Popopstudios ICVA begins offering adult classes Starting in the new year, those interested in pursuing art or building upon their artistic practice and dialogue can do so at four art classes being offered by Popopstudios International Center for the Visual Arts.

The move to develop the educational component of the Center comes upon the heels of their recently receiving not-for-profit status as well as status as an International Center for Visual Arts, developing their standing as a community of artists that come together to create and dialogue about their artistic practice in a space that is aware of its standing in the wider regional and international art world.

The idea now, moving forward, explains Director John Cox, is to begin taking steps to develop a comprehensive schedule of classes and make Popopstudios International CVA an art school of sorts to outwardly develop that art community and awareness.

“Since 1999, we’ve been a space that is about the critical aspect of making art, about creating a platform for people to be able to really make work and dialogue about the process and the actual details of the process and discipline, and put it into context throughout the region and the broader conversation,” explains Cox.

“How we achieve that is to focus on exposure and education. Unlike many gallery spaces, our goal is not to sell a lot of art; it’s to inform the public about art production, art history, and art criticism.”

Such an institution would give the public an advanced level of art instruction, especially to those who may want to pursue art classes as an alternative to those offered at the College of The Bahamas, or build upon those classes already taken, or take a class not offered by the institution.

For example, points out Popopstudios Education Officer Katrina Cartwright, one of the classes they’re offering, “Woodworking for Women: Building Boxes” with instructor and local artist-in-residence Margot Bethel, provides instruction in a specialized art subject for a specific audience—which is something not found at the associate’s program in art at the College of The Bahamas.

“There’s not a whole lot of exploration in the arts there because you have to fit so much exploration into just two years,” says Cartwright, who is a part time instructor at COB.

“There are also a few limitations with the programming at COB and I think that those students who are interested in doing other things outside of the institution just don’t have the opportunity.”

It’s also a grand opportunity for local artists to teach part time classes in their field outside of a rigid administrative structure. The classes being offered in this first semester—which besides Bethel’s class also include “The Art of Drawing” with John Cox, “Printmaking: A Beginner’s Look” with Holly Parotti and “Sculpture: Revealing the Portrait” with Katrina Cartwright—feature local artists who are involved in other schools, galleries and administrations coming together to build a community of artistic awareness for their students.

“What I tried to accomplish through this program is to offer opportunities to artists not just through Popop but outside of Popop to come in and act as instructors in the disciplines they work in regularly,” explains Cartwright.

“Ultimately it’s about getting trained professionals to come in and instruct people and get them to learn something more about a discipline or get training they normally wouldn’t get.”

Indeed, this is only the beginning—the plan is to offer more classes each of the three twelve-week semesters per year in a variety of subject matters. As Cox points out, Popopstudios International CVA has connections with other educational institutions—such as the Rhode Island School of Design, George Mason University and soon the University of North Iowa—and hosts several international artists- in-residence per year alongside local artists-in-residence, giving them the potential to offer specialized classes by international teachers.

Not only would this give Popopstudios CVA and Bahamian art and artists international exposure, but also give the Bahamas a louder voice and presence in the international art world.

Yet Cox points out that this development in no way directly competes with or dismisses the art program or art courses offered by the College of The Bahamas—in fact, he hopes it acts as an opportunity to further develop the local conversation about arts into an international one and to include more people in that discussion.

“COB should be encouraged to be a more central part of this contemporary visual conversation,” says Cox, who teaches several art classes at the institution.

“I don’t think we have been much in the past integrated into this conversations to the level we should be. I can understand why with the administrative issues, but the benefit when we do a program like this here is that [we] can make connections, fill gaps for people, and ultimately build a critical mass because everyone’s a part of it, the collective intelligence.”

Indeed, the classes aren’t just for art students—as both Cox and Cartwright point out; no matter the age, one can be a student of art and attend classes at Popopstudios. In this first semester, all classes are either in the evening or on Saturdays to give those from the general public in a 9-to-5 routine the opportunity to pursue a passion or creative outlet. It adds to their already existing children’s art classes that foster a love and appreciation of arts from a young age.

“I think that the best art from the best artists don’t come out of a vacuum, they come out of these communities where there’s a fabric that’s very well-developed in terms of institutions that support the development of these disciplines, and really that’s what we’re trying to do,” says Cox.

For more information on class descriptions, schedules and costs, check out www.popopstudios.com, e-mail popopstudios@gmail.com or call 322-7834.

Sonia Farmer The Nassau Guardian Arts & Culture Published: November 12, 2011

Read more Comments Off on A New Art Institution

A sophisticated evening at Art Albany promotes local art

Last Friday evening, Albany residents and Nassau residents alike flocked to the luxury resort community to take part in the second ‘Art at Albany’, which showcased artwork from eleven local practicing artists in the deluxe cabanas around the Azul Pool.

