VOA文化艺术2024--Little Ghanaian Named World's Youngest Male Artist

 

Little Ghanaian Named World's Youngest Male Artist

Some people seem to be born with skill for making art. Ace-Liam Ankrah of Ghana is a good example. He recently set a world record for his painting and he is not even two years old.

Last week, the Guinness Book of World Records named little Ace-Liam the world's youngest male artist.

His mother, Chantelle Kukua Eghan, says the baby's art started by accident when her son discovered her acrylic paints. He was six months old at the time.

Eghan is 25 years old and is an artist, herself, and founder¹ of Arts and Cocktails² Studio in Ghana's capital, Accra. The business offers drinks and painting lessons. Eghan said she was looking for a way to keep her boy busy while working on her own paintings.

"I spread out a canvas³ on the floor and added paint to it, and then in the process of crawling⁵ he ended up spreading all the colors on the canvas."

And that is how his first artwork, The Crawl⁴, was born, Eghan told the Associated Press.

After that, and with his mother's support, Ace-Liam continued making paintings.

Eghan decided⁶ to apply for the record from Guinness a year ago. In November 2023, the organization told her that to break a record her son needed to publicly show and sell his paintings.

She set up Ace-Liam's first show at the Museum of Science and Technology in Accra in January. She entered 10 of his paintings and nine sold.

Then, Guinness World Records made the announcement, declaring, "at the age of one year 152 days, little Ace-Liam Nana Sam Ankrah from Ghana is the world's youngest male artist."

The overall⁷ record for the world's youngest artist is currently⁸ held by India's Arushi Bhatnagar. She had her first exhibition at the age of 11 months and sold her first painting for $60 in 2003.

Ace-Liam will be two years old in July. He still loves painting and joining his mom in her art space, where he has his own work area. He sometimes paints for just five minutes at a time, returning to the same canvas over days or weeks, Eghan says.

On a recent day, he ran around the workspace with energy usual for children his age. But he also painted for almost an hour, his small fingers spreading the paint on the canvas.

Eghan says becoming a world record holder⁹ has not changed their lives. She will not sell The Crawl, she says. She wants to keep it in the family.

She also says she hopes the media attention around her boy would push other parents to discover and support skills their children may have.

Of Ace-Liam, she added, "He is painting and growing and playing in the whole process."

Words in This Story

acrylic - n. a material that is made from a chemical process and that is used for making many different products (such as clothing and paints)

canvas - n. a specially¹⁰ prepared piece of cloth on which a picture can be painted by an artist

crawl - v. to move on your hands and knees

apply - v. to ask formally for something (such as a job, admission to a school, or a loan) usually in writing

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 cocktails   

n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物

参考例句：

• Come about 4 o'clock. We'll have cocktails and grill steaks. 请四点钟左右来，我们喝鸡尾酒，吃烤牛排。 来自辞典例句
• Cocktails were a nasty American habit. 喝鸡尾酒是讨厌的美国习惯。 来自辞典例句

3 canvas   

n.粗帆布，一块油画布

参考例句：

• The times that people used canvas boat have become history.人们用帆船的时代已成为历史。
• Smith painted an oil painting on the canvas.史密斯在画布上画了一幅油画。

4 crawl   

vi.／n.爬行，匍匐行进；缓慢(费力)地行进

参考例句：

• We learn to crawl before we learn to walk.我们学会走路之前先要学会爬。
• She slowed the car to a crawl.她把车开得很慢。

5 crawling   

n.表面涂布不均v.爬( crawl的现在分词 )；（昆虫）爬行；缓慢行进；巴结

参考例句：

• You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that. 你那样巴结董事，应该感到羞耻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Stubborn, self-confident Guo Zhenshan has never gone crawling to anyone. 坚强、自信、有气魄的郭振山，实在说，永远也不会向人低三下四啊！ 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 overall   

n.工作服，工装裤；全面的，全体的

参考例句：

• The shop assistant was wearing a white overall.那店员穿着白色的工作服。
• How much will it cost overall?一共多少钱？

8 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

9 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

10 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。