Galleries

“My mother was kind of new to art at that time, so she was in a process of discovery too, but it's a small space here. So, in terms of engaging with artists, it was a time in the Jamaican art ecosystem where there was a very strong kind of post-independence. I don't want to call it an impulse because it had longevity and sustainability over a long period of time. But this whole notion that we had to define ourselves. And there were opportunities for artists to go abroad and come back on scholarships, etc. So they were exposed to different things and a way to articulate Jamaica's history, identity, issues around race, urbanization, in a multitude of mediums. So that's the time of our masters, because they've all passed on now and they leave these amazing legacies. And it was a very vibrant market at that time. There was a real, post-independence kind of support for the arts, with the government as well as in the private sector. With their private collections as well. 

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[Opening & operating a gallery:] “There were a lot of galleries at that time. The gallery she bought into as a partnership was when we were hitting high school. I'm the eldest, so I was hitting high school age. I was going off to boarding school. My dad is British, so it was a difficult time for me. But I went off and then a couple years later my brother went off. I don't really know, to be honest, what propelled that, but I know there was an interest in the art itself, although she didn't know much. It was kind of exciting. And then another part of the business was framing. So the bread and butter of a business that can sustain another side of the business that's more enjoyable or certainly more creative. And so I don't know of anything specific if I'm honest. All the galleries used to have to function that way. You know, it's very hard in an economy like this to just sell art, or an artist's representation has never really been a thing because it's a small space. So it was very much artist-driven, gallery-driven, but artists would show at all the various galleries. But the galleries as a business couldn't really survive unless they had something else, you know, practical as a core income.The gallery closed just before COVID. The markets really changed, the landscapes really changed, the traditional way of functioning as an art gallery and the framing space really wasn't conducive anymore. And I wasn't in that business. I'd gone on to do Suzy Wong Presents from about 2017. So my mom was in that business probably from 1980 up until 2017-18.I would say prior to Gilou [Bauer], Pat Ramsey ran Mutual Gallery for many years as well. And she's amazing. And that was like the only corporate funded art space, so there was a lot of freedom there. They didn't really have to consider sales, which I think is always a plus in the arts because then you can show really interesting work.

[Impact of fewer galleries:] Locally speaking, that's one of my concerns, because there aren't young collectors coming up that have the kind of access or vision. Because the gallery spaces have kind of closed, and there isn't really anywhere to go to see works and shows. Maybe over the past 8, 10 years, it's been very artist driven, the exhibitions that happen. And that's changed the game somewhat. It's certainly changed the ecosystem. But for your everyday person who's interested in art, you can't go and schmooze around a gallery for an afternoon. There used to be so many spaces where you could spend a whole day gallery hopping, and see really different things and different artists and engage however you wish to engage, whether you just enjoy looking or if you're looking to acquire something. “

Susanne Fredericks | Director, Suzie Wong Presents (Curator, Investor, Collector)

 

“As a student, [going to] the Institute of Jamaica, there was an exhibition by Dr. David Boxer and Christopher Gonzalez, and it was over-the-moon extraordinary for me because I'd never seen anything like it. It was just skulls and bones and plaster of Paris and collections of odd objects, beautiful old objects, and all put together in cabinets and weird things. I'd never seen anything like it. So I definitely was inspired by that.

And then we had wonderful painters. Yes, back in the day when I was going to art school, there were exhibitions opening, galleries all over the place. Colin Garland, a surrealist who came from Australia and lived here, I mean he had a wonderful exhibition. He was one of my teachers. Winston Patrick probably got me into sculpture. He was a very inspiring teacher in the manner in which he saw things and taught.

 

We went to a lot of studios. Fitz Harrack. I went downtown to Everald Brown. I went to where he was doing his drumming nights. Very moving spiritual experience, seeing his earth floor and zinc walls and the drumming with his family.  These beautiful homemade guitars that they made. Extraordinary. Totally intuitive. Then there was Kapo. I went to one of his revival events.

So all of this was happening all around me downtown. So it isn't as vibrant now. I think it's harder for people. And artists tend to leave Jamaica and go abroad. Back in those days people were buying art. My parents collected art. People collected. So everybody was attending, and there was a buzz, and who could get to the best pieces first. Milton George. I mean, yeah, there was a big buzz happening. Bolivar Gallery. Olympia was definitely around. There was Barrington's Gallery. There was stuff happening.”

Laura Facey | Sculptor (Artist, Informal Teacher, Investor)

 

“There was a very important gallery called the Mutual Gallery that was just across the street from the institution. And we all had that sort of education as students to go to the exhibitions after school over there, because there is a sort of social learning that happens in the gallery space at the opening that you don't necessarily get in a classroom. And so once that institution died, it sort of affected how students understand what going to an exhibition was. And so that's also a major difference, I think, in the generations. Less people go to exhibitions, as students know, than certainly in my year.”

