|
Smith & Benjamin’s ‘BAHAMIAN ART & CULTURE’ Issue No. 287 Sharing Art & Cultural News of The Bahamas for 18 Years • • • • CLICK HERE to see onli
|
|
Smith & Benjamin’s
‘BAHAMIAN ART & CULTURE’
Issue No. 287
Sharing Art & Cultural News
of The Bahamas for 18 Years
• • • •
CLICK HERE to see online version.
• • • •
COVER IMAGE:
“What Makes Us Bahamian is Being Taken Away from Us, #3”
by Bahamian artist Keith Kerr.
• • •
This painting by Kerr won the D’Aguilar Art Foundation’s “Social Consciousness Award” at this year’s Central Bank of The Bahamas’ High School Art Competition.
• • • |
Friday, December 2nd, 2016 |
A R T S :
The Bahamian Calendar Celebrates
30 Years
TONIGHT: Friday, Dec. 2nd | 6pm-10pm
John Watling’s Distillery, Delancey Street
Fans and followers of an iconic Bahamian symbol and tradition — The Bahamian Calendar — are invited to come out and celebrate 30 years of calendars which were created to enrich, inform and educate.
All 30 years of calendars will be on display with over 150 original watercolor paintings of The Bahamas by prolific artist Fiona Maillis as featured in
The Bahamian Calendar over the past 30 years. These beautiful pieces will be offered up at a silent auction for the first time ever.
Tickets are $40 and includes a cocktail or glass of wine, and refreshments & hors d’oeuvres made from famous Bahamian Calendar recipes by Le Petit Gourmet. There will be a cash bar for further drinks, live music and a full display of the 30 years of calendars for your entertainment. A portion of the proceeds will go to develop the Art, Culture and History (ARCH) Programme in Long Island, The Bahamas. |
 The Bahamian Calendar tries to give an authentic feel through the art they produce every year. This is a photo of their friendly local weaving thatch. She was an inspiration to this piece called "The Plait Lady". |
Started in 1987, The Bahamian Calendar is produced by well known Bahamian family who have brain-stormed and worked together each year to create the premier wall calendar of The Bahamas featuring recipes and watercolour scenes from across the Bahama islands.
As a family of six children, each of them showing an interest in helping to produce the calendar have been encouraged to participate in the planning, executing and business of the calendar. They have painted, taken photographs, collected recipes, cooked, researched holidays, sketched scenes, chatted to locals, designed the look of the calendar, edited, proof-read, distributed, mailed, answered phones and done accounting, learning many aspects of business and the way of Bahamian life.
The Bahamian Calendar represents and promotes not only the beautiful scenery of its islands but also the nation’s diverse culture and history.
So with each year, they take on the challenge of producing a new calendar, providing customers with vibrant hand painted watercolour scenes, recipes that they have personally tried and tested, and information they hope the public finds useful.
CLICK HERE for event’s Facebook page.
CLICK HERE for website. |
T H E A T R E :
Tamara Moncur’s
“Christmas on Sapodilla Street #2”
OPENS THIS WEEKEND: Sunday, Dec. 4th | 4pm & 8pm
Monday, December 5th | 8pm
The Dundas Centre, Mackey Street
Live musical comedy drama that will make you laugh until you cry! Tickets are $25
and kids pay $10 at the door. Box Offices are at The Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts, Lil Mustard Seed Healthy Cafe, Mount Royal Avenue and Suntime Bahamas, Mall at Marathon, near Galleria. For more information, call 467-4738/466-7996 for ticket delivery. |
J A Z Z :
Jazz at Jacaranda for Christmas
Sunday, December 4th
At 6pm
The Central Bank of The Bahamas Art Gallery
The public is invited to kick off the Christmas season with a wonderful evening of Jazz by the poolside at Jacaranda House this Sunday, December 4th from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.
