A Research Guide to Jamaican Art

Pre Columbian to Present Kai Alexis Smith

Prof. Ken Soehner Introduction to Art Librarianship

Pratt Institute Fall 2011

The first research guide to Jamaican Art Created December 2011

http://jamaicanartresearch.wordpress.com/

Notable Jamaican Artists

Barrington Watson

David Boxer

Edna Manley

Mallica "Kapo" Reynolds

Artists list and growing…

Resource Types

6 Online Databases

1 Dictionaries

2 Encyclopedias

4 Exhibition Catalogues

2 Indexes

4 Periodicals

3 Monographs

9 Other Online Resources

Dictionary

•  Official Language: English

•  Most commonly spoken Jamaican Patios/Jamaican Creole

•  Patios : the dialect of the common people of a region, differing in various respects from the standard language of the rest of the country

•  Published in 1967, Still relevant

Historical Resources

Jamaican National Heritage Trust �  Government Resource �  Objective: promote, preserve, and develop Jamaican

material cultural heritage �  Jamaica history including Pre-Columbian, Columbian/

Spanish, English and Independence �  Tiano Petroglyphs and Pictographs �  Free

http://www.jnht.com/

Historical Resources

The National Library of Jamaica

Jamaica Unshackled

The Slave Trade

Biographies of Jamaican Personalities

Free

http://www.nlj.gov.jm/

Online Databases

Digital Library of the Caribbean, dLOC

�  multiple international institutions in the USA, South America and the Caribbean

�  dLOC: Caribbean Map Collection

�  Caribbean Newspaper Digital Library (CNDL)

�  Free

http://www.dloc.com/

Indexes

UCLA Latin American Institute and the UCLA International Institute. (2011) HAPI (Hispanic American Periodicals Index)

�  Scope 1970 to present

Black Studies Center, 2011 �  1827 to preset

Both require a subscription

Museums and Galleries

National Gallery of Jamaica �  No images of collection

�  Active and current blog http://natgalja.org.jm/ioj_wp/

The Mutual Life Gallery �  Artist Biographies

�  Low resolution images

Both can be accessed freely.

http://mutualgallery.com/aboutus.html

Architecture

Architectural Heritage of the Caribbean: An A- Z of Historic Buildings by Andrew Gravette

�  Published 2000 �  Scope: Colonization to 1950 �  architectural dictionary �  black and white illustrations

Caribbean Modernist Architecture : Archivos de Arquitectura Antillana / AAA034. “Concrete Expressions: A Sketch of the Birth and Development of a modernist Architecture in Jamaica, 1945-1975”

�  Published 2009 �  Scope: 1945 to 1975 �  Black and white illustrations

Exhibition Catalogues

Modern Jamaican art by David Boxer, Veerle Poupeye. 1998.

�  Large colorful images of the art work

�  Nice art historical essays on modern and contemporary

�  Index of artists

Exhibition Catalogues

Redemption Songs: The Self-Taught Artists of Jamaica / curated by Randall Morris. Winston-Salem, NC: Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem State University. 1997.

�  Colorful images

�  Introduction about the Intuitive Movement

�  Artist biographies

�  21 Objects and over 100 Objects featured

Periodicals

�  ARC Magazine (Arts. Recognition. Culture.)

�  Jamaica Journal published by the Institute of Jamaica

�  ACIJ research review (The African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica (ACIJ) and the Jamaica Memory Bank (JMB)) published by the Institute of Jamaica

�  Arts Jamaica 1982-1985

Other Online Resources

Petrine Archer-Straw's blog

�  Caribbean Art Historian

�  Professor at Cornell University

�  Diaspora Dialogs blog

�  Caribbean Artist A-Z

�  Free

http://www.petrinearcher.com/

Online Exhibition

Island Thresholds: Contemporary Art from the Caribbean at the Peabody Essex Museum in 2005

http://www.pem.org/sites/island/#

THE END Kaialexis@gmail.com

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