Phillip Thomas | Painter, EMCVA Lecturer, Curator (Arts Educator, Artist)

 

“I think you have to understand that because there are very few spaces in Jamaica for artists to exhibit in, the existing spaces are under pressure to accommodate everybody. And if you're a commercial gallery, then your incentive is to sell. You want to sell. Mutual Gallery was an incredible space in that when students left the Edna Manley College, this would be one of their first places that they would show. This would be their first professional show. And Gilou [Bauer] had a number of exhibitions that were sponsored where people would be free to enter. The business of the National Gallery is to collect specimens, the best specimens out there that are representative of art of Jamaica and of the wider Caribbean. And so it has to be representative of as many artists as possible. And with this collection, we educate and inform about Jamaica and the history of Jamaica through art. But it is not a commercial exhibition space in Jamaica.  We have the annual, the biennial, which invites artists from around the Caribbean, the diaspora and so forth, which was for people who had seen or acknowledged their own creativity during Covid. And incredible things came out of that. We have the JCDC Visual Arts Competition. Parts of it have been staged at the National Gallery of Jamaica. So it really has been able to showcase as broad a spectrum of artists as possible. Certainly we do have our problems with space and storage and so forth. And we have funding issues. You know, when you compare the budget of the National Gallery of Jamaica to a budget in a first world country, it's like chalk to cheese.

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We operate on a very small staff. The support mechanisms work overtime and double time just to put these incredible shows together. Were we the recipients of more funding, then all manner of things could happen. But I think they do extraordinarily well with the types of support that were given. And the response has been good.

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 [On what would encourage growth]: Exhibition space, for one. We do have the Olympia Gallery in town. The longevity of the gallery spaces in Jamaica is short-lived. On the North Coast we have the Joe James Gallery, which has been in existence since the 60s, but really only showcases Joe James' work. The Gallery Hoffstead in Negril. Courthouse Gallery in Ochi.”

Tamara Scott Williams | Founder of artephemera, NGJ Board, Previous 21 years LIfestyle Editor/Columnist Jamaica Observer (Policy Maker, Scholar, Critic)

 

“Two friends wanted to open a tea shop in Ocho Rios. Ocho Rios had just lost the art gallery at Harmony Hall, and this location in the old courthouse of Ocho Rios came available. It had been refurbished and they got in touch with the caretaker of the courthouse and suggested this business and they agreed. Kind of fitting that this was a historic building which has been preserved and protected by Jamaica's Heritage Foundation, and we are exhibiting totally Jamaican art. We don't handle any artists who are not either born Jamaican or if they're born from overseas they're actually living in Jamaica permanently. 

[Visitors to the gallery:] “It's a combination of visitors who are walking around Ocho Rios, or they are coming to Jamaica either on a cruise ship, or at a hotel they google art and we will pop up as an experience. Then we have local Jamaican residents who heard of us on Instagram. And then foot traffic,  people who just passed and said, ‘Oh the courthouse is open!’ Some people have come in for a court case. We have three different markets and some people just come to the cafe. They'll come for a coffee or a light meal and then they say, ‘Oh, there’s an art gallery and a gift shop,’ and they'll come and browse. It's a combination. But what I do enjoy is when people who are just passing by out of curiosity come in, and they say, ‘Oh wow, I didn't notice what's here,’ and then they get interested in the art. And they ask questions and I always ask them, ‘What's your interpretation of this piece?’ And I encourage them to really look at it and see what it says to them. So it's the prime location also for people who are not exposed to art all the time. It's so accessible. You can just come in and browse, take pictures, there’s lots of selfie-taking going on.

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[School groups:] Yes. We've been approached by school groups. In fact, I got a call, this teacher is organizing a group. And she wanted to know whether we would be open to it. And I said absolutely. These are actually primary school kids, so very young. So we need to know how many teachers, how many students, any parents. So we're open to that and we have a couple of school groups come in, primarily they're older secondary school students. So it gives them an exposure to the different styles that are out there. And it's heartening the number of young people who are coming in and looking at them and liking it, showing some interest. This gentleman brought his entire family one Sunday. He wanted his children exposed to art. And two of his daughters are budding artists. That I find is really exciting to know that there is an interest with all levels. And with young people who are not just interested in the computer and graphics that are computer generated, but want to see the tactile and your hands-on creation of their talent.“

Sonja Grifith | Manager, Courthouse Gallery (Local Gallery Manager) 

 

“Melinda came into my life at 2006. So there's pre-Melinda and after Melinda. Melinda took me from this little island girl in a little box, and she just expanded me. She fed me ideas about... It just wasn't about a piece of sculpture on a pedestal anymore. It was transforming communities... For instance, one of her first ideas that I thought was just mind-blowing was you go downtown in Kingston, and you know those buildings without ceilings or roofs or anything, you put a cocoa forest in there and misters misting it, and then you have a tea room on the side and you serve cocoa tea. That's very creative.

