As a little boy molding pots out of clay, Joseph Shilesi couldn’t have imagined that the talent he had back then would today help him put bread on the table for the family. “I was really fond of molding clay play things such as small cooking pots and storage pots as a child, and unknowingly, this made me the artist that I am today,” said the artist.
Shilesi, who is originally from Ikolomani Sub County in Kakamega County, started his primary education in Musoli primary in the early 1980s, but couldn’t go to the secondary school of his choice due to lack of financial support.
His desire was to join Emusire boys High School in Vihiga where Art and design was being offered as a subject, but circumstances forced him enrol at Shamberere secondary school. This clearly meant that he could not do art as a subject. However, he did not allow the challenge to kill his passion for artwork.
“Every Friday afternoon, teachers in primary schools allowed us to try one or two things pertaining Art and Craft and we painted, drew, moulded and knitted things out of locally available materials like clay, papers, banana fibres and wood,” remembers Shilesi, noting the subject was not examinable by then.
The artist’s turning point was in 1983 when he represented his school in a zonal arts exhibition competition where his tray, crafted from banana fibres, emerged the best overall, much to his surprise.
The fibre tray won Musoli primary school the first ever certificate in the arts exhibition competition at that level.
“That was the moment I discovered l had a talent for artwork,” says Shilesi who has over the years evolved and established a niche for himself in the Arts industry and now an expert in seed mosaic.
While at Shamberere Secondary School, he recalls the severe punishment he received for drawing a caricature of one of his favourite teachers, Mr. Joseph Muhindi.
“I mistakenly thought my cartoon would trigger some spark of excitement and congratulations from my teachers,” said Joseph Shilesi who instead took the harsh punishment as a motivation.
After his O’level education Shilesi was employed by Mumias Sugar Company where worked briefly before he resigned in 1994 to pursue his creative pathway. “My efforts to make the company put me in the Public Relation and Communications section where I could demonstrate and nurture my creative skills hit a snag, thus my decision to quit,” explained Shilesi.
He then embarked on serious business of making picture frames using seeds. “Initially I used rely on bean seeds before I gradually started incorporating variety of seeds from both domestic and wild plants for colour, texture, size and overall aesthetic purposes,” says Joseph Shilesi.
Besides selling the frames to individuals, the artist had a ready market from surrounding schools, especially Chandumba mixed, Mbale boys and Eregi girls’ secondary schools. Shilesi bought his first portion of land in his ancestral Musoli village using proceeds saved from sale of the picture frames.
Due to the admirable artistic work, Eregi girls employed him in the Art and Design department where he successfully helped tap and nurture artistic talents from passionate students. Apart from seed mosaic in picture frames, he also created fascinating impressions for various animals.
Joseph Shilesi has participated in virtually all Art exhibition both at local and national levels as a private contestant since the time he immersed himself fully into the Arts industry.
His undying efforts began to pay off well when the State Department of Culture, then headed by Mr. Silverse Lisamula Anami, approached him with a lucrative tender in 2005.
Anami, the incumbent Member of Parliament for Shinyalu constituency, was Director of
Culture for Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services between 2000 and 2009.
“I received a call from the department of Culture asking me to travel to Nairobi for some discussions,” recalls Shilesi who was asked to craft seed mosaic human portraits of Mwai Kibaki, Jakaya Kikwete and Yoweri Museveni, the then three Heads of States in East Africa. The task saw him being flown to Dar Es Saalam, Tanzania where he shook hands with Kikwete, whom he says expressed his feelings for artistic works by Kenyans.
The three portraits earned him Kshs. 150,000, which he used to buy his second portion of land at Mahemas village in Lugari Sub County where he has permanently settled with the family.
Due to his growing fame in seed mosaic craft, the Tegla Lorupe Peace Foundation approached the artist with another lucrative deal in 2014. He was tasked with making the portrait of France’s Albert II, Prince of Monaco.
The portrait, a gift from the Foundation to the Prince for helping establish the Tegla Lorupe Peace Academy in West Pokot, earned him a clean Kshs. 150,000. The foundation also awarded him the tender to prepare the portrait of Gabon’s President Ali Bongo and paid him Kshs. 75,000.
He has two greenhouses on his compound, which he says are investments of proceeds earned from Lorupe Foundation two assignments.
With seed mosaic, the 50 year old artist is able to put the food on the table for the family as well as pay fees for his school going children.
The artist is currently shaping portraits of prominent people within the country, a task he believes would spur him to greater heights, besides earning him a living.
“Although most seeds are tiny and may seem insignificant, seeds are incredibly powerful,” Shilesi says of seeds which, indeed, have turned around his life
He has already shaped portraits of Kakamega County Governor, Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya, and Central Organisation for Trade Union (COTU) Secretary General, Francis Atwoli.
He currently is working on a portrait for Lugari legislator, Ayub Savula. Lugari youth services department has allowed him to take charge of area’s Youth Empowerment Centre.
“My objective is to reactivate the centre, nurture talents and enable youth become self-employed and reliant,” says Shilesi, appealed to youth across the country to embrace arts as an alternative source for employment.
In the meantime, Joseph Shilesi is producing nameplates for all national and county government offices in Lugari Sub County.
“I am doing this in appreciation of national government for allowing me to use its premise,” adds Shilesi.
He has called upon the Kakamega county government to set aside adequate funds for revitalizing the youth centre.
He has lauded the government’s decision to change the education curriculum, saying the proposed curriculum would open floodgates of employment in the creative and arts industry.
“The existing system is not providing flexible education pathways and has been blamed for pushing up drop-out rates, even among creatively talented pupils,” notes Shilesi.
He cites the focus on exam results as one of the biggest undoing of 8-4-4 system.
“The system doesn’t seem to care whether pupils have the skills and knowledge they need at different levels. It just want them to perform well on written assessments,” laments the artist.