Enjoy the offerings of seasoned jazz musicians and performers in the gardens and around the pool at the historic Jacaranda House built in 1840 in downtown Nassau. There is a $15 cover charge and a cash wine bar and light snacks will be available. For more information, please contact tel. 322-2275 or email jacarandanassau@gmail.com. |
 Caribbean in Motion promotional poster showcases the work of Bahamian artist Steven Schmid. |
E X H I B I T I O N :
Caribbean in Motion: Improving Lives through Artistry and Animation
Wednesday, December 7th | 6pm
Central Bank of The Bahamas Art Gallery
Exhibit displays a contemporary sample of animation and animated video art that showcases the potential that Bahamian and Caribbean animators offer to the world.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in partnership with the Anime Caribe Caribbean Animation Festival, presents “Caribbean in Motion: Improving Lives through Artistry and Animation.” This exhibit is a tribute to The Bahamas, host of the 2016 Annual Meeting of the IDB-IIC Boards of Governors. The video art exhibit was presented at the IDB Headquarters in Washington D.C. earlier this year.
The public is cordially invited to the opening reception on Wednesday, December 7th, 2016 at 6 PM at the Central Bank of The Bahamas, Market Street, Nassau. Please RSVP at artgallery@centralbankbahamas.com
Caribbean in Motion highlights some of the most captivating and imaginative animation and illustration in the Caribbean today, including works by Bahamian artists Khia Poitier and Steven Schmid, and explores the multifaceted social and economic benefits generated by the animation industry, underscoring the importance of nurturing a vibrant creative economy. Animation, the art of illustrating video sequences, has huge potential as both a business and an art form that supports sustainable social and economic development in the Caribbean.
CLICK HERE for more details at the IADB website. |
C O N C E R T :
“Sing a Song of Christmas” Concert
Sunday, December 11th | 7pm
Ebenezer Methodist Church, Shirley Street
The Ebenezer Methodist Church’s Music Department will present a Concert of Christmas Music on Sunday, December 11th at 7.00 pm at the church on Shirley Street.
Under the theme “Sing a Song of Christmas,” the concert will feature a variety of Christmas music, both choral and instrumental, in varying styles and arrangements.
An invitation is extended to all to join Ebenezer as they open the Christmas Season with this evening of special music to be shared and enjoyed by all. Come prepared to....“Sing a Song of Christmas”.
CLICK HERE for event’s Facebook page. |
D A N C E :
Dance Bahamas School presents:
Joyful Christmas
Friday, December 16th, 2016 | 8pm – and –
Saturday, December 17th, 2016 | 8pm
The Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts, Mackey St.
Dance Bahamas School, the official school of the National Dance Company of The Bahamas, is proud to present its 2016 Christmas production entitled “Joyful Christmas” on Friday, December 16th and Saturday, December 17th at 8pm at the Dundas Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $15 for children and $25 for adults. For ticket information, call 328-7588 or 698-3993.
CLICK HERE to visit the National Dance Company’s website. |
A R T | C R A F T :
K Smith & Friends: Christmas at The Place
for Art
Sat., Dec. 17th
10am–5pm
20 Village Road, Doongalik Studios Property
Are you looking for locally produced art/artisan products for your Christmas gift-giving? This one-day, family-oriented event is the perfect venue to purchase original art, art reproductions, hand-made jewellery, fashion accessories, textile art with Bahamian fabric, native wood-turned pens and tree ornaments, stuffed children’s toys with Androsia fabric, Abaco Neem products, and more. A children’s craft table will allow the children to create a unique tree ornament that will become a family treasure. Food and non-alcoholic beverages will be available for sale.
Be sure to visit our “Doongalik sisters” at the Craft Cottage, which will be open for additional browsing and shopping all day Saturday, December 17th. |
 “What Makes Us Bahamian Being Taken Away from Us #1” by Keith Kerr. |
Art students win at Central Bank’s 33rd High School Art Competition
At the recent 33rd Annual Central Bank of The Bahamas High School Art Competition and Exhibition held on November 18th, 2016, talented art students from the nation’s secondary schools all vied to win the top prizes. Students entering the competition were required to submit three pieces each.
Winning the overall competition was Miss Sonae Smith of Aquinas College with her painting, “Fall, Yet We Rise #3.”
Winning for Best Representation of the Theme was C.V. Bethel student Keith Kerr with his painting, “What Makes Us Bahamian Being Taken Away from Us #3”. For this achievement, Kerr was awarded the first annual D’Aguilar Art Foundation’s (DAF) prize for the work of art that best captured the mood of Bahamian social consciousness and effectively engaged with critical social issues. |
 C.V. Bethel Student Keith Kerr with D’Aguilar Art Foundation Curator Tess Whitehead at the 33rd Annual Central Bank of The Bahamas’ High School Art Competition and Exhibition on November 18th. |
Curator of the DAF, Tessa Whitehead, presented Kerr with the $500 cash award describing the strength of the work’s commentary in all three paintings he submitted. Kerr’s overall theme dealt with the concern that The Bahamas is being sold out to Chinese interests.