So for instance, Melinda came in and she put in the ramp that's there in the studio. And she made me dig down and make that little sunken area where the blue bounded peak is. And it was her idea to put the footpaths with the stepping stones and the mall. She created all of that. I mean, we do work together and I say, no, yes, more of this. But she's very good, and she takes a sculpture that I did that I had just lying on a table and she says, no, that needs to stand up. So she finds a block of wood and puts a hole there and balances on it. It's a whole new piece, you know. So she makes pieces spin, turns them on turntables. That's all Melinda Brown, not me. She created all those window forms in the vault. We call it the vault.”

Laura Facey | Sculptor (Artist, Informal Teacher, Investor)

 

“There was a very important gallery called the Mutual Gallery that was just across the street from the institution. And we all had that sort of education as students to go to the exhibitions after school over there, because there is a sort of social learning that happens in the gallery space at the opening that you don't necessarily get in a classroom. And so once that institution died, it affected how students understand what going to an exhibition was. And so that's also a major difference, I think, in the generations. Less people go to exhibitions, as students now, than certainly in my year.”

Phillip Thomas | Painter, EMCVA Lecturer, Curator (Arts Educator, Artist) 
 

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Competitions 

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[Art competitions advancing social value of art:]”Yes, it does. The JCDC [Jamaica Cultural Development Commission] is maybe the last institution left that present art, certainly outside of the realm of what we call more established artists that would show at the National Gallery, for instance. And so the people like Kingston Creative, I think, are doing an interesting job in bridging the gap between the people who have more established careers and the people who are closer to craft that sort of scene. 

[I judge for JCDC] once in a while. I'll help out with them. And it's also good to see what's happening in those sections of the art world. Because oftentimes people think that the art world is this one conglomerate. There's so many pockets and it's interesting to look at, to see what is happening in other worlds and compare and contrast between these different spaces.”

Phillip Thomas | Painter, EMCVA Lecturer, Curator (Arts Educator, Artist) 

 

“JCDC has a very wide constituency to deal with, and their mandate is really to promote our creatives. And they do it through a series of competitions for prizes and so forth. I would love, before we get to that competition level, a little developmental support. Competition is healthy, it really is. And JCDC has its part to play when it comes to that. But I also think that we need more space in terms of artistic development in schools. We need more outreach and communication about the value of art, what it does for your heart and soul and society and your mind. Art as therapy. We need a lot of information that says that artists provide a very, very valuable service. You know, [Karl] Parboosingh in ‘75 was talking about what the landscape of artists was at the time. And he talks about, in the midst of the newspapers telling us about the robberies and the shootings and the depravity that's going on there, there is a small group of artists that are working day and night to create things of beauty that can only enhance our lives. This is what artists do. And the true artist responds to that call from within. I need to paint. I need to write. I need to act. I need to dance. I need to sing. And I think they need to be supported. They need to be able to eat. And they're not necessarily doing it because they want to drive a fancy car.They're doing it because they are called to do it. You're called to be a teacher, you're called to be a doctor. You're called to be an artist. They have answered the call. How can we support them? They provide a very important role in society. And so it's not always about they must be okay because they drive a fancy car. But it's the way we honor them and it's the way we talk about them and it's the way that their work becomes a part of our daily life. And this is the encouragement and it's a snowball kind of thing.”

Tamara Scott Williams | Founder of artephemera, NGJ Board, Previous 21 years LIfestyle Editor/Columnist Jamaica Observer (Policy Maker, Scholar, Critic)

 

 “After I left secondary school, I decided that I want to step out into the art world. So I bought some materials and make some little painting on [cartridge] paper, put the glass over it and make some little frames. And I walk come to Ocho Rios, that was at Pineapple Craft Market. So I went there with my box on my head with about two dozen painting in it. Everybody saying, ‘Oh, art doesn't do good in here.’ And I said it's tourism, so I'm going to take my chance. Everyone was selling wood carvings, straw. I was the only one there doing painting in this big tourism area. So I laid out the work on the roadside and while they were still there doing their business, my two dozen paintings just gone! So I went back home and I started more. Woke up in the wee hours of the night, come back again. You know what happened — some of the shop owners came to me and said, ‘Can you make some paintings for us and sell them wholesale?’ One of the same shop owner that came out of his shop the day and told me, ‘You cannot stay here, you are in my shop doorway, you got to move.’ That same person come back to me. I said, ‘No no no no no I won't sell. No, you remember you run me off the place the other day?’ He said, ‘I'm sorry. Let's forget about that.’ So I turn and I said to him, ‘Well, I don't need your funds anymore. I'm getting bigger price on my work.’

