Oumarou Hamadou stands next to some of his woodturned bowels at Uncommon Objects. PHOTOGRAPH BY LINDA GRASHOFF
			African Artist May Take Up International Studies As Oberlin Student By Betty Gabrielli
			JANUARY 8, 2001--The finish of the wooden bowls, goblets, and trays are like satin. On view and on sale in Oberlin's art-gallery store Uncommon Objects, they attract the hand like magnets. Made from firewood and discarded chunks of oak, pine, and black walnut by blending traditional African art with western techniques, they are the work of Oumarou Hamadou, a native of Cameroon, Central Africa, and a first-year student at Oberlin. Hamadou is not the traditional freshman. For one thing, he's 29 and married. For another, he was a star soccer player in his country, a member of the national team, Soleil, and remains a kind of a legend in Central Africa. He still gets letters from fans, and the team wears shirts emblazoned with his name and image. Largely self-taught, Hamadou was introduced to woodturning at the African Art Institute in Cameroon, which extends from the oceanfront to the Gulf of Guinea and reaches up toward Lake Chad, at the hinge point of western and eastern Africa. Hamadou built his own lathe and created his own tools with a variety of found materials. He says he began carving toy cars as a child and progressed to other art genres. "I can look at anything once and then draw it," he says. Called home (to Garoua-Boulai, Cameroon) after two years at the University of Sudan by a death in the family, he set up shop in a building inherited from his father. Next door was a hardware store patronized by a group of American Lutheran missionaries with whom he became friends. Among them was a young teacher from Canton who was to become his wife. When the two moved to Canton in 1998, Hamadou's love of soccer came with him. He began playing pickup soccer games in the Canton area. Soon his skill attracted the attention of several scouts, and he was invited to try out for the Cleveland Crunch. A week before he was to make his appearance, however, he was sidelined by a serious injury during a game. Several surgeries followed, and he began thinking that perhaps soccer was not a particularly good career choice. A friend suggested he apply to Oberlin because of his interest in art and his fluency in languages--he speaks French, English, Arabic, and Spanish besides five African languages. He entered the College this past fall and took classes in French and Spanish and a practicum in tutoring. Though deeply involved in his art, his interest at Oberlin, he says, is tending toward international studies. Hamadou maintains his interest in soccer. In 1999-2000, he coached the middle-school team at Lakeridge Academy, where his wife, Karen, teaches fourth grade. "It was the team's best season ever," he recalls: "seven wins, three losses, and two ties." Hamadou characterizes himself as a "very private person. Over there I was a celebrity, but here I stay pretty much to myself." However, who he is comes through loud and clear in the perfection of his bowls, goblets, and trays, which he creates in a workshop in his garage. "But it's too cold right now," he says, adding "The snow is really hard to get used to."
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