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The Naked Christ by Laura Facey

CONTEMPORARY ART COLLECTION

THEARTSHOWS

Left:Cecil Cooper: New World FusionClockwise:Andrae Green:Ouba Coo Coo Gerard Hanson:Pauline David Marchand:Star Catcher Marissa Willough-by: Uprising Tino Spiro:Aurora Xaymaca

EBONY PATTERSON has cre-ated a whole body of work surrounding urban culture, – her ‘Gully Godz’ and ‘Gangstas for Life’ question the chang-ing perceptions of masculin-ity in a homophobic society. Created from photographs, transferred to huge tapestries these male portraits are then adorned, ‘blinged out,’ with rhinestones and crystals.

MARVIN BARTLEY Enthroned Madonna, recreates iconic religious art through constructed art photography - it starts with the idea then the physical construction of the set - steps, throne, windows, walls and garment - then all the talent – all meticulously combined and photographed, tediously assembled and manipulated digitally.

CAROLINE ‘BOPS’ SARDINE describes herself as a child of the Caribbean and her art as small scale scraps of her mind colour-fully and curiously manifested into collage and assem-blage.

STEPHAN CLARKE combines both sculpture and photography in his art. For the Show he focused on the naked body, which he clothed in wearable sculptures of wood and metal. Among the viewers were young schoolers who were fascinated with this new take on contemporary art.

We remember it well. Fifteen years ago our inter-view assignment for THE JAMAICAN took us high into the hills of St. Ann to Rockfield, the country home and studio of well-known Jamaican art-ist Judy Ann MacMillan. On the last curve of a steep, narrow dirt road, the little house sat pret-tily, surrounded by a sweeping lawn and colour-ful flowerbeds. Barefooted, and casually dressed all in white, tossing back a flame of then auburn hair Judy Ann emerged from the porch to greet us. Immediately she added a touch of unex-pected glamour to her very rustic surroundings. With strains of classical music echoing through the house, the smell of fresh coffee perking, we made ourselves comfortable in the bright sun-ny morning room, so too Voltaire the cat, who jumped and settled in my lap. First we wanted to know how she came across this treasure. Judy recalls it was the early 70s “I was looking for a country house, somewhere peaceful to do my painting. I came upon it quite by chance – the house just stood there forlorn-looking, dilapidated and fragile. The garden was neglected, waist high in weeds. I felt an unbeliev-able pull to the place. I had to have it. I found out that it belonged to a little old lady who lived in the town. It had been her family home. When I met with her all she wanted to know was that I would love and look after the place. It was very touch-ing. I promised her I would, and she agreed to sell. “When my father came to inspect, he took one look and said, “This is a disaster. It’s so you!”

She talked about her early years, meeting mas-ter painter Albert Huie when she was six years old, fascinated that he was the first adult she had ever seen covered in paint; private lessons at home with another master painter, Carl Abra-hams. School days at Wolmers, classes at the Art School, and a chance opportunity to go to Scotland to study art for four years. Returning to Jamaica and holding her first solo exhibition at twenty-one, opened by Edna Manley. There were many more shows, locally and overseas. Rapid success followed as local collectors began tak-ing a keen interest in the development of her ca-reer, wanting to acquire a ‘Judy Ann.’ There were the non-painting years of the early 70s, married, living suburban life in Ohio in the US. Then it was home again without her husband, but with her young son Alexei. Then the move to Rockfield, bringing us full circle.

Today, Judy Ann spends most of her time in Kingston. “Improbable as it sounds, I come here to relax - country life has become difficult. In town everything is within easy access… and the Inter-net is hard to do without.” 2011 has been a busy year for Judy Ann MacMillan - a major solo exhi-bition in London in July and then the start of her artist’s retreat at Rockfield in December, for which she already has bookings from overseas.

“The artist retreats at Good Hope in Trelawny, and Bromley in St. Ann, played into my mind. I

Judy Ann Macmillan

I want to share my artistic life at Rockfield...it’s a welcoming, tranquil place, and offers a slice of Jamaican life from a simpler time.

liked the idea of doing something like that at Rockfield. It has become a hell of a project - I have become so caught up with all the renovations of a six-bedroom house - a coat of paint, fixing wobbly doorknobs, staff rooms…” she roars with laughter.

“I want to share my artistic life at Rockfield. It is for people whom for whatever reasons, family or work obligations, never had the time to fulfill their dream to paint, or drifted away and now want to refocus. They can come for a lot of nice reasons - it’s a welcoming, tranquil place, and offers a slice of Jamaican life from a simpler time.