 

You know what happened? We had an art exhibition that's about a year from that. So I entered the art exhibition. [This was] in the 60s, I was about 25. I entered [this] exhibition and won. It was the Ocho Rios Chamber of Commerce [that put on the art competition] and a lot of other business sponsored it. So every year they used to have the exhibition. So I won a prize, people get to know me, and they start coming, looking for me. So I find myself on about three medias. I was in the newspaper, I was on TV, and I was on the [radio] station KLS. They discontinued the exhibition. But as an artist you got to live on. 

 

An artist don't lean on business. You don't lean on how things are going on around you. Because art is within you, so you just work within yourself. You know that people are saying, ‘Time is so bad. What are we going to do?’ But as an artist inside you, there's a voice saying, ‘You're going to make it.’ [I paint] almost every day. When I started to sell paintings, everything just trigger off like a rocket. People just come in. And then you have another day again when everything is down. One day, two day, three day, you say, ‘Oh my art world has crumbled.’ But you learn to live with the time [and] a lot of patience because you see the ocean up there? You have rough sea, you have calm sea. You couldn't have constant rough sea all the while. You couldn't have constant calm sea all the while. Everything that happens in the ocean is for the benefit of nature. Because the sea cleanses itself by being rough. When the sea is rough, it's cleansing itself.  But you know what, the Jamaican government changes. You have in the Manley era, art was strong in Jamaica. Art was so motivating because Edna Manley (that was Norman Manley's wife), she was a great sculptor, a great Jamaican sculptor. But when she deceased, this art thing has become a mockery. Because all the great artists in Jamaica, you hardly hear anything about them again. It's like everybody goes down, down, down, down. The school now, visual art at the Edna Manley School of Visual and Performing, everything rise, like when you fertilize a plant so everything start to go up again. Yes, it's budding, budding quite well.”

Headley Thompson | Painter (Craft Artisan)

 

“I do remember at about age 11 or 12, I entered a flower show and I created a piece called ‘The Three Virgins.’ I took coconut fronds and I rolled them into cones, and I found seeds from palm trees and wherever. So I filled the cone shape with seeds. I seem to recall they were red ones as well as other colors. So there were these three triangular cone-shaped things that came to a point. They lay on the table, and they had all these seeds in them and they were called ‘The Three Virgins.’ Now where the heck that came from I have no idea, but I won an honorable mention, or you know what I mean, for something creative or whatever it is in the Flower Show. I got a little prize for creativity I think. I remember that. That would have been my first installation. And I never did anything like that again for many years. After that I went to drawing.” Laura Facey | Sculptor (Artist, Informal Teacher, Investor)

 

Associations

“...There are many competitions. Even this week, I had some students who participated in a career development poster competition. And one of my students got second place, with very brief notice. So we strive for that. The thing is that sometimes the notices are very short. So we don't get the chance to really show our stuff. The organizers of the events send emails, and they speak to the principals and the deans, and they get in contact with me. And I am also a part of the Art Teachers Association, and we have a WhatsApp group. So wherever there are competitions happening, I'm always privy to that information. Many years ago, teachers were marking CXC, and we had a meeting at Mico University College and formed an art teachers association. So just teachers from across Jamaica, and we have some teachers who have migrated who are still a part of the group. We share best practices. We share available job listings, fellowship, and we meet as artists and artisans there. [From] Edna Manley, Mico, visual art educators. So this group has 246 members.”

Stefan Harriott | Visual Arts Teacher, Dunoon Technical High School (Visual Arts Educator)

 

“What I would like to see happen is that as a tourism area, the artists come together and form an artist federation or a union where all the artists come together, and then from there the artists stage exhibition every year or every six months. Then you announce it. You announce it on the cruise ship, saying you’re going to have an exhibition running for one month or two weeks. And announce it on there because they had their media like on their big screen. You could see that and they come and they can turn up and enter the exhibition. Maybe not in the craft park here, then we stage a place in town where they can come. The craft park can’t hold it because exhibition is a place where you can’t have all the open pieces all around.  You have to focus. So you could form that, you can have all the artists come together and form a Federation.”