Winning the Governor’s Choice award was Megan Rolle of C.V. Bethel and past overall winner of last year’s competition, Reagan Farrington of St Augustine’s College, won Honorable Mention.
All the winners of this year’s Central Bank High School Art Competition are students of dedicated and talented art teachers Preston Hanna, Charlthorn Strachan and Timothy Nottage of the Ministry of Education’s National Art & Craft After-School Enrichment Programme coordinated by Ms. Genevieve Richards.
Congratulations to all the students, art teachers and art programmes who work all year round preparing for this much anticipated competition each year. |
Undefined: New Works by Jodi Minnis at the University of The Bahamas
by NAGB
The Pro-Gallery at the University of The Bahamas (UB) will soon play host to an exhibition of work by emerging Bahamian artist Jodi Minnis, on the eve of her temporary departure from The Bahamas in pursuit of higher education. Minnis is a proud alumnus of The College of The Bahamas (COB) and will soon be transitioning to begin her Bachelor degree studies in Fine Art at the University of Tampa (UT). Minnis will undoubtedly be in good company, as this is where one of our well-established artists, Kendra Frorup, currently teaches.
‘Undefined’ is a series of abstract works by Minnis and presents a departure away from the storytelling and a more representational side of her practice, as she is more well known for her frank investigations into Bahamian womanhood. The work seemed to have developed of its accord, as is so often the case, where a work builds momentum and manifests in ways not initially anticipated. “Originally the work was done with the Central Bank competition in mind, but as I started doing the work, I just found that it was becoming something bigger than the competition and decided to expound on it.
“Entering the work as a standalone piece for the competition felt like a disservice to my practice. It just started to manifest as more than an investigation of material, and as something to help me define my approach as an artist and as a human being. In other ways, my place in the community.” Many of the works had a different life before they became part of ‘Undefined,’ and for Minnis, it represents much of the camaraderie and sense of community present amongst young artists working in the capital right now [...]” |
 Work by Bahamian artist Jodi Minnis for her upcoming “Undefined” show. | |  Work by Bahamian artist Jodi Minnis for her upcoming “Undefined” show. |
|
New Bahamian magazine “Ceiba”: Faithfully telling the Bahamian Story
Will Hubert Minnis and the FNM win the 2017 election? Was Barack Obama a great President? Where the VAT money gone? How are Doris Johnson students coping with Adonai Wilson’s tragic death? What’s it like living in Beijing, China for a year? Why did the Referendum fail?
You can find answers to these questions and more in the 2016 issue of The Bahamas’ newest online journal, Ceiba Magazine.
The magazine’s editor and publisher Ian Strachan feels that the magazine can help fill a void. He says the magazine was as much about creating more fulfillment in his own life as it was about enriching the lives of others. “The absence of the things we need to make our lives rich and meaningful is sometimes a gift, granting us the opportunity to create those very things. So it is with Ceiba Magazine.” Strachan says he just grew tired of reading in-depth journalism from other places in the world while not getting enough of it in his own country. |
 Dr Ian Strachan, Ceiba’s Editor & Publisher. |
“In-depth stories take a serious investment of time. The dailies seem to have determined that it’s not worth it. That’s regrettable. But I just felt that we had the writers who can do it and we have stories to tell; powerful stories, compelling and inspiring stories.” Strachan says Ceiba Magazine is based on a simple premise which is “Bahamian lives are every bit as amazing, as inspiring, as heroic, as complex, as valuable as any others in the world and those lives deserve to be chronicled. Chronicled with care and with excellence.”
Strachan says he approached the writers in this year’s issue but he’s not opposed to receiving submissions. The magazine is meant to cover every aspect of Bahamian life: politics, economy, society, culture, family life, sports, art, faith. “I’ve been asked what kind of magazine Ceiba is and my best answer is take Newsweek, Atlantic and Reader’s Digest and mash ’em together and that’s us.”
