Adammas African Imports store returns to North Conway Village

Open house at new location on Seavy Street Saturday, Nov. 22

North Conway Village is once again the place to go to find fine African art. After an absence of more than four years, Adamma's African Imports is returning to the village, at a new location on Seavey Street. There will be an open house at the store, located just off Main Street at 25 Seavey Street, on Saturday, Nov. 22, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.Adamma's African Imports, owned by Joy Emerson (but everyone knows her as Adamma), has been selling imported art, antiquities and exotic gifts from Africa since 1994. She usually travels to Africa twice a year to find and buy artwork. She has visited Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Cote D'Ivoire, but most of her products come from Guinea and Tanzania, both because of the quality of work and her relationship with businesspeople there."The carvers in Guinea you can see by the wood those people are very special," she said. Also, after years of developing business relationships with people there and in Tanzania, she said it is easier to work in those countries. "I have help to move and ship things. In the other countries, I have to do it myself."Wherever she goes, she learns about each piece of artwork and gets to know the people who make them."I make a commitment to bring the best. I want to know what it stands for," Adamma said. "You want to know what you're picking up what spirits you bring to your home. You want something peaceful in your home, something to bring you together as a family.""I look at the person that is carving it. I want to know the spirit that he is putting into this. Is he someone loving, someone caring, someone with a good heart? So, when you bring this piece into your house you feel good," she said.Whether it is a hundred-year-old Bondo mask or secret hand from Sierra Leone, with wood smoothed by years of ritual use, or a modern abstract wood carving from Ghana, representing lovers, a mother and child, or family, Adamma can explain the meaning behind the art. Pointing to one of the abstract carvings of a woman holding up two men, she explained that the piece is about the strength of women."Woman is very powerful. We have something very special in us I want to say like a skunk. Yes, like a skunk when we spray it stinks. We are very powerful powerful enough to lift a whole man up, not physically, but here, and here," she said, pointing to the head and to the heart.Another carving, of a woman drinking from a container of water, she said, is about holding on to life. "Water is life. It is the one thing you can't live without."A native of Nigeria, Adamma has made her home in the Mount Washington Valley since 1984. She first opened her store in June 1994, just off Main Street and Reporter Court in North Conway Village.After being in that location for nearly a decade, she decided to buy her own building. But after the purchase fell through, she moved the store to Portland. But as a single mother with children in school and a home in the Mount Washington Valley, the travel was too much. Returning to North Conway village five months later, she opening a new shop on Kearsarge Street. That stay was short lived, however, as Adamma suffered two heart attacks and other health problems. She closed up shop entirely for two years and worked on recovering her health."The year 2005 was like magic," she said, with many customers at the new location. And business continued to be good throughout that year and through 2006. The last year or so hasn't been very good for business, she said, prompting the move to a smaller space back in the village.Although she has a small Web site, Adamma said, most of her sales are from the store. Browsers are always welcome, she said. "This is like a museum. Even if you come without money, you feel good." And once they've come in, she said, they usually come back. For more information about Adamma's African Imports call 356-3022, visit the Web site: adammasafricanimports.com or e-mail info@adammasafricanimports.com.