Headley Thompson | Painter (Craft Artisan)

 

“There’s sport associations, film associations, music associations. There is no association for visual artists.  And if there is not an association of visual artists, there is no way to show how big your army is. Because government does not deal on an individual basis. It deals with communities. And so I think the notion of having an insurance policy for creatives is very generous and very necessary. And I hope people are registering on the Jamaica Creative site. But I also wish that the visual artists community in particular had their own association so that they would deal with and advocate for, recognize our collective needs.”

Tamara Scott Williams | Founder of artephemera, NGJ Board, Previous 21 years LIfestyle Editor/Columnist Jamaica Observer (Policy Maker, Scholar, Critic)

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Social

“Coming from Australia, I'm surprised at how in the US, and I think it comes from the fact that there is no government support or funding for the arts, it's coming from philanthropy. But creative arts are all bunched together, so whether it's music performance, visual art, filmmaking, there's opportunities for artists to be in residence and have time away. Like residencies for me have been very transformative in my practice. I haven't done grad school. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Film Theory from the University of Sydney. And so when I decided I wanted to expand myself as an artist, I started looking at grad schools and was like, okay, this is a way that I can build community and there's knowledge gaps and things that I need. And it's just so expensive. It's just like, this is impossible. But I also just realized that I could probably do the same work in terms of building community, getting certain knowledge and information and getting a deeper understanding of the art world through residencies.

So I started applying to a lot of different residencies, and that's when I went to the Everglades, I went to Senegal, I did one in upstate New York, one in Michigan. And these have been really invaluable. I did one on Fisher's Island in Connecticut. Sometimes they go for a month, sometimes six weeks. And I'm with other artists who are at different stages of their career. We have studios, and then we come together and we're living in a house together and sharing meals together and sharing time and space. And it's even different from meeting someone at an opening, because you're suddenly in this intimate space where you feel more open and more vulnerable and you're happy to share. And it's in those moments where I've built really strong relationships.

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I've started to build an ecosystem of other creatives who are now friends and colleagues and peers and potential collaborators. There's a feeling of community there, which is really beautiful. But the fact that these residency programs are giving space to filmmakers, writers, architects, dancers, choreographers, poets, different art forms and bringing us together, has been really exciting for me and opened up my mind.  Even though film has been my main medium, it's something that I want to expand upon now. And if I was working in Australia as an artist with a film practice, I wouldn't be privileged to the same opportunities and my practice wouldn't be seen as a visual arts practice.I haven't had to pigeonhole what I'm doing in the same way. It can just be a creative practice, which is really nice. 

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In Jamaica the arts aren't funded by the government. It's not like there are resources allocated in Australia. But in Jamaica and in the U.S., these are set up through philanthropy.  There's wealthy people who need tax breaks, who will put their money towards artist residencies, and it's not just because they need tax breaks, but that's a benefit, but [they are] people who feel passionately about supporting arts. That doesn't exist in the same way in Jamaica, which is why understandably people feel like they have to protect any opportunity or their career from someone else trying to extract or take. And that's really, really hard.

I don't know what the solution for that is, but ultimately changing the larger sort of mindset, nurturing art and bringing, coming up together, kind of creating more opportunities so more people can benefit. Ultimately this is beneficial for everyone. International connections can provide resources or retreats or time away that privilege artists who are on the ground in Jamaica, but also connect them with larger international networks and fellow artists so that they can be in exchange on the ground. More of a commercial gallery scene where people can actually be selling. It means that art becomes a viable vocation where you don't have to be feeling like you have to move away to continue your art practice full time.”

Ania Freer | Film maker (Artist, Sales Platform)

 

“I share residencies, if opportunities come up for artists, if someone approaches me. We have a lot of connecting people, networks. If they need an introduction, I'll do it. In terms of artists, anything I do carries a professional process, which I think of as preparing them for opportunities beyond. So, whether it's consignment agreements, whether it's exhibition contracts and timelines and a commitment to when things will be happening and how you work, essentially. Because it's very difficult to be good at everything, but there are certain skills you have to have as a practicing artist rather than just sustaining your practice in your life. I do make myself completely available for advice on pricing. If young artists are out there and they really don't know how to price work, I'm always there for a conversation. I can advise, explain how it works and trajectory and certain kind of signposts along the way on how prices change and why they change and why it's important to be accessible when you're young and to have visibility within institutions and people's homes. So it's multifaceted, but often it's very informal. It's literally by email, ‘Hey, I'm coming to Jamaica, this is who I am, blah, blah. This is the work I'm doing. Could you suggest connections?’ And then I'll make the intro email, wherever I think it works. We had a few people come here for the opening of the Biennial. I did a whole day of going to see a couple of shows, going to a collector's house, like one of Jamaica's best collectors, Wallace Campbell, so that they could really see some amazing historical work. And then an exhibition opening of a fabulous artist in the evening, so they had a great day.

