Bennington College, USA, announces Nigeria‘s Odili Donald Odita as its newest trustee
Bennington College recently announced its newest trustee, Odili Donald Odita (MFA ‘90).
Odita was born in Enugu, Nigeria and lives and works in Philadelphia. He is an abstract painter exploring color both in the figurative historical context and in the sociopolitical sense. In addition to general trustee duties, Odita will serve on Bennington’s education and community life committee.
“I am happy to see the completion of a circle in my invitation to be a member of the Board of Trustees,” said Odita. “It still feels like yesterday that I was able to attend Bennington as a graduate student in painting; to work as a drawing teacher at the Bennington July Program; and later be given the opportunity to speak as a visiting artist. I hope to contribute all and more of what Bennington has given to me over these years.”
Odita’s work has been exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and others. On the Bennington campus, his work “Cut” can be found on display in the Visual and Performing Arts building.
Odita has been the recipient of a Penny McCall Foundation grant, a Joan Mitchell Foundation grant, and a Louis Comfort Tiffany grant. He has been commissioned to paint large-scale wall installations by The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Ezra Stiles College at Yale University; the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York, and many entities.