CLICK HERE to read first issue of Ceiba. |
Bahamian artist in Miami Art Week show
The work of Bahamian artist Dominique Knowles is currently being showcased in “Neo Global: A House for Mr. Biswas” – a curated snapshot of art, film, fashion and design within the contemporary Caribbean community in Miami presented by _space caribbean.
V.S. Naipaul’s novel introduced a post-colonial, pre-independence Trinidad to the world, with a vivid cast of characters whose frustrations, alienations, identity crises, longing, displacement, social adjustment, new conscious, dependence and otherness are as relevant in 2016 as they were in 1961.
Today’s Caribbean is still a place of contrasts. The young are increasingly global in their consumption and outlook as international borders, despite remaining rigid physically, are increasingly invisible in the digital landscape. What to one generation seemed like a conflicting choice between remaining in a local setting or living as an international expat, increasingly trans-global business practices and social customs have created a contemporary reality where what was once considered duplicitous and incongruous fuse to form an accepted single reality.
Today’s Caribbean Citizen works in Miami, trades with Asia, studies in London, and follows television programmes in New York via their high-speed connection in Kingston. So what of Mr. Biswas....? [...] |
 Bahamian artist Dominique Knowles (Photo: Popopstudios) |
Dominique Knowles is a Bahamian artist associated with Popopstudios in Nassau, Bahamas. Knowles will receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Studio from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2017. His work regards the internal environments of living organisms in relation to limitless spaces such as water and the atmosphere. He explores themes such as transcendence and multi-dimensionality, as well as elements regarding emotions and cerebral philosophies. He hopes to develop an interdisciplinary practice that incorporates timeless oddities such as painting, mundane materials of found-object-assemblages and video art of the Digital Age. Knowles is concerned about interactive art and material as efficient mediums for the artist and effective devices for the audience.
CLICK HERE for full details on exhibition. |
 Bahamian writer and educator Vera Chase |
Passing on a passion for writing
by Fay Knowles
When writer, storyteller, poet, published author and historian of the early Bahamas, Vera Chase, was requested by the Ministry of Education in 2011 to read to primary school students and encourage them to do the same, she said it was one of the most rewarding experiences of her life.
“I met students aged 10 to 12 who revealed the careers they aspired to – cardiologists, teachers, chefs, contractors, police officers, lawyers, and designers,” she said. “Our sessions ended with each child displaying their talent.”
Chase is passionate about children being well versed in Bahamian history and culture and “that they will write on par with international writers of their age, particularly with those in other Commonwealth countries.” She also hopes that “one day student writers, 7 to 17 years of age in the Family Islands, will have accommodation (a home) in Nassau, so they can travel to our capital for literary and cultural events.”
Chase is seeking partners/sponsors for this initiative and explained that teachers at the residence will concentrate on literacy, history and Bahamian culture. “This home will not only provide accommodations for students and parents, but there will be meeting rooms, a computer room, library, chapel and cafeteria. Also, gardens of vegetables and flowers...”
CLICK HERE for full story on Pg 17 of The Tribune Weekend. |
Job Opportunity: Chief Curator of
the National
Gallery of Jamaica
by ARC Magazine
Applications are invited to fill the post of Chief Curator at the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ), a division of the Institute of Jamaica (IoJ). The successful candidate will be responsible for the development and implementation of the education, outreach and curatorial activities of the NGJ. The deadline for applications is December 16, 2016.
Job Summary
Reporting to the Executive Director, the incumbent is responsible for the development and implementation of the education, outreach and curatorial activities of the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ), including but not limited to, acquisitions and display of the National Art collection and temporary exhibitions [...]
CLICK HERE for full details. |
Smith & Benjamin’s Bahamian Art & Culture eMagazine
Art & Culture were
created to uplift the
spirit of mankind.
Bahamian Art & Culture eMagazine
is an email magazine concentrating on the
art & culture of The Bahamas and the world around us. It is published once a week and is a service of Smith & Benjamin Art & Design, a design firm based in Nassau,
The Bahamas offering graphic design,
custom illustration, fine art, art marketing,
art brokerage and publishing.
Dionne Benjamin-Smith, Editor & Publisher:
dionne@smith-benjamin.com
Stephanie Shivers, Account & Office Manager:
stephanie@smith-benjamin.com |
|
|
|
|