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[Collectors’ engagement / encouraging future collectors:]”Well there used to be more. Now collections, they're not as many. So Wallace Campbell, he passed. The art’s in his home and his son lives there and he's very generous in allowing me to bring people in to show and he understands the importance of that. Collector visits are really not a norm here. David Boxer used to be very generous as well with people coming to his home to see the collection and to talk and kind of cultivate people's understanding, and you know narratives around the historical kind of record, and who was who, and why these artists are together in this room. And he was very passionate and very very generous with his knowledge. But that's no longer the case. He passed away seven or eight years ago. No, collectors generally don't open their homes. In Miami, you have the collector's dinner. And we went to Mexico last year and there was a collector's kind of gathering. And it is really interesting, but I suppose we just haven't had that kind of cohort come here to be able to do that. And in terms of younger people, I don't have a physical space, so I don't really have those conversations with people that are interested unless they reach out directly to me. And then I share mine, maybe a friend of mine who's a continuing collector.

Susanne Fredricks | Director, Suzie Wong Presents (Curator, Collector, Investor)

 

“I'm just doing something that I feel is needed. Kids need a space. I just thought that I grew up in community centers. Every day I was at a community center after homework, or if there was no homework, go to the center. So coming home and seeing that there's very little of that here. There's not much avenues for the kids after school and being in art and trying to set up a business. I said this is not gonna only be a business, especially when I found out that I'm from the community. I said no, I have to give back.  Giving back would be the way of having a center and having kids come in and have visitors come in and have workshops with the kids. We have a lot of that here. We have groups from Pennsylvania, groups from New York, groups from all over come here and sometimes they look on the Instagram page or the Facebook page and they would love to have kids here. You know, when they visit, that they could give away things or have treats with them. There's a lot of artists throughout the years that have passed through. 

Each one teach one… because I didn't know about this method. And I couldn't just take it up on my own and say, ‘I'm gonna build an oven, I'm gonna try this.’ I had to be taught it. And I was taught it for like several months before I started engaging it myself. But it's effective and it's traditional. It was done before our parents' parents' time. And it's still carrying on right now today. They still fire it that way.

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….I have to go back to history. History plays a significant part in our future. You go around some artists and some of them really don't have that mindset of each one teach one. It's all about self and it's how much more I could gain than you. And not everybody is going to be on that ship. But if you personally don't want to be on that ship and you see others are on that ship, even if you don't feel to be like a well-wisher, but I think it's best to let that ship sail. Because we need more of that here in Jamaica. In the art world, artists are very funny people. We tend to be shy and we tend to be, some of us, a little bit too self-centered. And some of us don't want to share and spread the love. And I think in this industry, I think it's so important that we spread that love and share that unity and each one teach one.”

Garfield Williams | Founder, Trench Town Ceramics (Craft Artisan, Curator, Collector, Investor)

 

…Especially in a Caribbean origin making household, it's not spoken about that people can make a career out of art. It's more the traditional job of lawyer, doctor, or this and that. But it's almost never considered as a way of art being viable or sustainable. And I could see where that's coming from. Some days even for me, being a professional artist, it's not easy. One of my driving forces for why I do art talks to young students who are interested in art is to let them know there's multiple ways to make income as an artist. And it's often not shown or people don't even know of these ways. So that's why I make it a thing where I'm looking into those ways to show people, like, ‘This is how I did it. You can do it too.’ Because I've been dedicating my life to art for over 10 years now. So I feel like I have some advice.

The other thing I would say is, this may be controversial to say, but I realize that art, especially in Jamaica, it could come off as a way of classism. Not art specifically, but the happenings or events surrounding art could be dividing people because of classism.  There's a notion of only certain people go to art events, and only certain people can appreciate art or understand it. But I'm making it a responsibility of mine to invite any and every walk of life to my art shows and get those notions out of the way. So anyone could feel like they're welcome and they can enjoy art, especially because the Jamaican work I make, it showcases community, showcases memories that anyone living in Jamaica or the diaspora or the Caribbean can connect to this work. And why not make the showcase of the work inviting for those people to see their culture in this way?

So I firmly believe that there needs to be work done from the artists, the gallery owners, to make those spaces more inviting, based on who they're inviting, and based on who they're connecting, to let people know that the show exists. Like going into the schools, going into those small businesses to let those people know, here is artwork that shows our culture and you can relate to it as well. It's not just about wine or fancy hors d’oeuvres or anything like that. It's really about connecting people with shared memories. And that's it for me. I love to push forth and invite it. All walks of life. I invite the taxi drivers, the barbers I meet, the working class people, because they need, they love good things too. So that's my whole notion of, there’s just this thing of maybe classism and it’s dividing people when it comes to art.”