I think I am a good teacher of figurative painting because it has been the daily practice of my life. If you want to paint these flowers in this vase pretty much as we both see it, I can demystify that, and make it easier for you, but” she cautions, “if you want to create an art installation suitable for the Tate Modern, I can’t help you.”

She sees it as a meeting of like minds, “working with people who like the same things I do. I expect to enjoy it tremendously, and feel they will too.” It’s showing, by example, how to be an artist. The schedule is structured and runs over six days – breakfast at nine, painting through to lunch time, a rest until three in the afternoon, working through to 6pm, dinner, then drinks and conversation on the verandah. “If you want to paint on the beach we can do that, if you want to do a portrait or figure painting, we can get a model from the village.”

The London show was a big dream – it had huge meaning

for me. Not just because it was at a top-notch gallery, but also because I

trained in the U.K in Scotland, I became

an artist there. I exhibited fourteen pieces and invited

many Jamaican expatriates. It was

very satisfying.

Rockfield,high in the hills of St.Ann

Plein air painting class at Rockfield

I painted Miss Coo-per with the soft lighting that the

Old Masters used, by blacking out the

strong sunlight in the studio.

Photos: Melinda Brown, curator of Roktowa in the Gallery; beaded tapestry and mixed media work by Haitian artists.

Roktowa GalleryArt flex and levity

downtown

Roktowa is located in a very rough-and-ready part of town, in a partly derelict five-storey warehouse built in the1920s on the corner of Pechon Street, opposite the old railway sta-tion. Originally the Red Stripe brew-ery, it is now home to the Roktowa art collective workshop and gallery that occupies the first floor. It’s a massive area, with thick columns, high ceil-ings and huge pane-glass windows – a great space for art exhibitions, workshops and installations. Started in 2008 by Australian sculptor and curator Melinda Brown, Roktowa is many things and constantly evolving: There’s an informal cultural art resi-dency programme for visiting artists – “they spend a few weeks or months and can hook into the community skills which abound in the downtown area, there are over 50 woodwork shops within a mile radius, producing some excellent work, “ says Melinda. There are several innovative projects underway, one is creating functional art from alabaster: “Our focus is on fine and applied art, (moving away from the arts and crafts concept of the 50s). By introducing design into the vocabulary, and by extension indus-trial design we are producing value-

added art, fostering a viable creative alternative economy. So we take this beautiful stone (that is crushed and used in the construction industry) and sculpt it into lamp bases, bathroom accessories and tableware. We also do clay work, sourcing and process-ing red earthenware ‘Trench Town’ clay dug right in this area, and we work with potters who use the old tra-ditional firing methods. We do metal work, painting and decorative art. We are now expanding into film produc-tion and graphic design.” The last major exhibition was a joint show with sculptor Laura Facey who staged ‘Propel’ and ‘Trembling Heart’ which featured glass beaded tap-estry, assemblages, metal work and mixed media art by twelve Haitian art-ists who visited after the earthquake. Part of the project was to create one of kind large-scale books of art (the cover featuring a sculpture, with some pages of wood and metal ) for auction in New York. “We have had ‘pop-up shows at Red Bones café and the Pan Jam mini gal-lery. Roktowa café opened in Octo-ber (9am -3pm, Mon –Fri) offering a wide selection of authentic Jamaican dishes.

BOGLE a contest of IconsEdna Manley’s Bogle: A contest of Icons, was a research based exhibition that explored the iconography of national hero Paul Bogle. Central to the exhibition was the controversial statue of Bogle created by sculptor Edna Manley in 1965 which was erected at the Morant Bay courthouse in St. Thomas, the venue of the 1865 Rebellion. On view were representations of Bogle in art and sculpture by leading Jamaican artists, as well as images on stamps and bank notes.

Graphic reinterpretation of national hero Paul Bogle as ‘Rebel’ by Jamaican graphic artist, Michael Thompson who is based in Pennsylvannia, USA. His artistic take on the ‘au-thentic’ image of Bogle is striking, influenced by the retro Cuban Revolutionary posters of the 1960s, and appeals to the pop culture of a new generation.

The Exhibition featured the works of 76 artists, established and emerging in all categories. Dwight Larmond’s mixed media entry ‘Wi and Dem’ depicted the hot social issue of the Tivoli incursion, and he received the Viewer‘s Vote Award.

National Visual Arts Competition

ART NEWS