University of Winneba. Then I traveled to Nigeria to work for a year. I returned home to Ghana in 2002, I built a small gas kiln that I use to fire biscuits. I wanted to produce glaze work, but lacked glaze recipes. By the grace of God through my research and help of a friend, who sent me glaze oxide, I now produce glaze work.
these pages submitted to africancraft.com by Emmanuel Tei Mensah, Nov. 2022 -- last updated, Nov. 2022