On the heels of their first successful run earlier this year, the event is primarily an attempt to bring artists and the Albany community together to foster commissions and client relationships for the newly- constructed homes.

The luxury resort Albany hosted the second “Art at Albany” event, curated and organized by their art director, Gillian Watson. A group of Bahamian artists displayed their work in the deluxe cabanas around the Azul Adult Pool, allowing them to make connections with guests and residents of the Albany community. Photos: Edward Russell III

“As a new development we have now close to forty homes done, and in five years we’re going to have another one hundred or so done. That’s a lot of vacant walls,” points out Managing Director of Albany Jason Callender.

“So for those people to tap into local artists to fill their walls with Bahamian art is a big goal of mine.”

Indeed, points out Art Director of Albany Gillian Watson, the exchange would be beneficial to both parties and boost the local creative economy—especially as The Bahamas has so much to offer by way of locally produced art.

“We really wanted to create a space that we could promote local art so that when we had all these people building houses that needed to be furnished, they knew that there was a really beautiful, readily-available and vast set of art that was all different,” she says.

“We try to stay away from the stereotypical Bahamian art and really show people that we have a young, thriving creative art community.”

Against a backdrop of soothing tunes by the band “Jazz Etc.”, the eleven artists on display shared paintings, photography and sculpture in a variety of eye-catching aesthetics. In each cabana guests could view work by the artist and speak in depth with the artists themselves.

“I tell the artists that the evening is not about selling art, but about creating an intimate space where you can meet clients, show your portfolios, get to have a sense of what it is that you’re doing,” explains Watson. “I think that is almost more important than what artists are actually creating—the sense of the artistic vision and intention and story, and it makes the sale sometimes.”

The artists themselves—some of them second-time exhibitors—found the evening to be hugely helpful not only in making sales but also just in speaking with a different group of people about their artistic practice.

“I love the fact that Albany allows local artists to come and display their work,” says artist Anthony Morley. “The atmosphere, the ambiance, the set-up and the opportunity to sell to people who are actually art buyers and lovers, who can appreciate the high level of art here, means this is a good place to be.”

“I’m glad that my work will get exposure to people I don’t normally have contact with,” agrees artist Margot Bethel, who also points out that the event is also a great experience for local residents to attend as well.

“I’ve already had people who I do know see things they haven’t seen before. It’s exposure across the board—exposure to new clients, exposure to existing clients.”

Indeed, to hold such an event among the gorgeous grounds of the resort community allows for a sophisticated and elegant but laid-back atmosphere for such exchanges to take place.

“This place lends itself to a great vibe,” says Jason Callendar. “It’s a very special place. In my mind, Albany is a work of art.”

“I love the fact that we also have a bunch of local Bahamians who come out and see what we’ve done here at Albany, because people talk about it and not many people know that we exist, and if they do, there are a whole bunch of preconceptions that probably aren’t true,” he continues. “We want to embrace the local community.”

Sonia Farmer The Nassau Guardian Arts & Culture Published: November 12, 2011

Read more Comments Off on Popop Artists At Albany Art Show

Years ago, the late Brent Malone often called upon the Bahamian government to reevaluate the 45% duty on imported art supplies.

Since then, musicians, Junkanoo artists and even printing companies have received concessions or had the duty removed completely to continue doing the work they love and which contribute to the cultural development of The Bahamas.

Now one artist has taken up the cause so often talked about within the art community and submitted a petition as a proposal to the government to remove the high cost of importing art supplies.

“It was something that as practicing artists we need and deserve,” says Dionne Benjamin-Smith, who began gathering signatures for the petition over year ago.

“I mean, have you ever tried to buy a tube of paint here? It’s beyond what people can afford.”

Indeed, the cost of high-quality art supplies means that the resulting artwork is often very expensive. Add to that the fact that duty tax on foreign completed artwork imported into the country is only 10%, and it’s no wonder over 500 people—local and abroad—including almost every local practicing artist, signed the petition in support of changing this skewed dynamic.

“I went about it by way of petition because I thought it would have more significance if the artists were behind it,” Benjamin-Smith explains. “All artists, bar none, supported it.”

“The emotional reaction was very passionate—even non-artists supported the idea that visual artists are a huge part of the creaion of culture and voice of the nation and represent the Bahamas as ambassadors while abroad.”

Though high duty on foreign imports is meant to encourage buying locally-made products, as many artists know, almost no locally-made products exist—there are no Bahamian-made acrylic or watercolor paints or even high-quality paper—so why have the duty in place?

