Art outing number 2: Heidi asked if I would like to join her for an opening, the PunchIn Results night at the Barbados Community College. Of course I went and was so glad I did.
It was such a good show! Hard to believe how much talent and how large and diverse the arts community is here in such a small country with a population a little larger than the size of an average Ontario city. Very exciting and inspiring stuff.
There was a fundraiser happening at the same time in a different part of the building for a group of art students who are planning a trip to New York City to see some art and see how they fit in with the world art stage. If their work is anything like what I have seen so far, I think that they will feel very comfortable in New York and find that they fit in quite well. We happily purchased a couple of catalogues from previous shows and some snacks to help out.
Here are a couple pics from the opening. Again, here is the link for their Facebook page where you will find some really good images of each of the four artists and their work.
The idea behind the PunchIn was a group of four artists (I believe a few are alumni and possibly faculty at BCC) who worked in the gallery with an open door for three weeks, interacting with each other and the public to create works in this atmosphere which were then shared upon their completion at the 'results night' opening. Again, lucky me for timing!
A few words about the Punch Creative Arena from their blog page.
PUNCH Creative Arena is an initiative for creative action in Barbados PUNCH aims to showcase and interrogate creative practice with a multi-disciplinary focus on local, regional and international creativity.
With a diverse calendar of events "PUNCH at Morningside", our first partnership, aims to operate as a link between the Barbadian creative community and the BCC Division of Fine Arts.
Ewan Atkinson's work. Loved his fine work, sense of humour and of course this jumpsuit. You can find more here on his website.
Simone Asia (below) and more of her work here.
Versia Harris's work here. I am not sure if Versia is a dancer but her work feels like grand movement and wonderful flowing clothing. More of Versia's work here. Versia also showed a grouping of black and white photos that were painted with her lovely figures moving throughout which I really liked.
Russel Watson's work here and below. I really liked his strong portrait drawings which were difficult for me to capture but are documented on their Facebook page here.
At the opening, Heidi introduced me to Allison Thompson, the Divisional Head of the Fine Arts program. Allison was very welcoming and showed us their print studio and explained some of the history of the school and studio set up. The studio was very well set up, a great open space with everything you would need to get into some serious printing but it looked like it was not being used too much. Neglected presses always make me a little sad but also optimistic about what can be done to ignite some excitement about using them. We discussed a few ideas about working with a group of senior artists from the community and a group of students, possibly together on some print projects. Lots of potential here and lots to think about. I am looking forward to the possibilities.
look at this sweet thing
lovely stairwell