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“...[Hold] events that teach and showcase why and how artists do what they do. Opening up the space to turn it into an opportunity for education. Teaching people this is how you should look at art, or this is how you can open up your mind when you're looking at art. And then the artist's explaining, ‘This is what I meant when I drew this. This is what I meant when I did it this way. This is how you can approach it as well.’ I think a lot of Jamaicans are also afraid that people are just gonna steal and recreate. And so they're afraid. We're afraid to share knowledge because we feel like it's our crabs-in-a-bucket mentality. We feel like if we share too much someone else is gonna take it. ‘I'm gonna make a better thing out of it.’ I feel like that stunts growth, and we shouldn't be afraid to share knowledge because the truth is everyone has a different mindset and no one thinks the same. We may follow each other, yes, but we all have different experiences and we all do different things and do things a different way. We're very complex in that sense. So I don't think we should be so afraid to share knowledge. And if we start opening up that dialogue of sharing, we can open up spaces for community and support. And we could do that through educational learning. So I'd say continuing to support each other. Have artist talks, discuss, have open conversations, explaining to people why you create what you do. And don't leave it up to mystery. A lot of artists relish the idea of their mysteriousness and their artwork speaking for itself. I don't feel that way, and I guess that's the graphic design, the communicated part of me realizing that people who are viewing these art pieces, a lot of them do not understand what's going on. Artists may think people do, but they really don't, and make it their duty to try and explain a bit more. Because when you explain something that someone's looking at, you open up more opportunities for people to have a personal connection to something. And that's why I do artist talks. That's why I create the work I make. So people who view the work can be invited to have that personal connection to it. And I feel like that will open up more people to get more involved in the space.”

Acquille Dunkley | Visual Artist, 3D animation, creative director (Artist)

 

“Now here's my predicament. Over the years I have realized that the word collaboration is sort of a no-no when it comes to people. They keep everything very close to their chest. I don't know for what reason, but they want to unfortunately just grab and eat all of the pie. Either you'll get indigestion or you'll get diarrhea. And at the end of the day, you won't end up eating the whole of the pie. There's as much as you can eat and no more. But for some reason people are holding things close to their chest. So if something is happening, we don't know. And I have had experiences where I can't even talk to anybody because it's unfortunate that people will listen to your ideas, shoot them down, say this is not practical. Wake up tomorrow morning, they are running the same ideas, passing it off as their own. So you have to be very careful how much you reveal to anybody, how much interaction you have with anybody, and how much you try and create those collaborative efforts. And what also happens is that even if you try to collaborate, you're left to do everything. That's unfortunately that ‘soon come’ mentality, which I learned very early when I came here. People say ‘soon come’ like at the drop of a hat, which could mean next 15 minutes or it could mean next 550 years. And the latter is mostly the case. Just forget about it, it's not gonna happen. So that is what it is, that disconnect and that lack of coherence, that lack of collaboration. Let's face it, it's a very small place. Jamaica is not a huge country. “ Amitabh Sharma | Arts & Education Editor for The Gleaner (Critic, Curator, Collector, Investor)

 

“I was born in St. Thomas, grew up in Manchioneal. And when I was in Manchioneal, I used to work at a boxing plant making banana boxes. And after the 1980 hurricane, the first one I know named Allen, come and blow the banana down, so I didn't have any work to do. So I start go to sea to dive shell and take the conch out to cook. One day a lady passed through Manchioeal and saw me with a conch shell, and told me that she's from Port Antonio and tourists buy shells in Port Antonio. 

But after coming to Port Antonio, I see other guys doing carving and I get to understand the carving selling better than the shell. So what I do is I watch the carver, Calvin McQueenie, and the other carver they called Rush.  I watched them and then tried to do my own work. So the first set of work I come with, it was very ugly but I keep trying every day. I'm not perfect now but I still improve a lot. So even those carvers that I used to watch see what I make, and they start to congratulate me. So I'm coming from conch shell to all these crafts you see me have. But I determined in business because sometimes no business. But I still have faith and patience and work and know there's a better day to come. So anybody I'm encouraging you not to give up. Anything you try, you don't give up on it. There's bad day and a good day. All you have to do is keep the faith and ask God to protect and guide you. So bless up everyone. I'm 68 now. So between 20 or 20 plus [when I started]…I didn't know anything about tourists. So when I come to Port Antonio, [it was] the first I see white people…They have ship used to come in, Star Prince and some other ship.Those ship carried like 400 or 500 people…But you know what? I didn't know how to even talk to tourists. So the guy there they come around and sell the shell for me. And if they even get $5, they give me $2. So I was very happy because it was like I [was] going to a school and start learn. So when I adopt the principle from them how they deal with tourists and how they handle them self, I one day I just tell them say, ‘Okay I will do my business myself.’”