As many small businesses run by artists already apply for concessions directly through the Ministry of Finance, Benjamin-Smith makes an argument in their appeal with the petition that to give concessions to roughly 300 more locally practicing artists would hardly make a dent financially. In fact, it may increase benefit to the economy, as artists could lower the cost of their work significantly and perhaps sell more pieces at reasonable prices.

“Artists can come to the Ministry of Finance and prove that they are a professional artist by the work that they do, show that they’re paying national insurance and show that if they have a small business that their business licence is up to date,” she says.

“If they show them the list of things they’ll need for that year, then they can give them concessions that year for those things. That’s something the government is already doing, so they can do it for 300 people if the artists that apply are well-organized—it would be up to the artist.”

In case there was any question as to what constituted “art supplies”, Benjamin-Smith also submitted an extensive and detailed list of supplies varying from paint to material for sculpture to even letterpress printing equipment based on the suggestions she received through the petition itself. She even specified art supplies that teachers would purchase for their students.

Lifting the duty on such supplies would have far reaching effects beyond financial gain for artists themselves and promoting locally made artwork. Not only would it encourage artists who travel abroad to study their craft to come and practice at home, but it would then in turn develop and enrich the cultural landscape, making The Bahamas a top destination in cultural tourism.

Indeed, it is time for the government to show that they are behind the arts and therefore behind such important cultural development for our future.

Benjamin-Smith points out that when they significantly invested in arts and culture years ago—through the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas—it initiated a renaissance of art and culture across the board with a slew of gallery spaces, workshops and a wave of emerging artists. Yet that was over a decade ago and art needs another push to continue flourishing at the level it has grown.

“The government constantly calls on artists and cultural figures to support their programs and yet they’re hardly giving anything back,” she points out. “We represent our country on a world stage but we don’t have the support to do so.”

Though the petition has closed a year after opening for signatures with a total of over 500 voices of support, it now awaits consideration and hopefully approval in 2012 through Benjamin-Smith’s efforts and help from Antonius Roberts. Now all the art community can do is wait and hope for the positive outcome that can push this country in the right direction culturally.

“I’m very hopeful that even if there is not a total eradication, at least the stamp tax will be removed,” says Benjamin-Smith. “I feel very positive about it.”

Sonia Farmer, The Nassau Guardian Arts & Culture Published: November 12, 2011

Read more Comments Off on Artists Petition To Remove Duties On Art Supplies

Bahamian Artist Profile: Heino Schmid Visual Artist

Heino Schmid

“The context of much of my work is concerned with narrative and the reconsideration of personal stories in the public forum. Using a variety of media such as video, drawing, installation and photography, I investigate the often simple, sometimes irrelevant encounters and collisions between people and their environments.

“Although I strive for universal metaphors, I approach each body of work in a very personal way. Using self-referential experiences as an avenue to illuminating collective experiences, I hope to reveal the subtle social dramas that inform social dynamics and ultimately bring those realities to the forefront for discussion.”

– Heino Schmid

The video and photographic documentation of Bahamian-born artist Heino Schmid is derived from the artist’s own experiences and immediate environment. By incorporating and recontextualizing found materials, Schmid is able to question the inherent conflicts of social and personal boundaries and how divisions are created by these conflicts. Often, the artist uses elements of performance, which allows the work to contain a distinct narrative. Elements of nature are also used as objects of observation and as environments to contain other works.

Heino Schmid was born in 1976 in Nassau but spent from ages two to eight living in Germany, from where his father hails. Schmid turned to art after completing a finance degree at the College of The Bahamas (COB).

Schmid worked for two days at a bank before realising that this was not the life for him. “It just wasn’t right,” he says. “So I did the most opposite thing that I could think of and signed up for an art class with [noted Bahamian artist Antonius] Roberts at COB. I guess that’s how I make a lot of decisions. If something isn’t working I just try the opposite…”

Schmid recalls that he would always doodle in his accounting books and notebooks and when Roberts asked to see his portfolio, that’s what he had to offer.

“He was not very impressed and I was only allowed to take a summer class, which was fine,” says Schmid with a laugh.

After COB, he enrolled in the Savannah School of Art and Design [SCAD], where he completed a BFA Degree in Photography.

After SCAD he worked at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas for over a year before receiving the Harry Moore Memorial Scholarship in the Arts from the Lyford Cay Foundation in 2005. With this scholarship, Schmid went on to complete his Masters in Fine Arts at the Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design in the Netherlands.

Schmid has held and participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions around the world including The Bahamas, Trinidad, UK, The Netherlands, Germany, and the United States. He has also been a recipient of a number of prestigious awards including The Commonwealth Connections International Residency Award in 2009, The Endowment for The Arts Award for Graduate Studies in 2005, The Lyford Cay Foundation Scholarship and The June White Portfolio Scholarship, both in 2000-03.

