DAPHNE, Ala. — American artist Abiola Akintola, who originally hails from Nigeria, donated an original piece of art titled “Beyond Parameters” to the United States Sports Academy during a ceremony on July 29.

This work by Akintola placed second in the United States Olympic Committee Sport and Art Contest that was organized by the Academy earlier in the year.

“I grew up in a village in Africa where even the smallest thing is hard to do,” Akintola explained to an audience during the donation ceremony. “There, just getting water can be hard. And we all face ‘parameters’ in life, even if they are simply our own fears and anxieties. In this piece I wanted to show the other side, to give us a new dream of wings to fly.”

Akintola is an abstract painter from Chicago whose work is featured in galleries in Oakland, Calif., Chicago, Nashville and Atlanta.

He served on the voting committee for the International Olympic Committee’s Sport and Art Contest in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Akintola has been commissioned to create artwork for Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympic Games.

“I want to thank the United States Sports Academy for preserving this art,” added Akintola. “I have a great love for art and the Academy’s museum is the best I have seen that is dedicated to fine sport art.”

The American Sport Art Museum and Archives is open free to the public weekdays, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Visit ASAMA online at www.asama.org.