Girvan “Rock Bottom” Rhoofe | Wood Carver (Craft Artisan)

 

“We have found that in order to get things done, there are something like 20 different government agencies that we have to deal with. It's very difficult to do. You have to liaise with the municipal authorities, the city authorities, the National Heritage Trust, the land agency to get information, to use certain buildings. And there's all of these various entities that you have to interface with. So it's quite possible for other organizations to pop up, and we'd really love that, but you have to be very determined. And we also work closely with the Creative Cultural Industries Alliance, which is the groupings of film, literary, music, all of these various associations that come together. We try to talk to one another so that we create a synergy between the various sub-sectors of the creative and cultural industries. So that you don't have one umbrella organization over here doing something that maybe competes or clashes with the dates for what film is doing over there.”

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“When we were actually launching phase four, we invited the artists to talk about their experience. Some of them told the audience that they were amazed that people would walk by as they were painting and say to them, ‘You have no idea how you have changed my life. I never even used to like to walk through here, or I used to be so depressed on my way to work.’ So there's that difference in terms of social well-being and mental wellness. But then it has made a tremendous difference too in terms of the footprint and the traffic coming through here, which obviously has to have an impact on the businesses. So if you have a small restaurant, cafe or bar, there are more people in the area frequenting your businesses. There's a lady's bar that's up the road that has a nice Red Stripe mural on it. And we actually have a video of her on YouTube talking about the fact that since the murals, and in particular her mural, people that didn't notice her business stop in. We wanted to be able to drive that kind of economic impact. We work in 20 different communities. So we work very closely with communities and we support a lot of their initiatives. 

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The closest thing to an outreach is a project that is just about wrapping up. And this is a climate change art park that we restored and relaunched last year. This was park in downtown Kingston on the south side in Parade Gardens, which was completely overrun, abandoned. It was in such a terrible state that the community residents could barely even get into the park. So it was really not utilized. There was a caretaker there, an older gentleman, who really tried but it was so overwhelming. A Feral Commons, which was part of the Global Cultural District Networks, were doing a project in which three different countries could participate: Dubai, South Africa, and Jamaica. And it was looking at a project and how could you turn it into something that was public art but also create sustainability for the community. And so that's what we use that funding to do, clean up the park, deliberately leaving part of it feral. But by cleaning it up, it allowed us to bring in an artist to do an art installation of a mural. We got donations of swings and slides and installed a stage so that the community can use it, now activate it for events and activities from which they can raise revenue. The poets may go there, musicians. We will wrap up funding it, but we think we have put them in a position where they will know how to leverage the space. We also did workshops with them. We brought in Hope Gardens to talk to them about the different herbs and plants and how they can be used. We brought in Jamaica Environment Trust to talk to them about environment in general. And then we also did a place making training with them along with the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, telling them how you do you use your assets to do creative place making and leverage that.”

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“I attended a conference in 2017, Imagine Kingston, about different disciplines or fields in the creative and cultural industry. How would you re-imagine Kingston if you had to transform it? And that was where I first heard the presentation by Kingston Creative of their vision for revitalizing downtown Kingston through culture and the arts. And I thought, what an excellent idea. Many, many people and entities have talked about reformation of downtown Kingston over the years, over decades, and I hadn't really seen anything happening. So when I started to see the signs of things happening, later in 2017 or early 2018, I was like, this is actually happening once a month, I would come down with my family and with friends. F&B downtown restaurant was always very supportive and you'd have meetups and talks. And then on the Sunday it would be one volunteer mapping out our route to take us to somewhere in downtown Kingston, so that we start to feel comfortable in the space. So we’d go to National Gallery. I'd never been to the National Gallery. We go to the Institute of Jamaica. And then after a while, it grew. So then the National Gallery would have things on a Sunday to which we were invited, or you'd have Institute of Jamaica putting on an art showcase over there on East Street. [Say] it's architecture month, so they would use an abandoned building and allow the UTECH students to go set up an architecture exhibition. And I started to come to all of those events. My last Sunday of the month was sacred because it was Kingston Creative day. So I was really passionate about not just the creative and cultural industries, but about the idea of reclaiming downtown Kingston so that it wouldn't become this place everybody was afraid of.” We got good crowds. 

Janet Crick | Deputy Director, Kingston Creative (Curator, Collector, Investor)

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