G.A.S. Foundation is thrilled to welcome Nifemi Ogunro, a designer, sculptor, and woodworker and recipient of the G.A.S. Fellowship Award 2026, to the G.A.S. Farm House in Ikiṣẹ for an eight-week residency. Based in Brooklyn, Nifemi’s practice explores wood as both a material and a tool for holding memories through form and textures. Nifemi uses her work to encapsulate themes around the mundane, joy, rage, friction, and play.
During her residency, Nifemi hopes to deepen her understanding of design and craft as it relates to her Yoruba heritage while exploring ways of working directly with the land. She approaches this residency with an openness to learn from the people, practices and stories she encounters, and hopes these exchanges will introduce her to new perspectives. She also looks forward to connecting with practitioners across sculpture, craft and design, visiting workshops and museums, and learning more about farming.
Nifemi's residency is generously supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art. To find out more about supporting G.A.S. Foundation, click here.
Child’s Play in The First Act, 2025. Installation view, ISCP’s Project Space, New York. Photo: Martin Parsekian.
What is the current focus of your creative practice?
I am interested in abstracting common objects and pushing the boundaries of how wood is worked with. My entry point into woodworking and sculpture was through industrial design, a discipline I discovered in high school. After spending three years working in an office, I became disturbed by the notion that my job wasn’t to design for people, but for a market. My practice today is in response to this discomfort. I’ve always found it fascinating how wood is milled for mass consumption. There’s a slowness required in craft that capitalism does not permit, allowing for greater appreciation of materiality and labour. This slowness, respect for resources, and care is where G.A.S. and my practice overlap. I am also interested in who can access my work, and my interest in engaging with my work in alternative ways stems from an understanding that art is a privilege.
A Chair for One, 2025. Photo: Monet Allen.
What drew you to apply for this residency and how do you think it will inform your wider practice?
The ability to work closely with the land, have space to research, to experiment, and have an opportunity to exist in Nigeria outside of the context of family all drew me to this residency. I’m interested in how this time and space away from my usual environment might allow me to approach my practice differently, while developing my relationship with materials, craft, and the land from which my ancestry originates.
Can you give us an insight into how you hope to use the opportunity?
I hope to use this opportunity to visit workshops, connect with people and learn from different approaches to craft and making. I also look forward to creating an ephemeral piece using found materials such as wood, farm discards and soil, allowing the work to naturally return to the earth. I hope to share my practice and process with others through a workshop. I want the environment to inform my process rather than committing to an idea around making.
Popped Tire, 2025. WARP Group Show, Museum of Art and Wood. Photo: John Carlano.
About Nifemi Ogunro
Nifemi Ogunro is a Brooklyn based designer, sculptor, and woodworker. Ogunro has exhibited work at Side Gallery, Barcelona, Spain; and Marta Gallery, Los Angeles, CA among other venues, and their work is in collections including at the Denver Art Museum, Colorado. One of Wallpaper Magazine’s 400 people to know, Ogunro was also the recipient of The New York Community Trust’s Van Lier Fund Residency at ISCP and the 2025 NYSCA Grant. Ogunro completed and showed work through the Windgate Arts Residency Program in 2025, has attended various craft schools such as Haystack and most recently completed 9 weeks at Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in 2026.
Headshot of Nifemi Ogunro. Courtesy the artist.