In addition to his own practice, he is Lecturer Professor for the School of Communication and Creative Arts at the College of the Bahamas; curator of the Central Bank of the Bahamas Art Gallery; and Co-exhibitions Director of Popopstudios Centre for the Visual Arts, a non-profit artists’ co-op where he also holds a studio.

Source: Smith & Benjamin’s Bahamian Arts & Culture No. 60 : 11.10.11

Friday November 11 and Saturday, November 12, 2011

In keeping with the theme of the Kendal Hanna Restrospective Exhibition, “Happy Birthday to Me,” now on at the NAGB, the Gallery is hosting two events – On Friday, a documentary film which delves into the relationship between the mind and the creation of art entitled “Crazy Art” and on Saturday, an Art Workshop entitled “In the Likeness” moderated by artist Toby Lunn. The film is a compelling documentary on the role of creative expression in recovery from mental illness and the workshop seeks to demonstrate the process, materials and techniques utilized by The Bahamas’ most prolific abstract expressionist – Kendal Hanna.

To reserve your spot in the Saturday workshop, please contact Ms. Morris at the NAGB at Tel: (242) 328-5800/1

Read more Comments Off on Kendal Hanna Themed Events At The NAGB

In Heino Schmid’s new collection of work, “we’re all innocent when we dream”, this duality between asleep and awake, peace and tension and right and wrong comes to the surface.

“I always liked the phrase and I decided to call the show that before I decided on any of the work,” explains Schmid. “I thought the title would give me a door to kind of walk through.”

“When you think of the phrase, there’s a way of flipping it: When we’re awake, we could be guilty—that there’s a certain guilt to being awake,” he continues. “So there’s this great double quality to the text which I thought was interesting.”

Indeed, Schmid’s work approaches this duality through both image and text, probing beneath a seemingly placid surface. In the relatively cozy gallery space of Cube West, he hopes to present a variety of emotional landscapes for viewers to bring their own preoccupations.

On the walls sit large bodies of text that at times command, at times comfort, and at times defend. The ubiquitous phrase “The devil made me do it” is deconstructed and reconstructed again, bringing forth a mantra of self-absolvency. What was done is never stated—it is not really important, for this admission of guilt sets a tone here that is further explored in his visual work.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about text and the power of the way text can be almost visual and the disparity between the juxtaposition of words,” Schmid says.

“I want a visual duplicity in the way that you can scope out the exhibition and take it in as a whole but somehow make the work engaging enough for people to also go in and really participate on an individual level with the work.”

Source: Sonia Farmer, The Nassau Guardian Read the full article

Read more Comments Off on Heino’s Show Opens

Read more Comments Off on Negative Space

Heino Schmid presents his new collection of work.

“To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub,” bemoans Shakespeare’s Hamlet in a soliloquy at the height of his mental and emotional anguish in the play.

Though Hamlet here is concerned with death, the same can be thought of about our nightly exits into our subconscious. Just as there may be no peace after death, there may be no peace in sleep—or perhaps peace for only a short while, for our lives with all of their imperfections exist when we wake again.

In Heino Schmid’s new collection of work, “we’re all innocent when we dream”, which will open to the public Friday night at the Cube West Gallery, this duality between asleep and awake, peace and tension and right and wrong comes to the surface.

“I always liked the phrase and I decided to call the show that before I decided on any of the work,” explains Schmid. “I thought the title would give me a door to kind of walk through.”

“When you think of the phrase, there’s a way of flipping it: When we’re awake, we could be guilty—that there’s a certain guilt to being awake,” he continues. “So there’s this great double quality to the text which I thought was interesting.”

Indeed, Schmid’s work approaches this duality through both image and text, probing beneath a seemingly placid surface. In the relatively cozy gallery space of Cube West, he hopes to present a variety of emotional landscapes for viewers to bring their own preoccupations.

On the walls sit large bodies of text that at times command, at times comfort, and at times defend. The ubiquitous phrase “The devil made me do it” is deconstructed and reconstructed again, bringing forth a mantra of self-absolvency. What was done is never stated—it is not really important, for this admission of guilt sets a tone here that is further explored in his visual work.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about text and the power of the way text can be almost visual and the disparity between the juxtaposition of words,” Schmid says.

“I want a visual duplicity in the way that you can scope out the exhibition and take it in as a whole but somehow make the work engaging enough for people to also go in and really participate on an individual level with the work.”

The centerpiece of his visual works, mainly due to their sheer size, are charcoal drawings on paper of two reclined figures suspended or floating in a white space. Another pair of drawings on a smaller scale examine them again from a different angle.

Though incorporating a significant amount of negative space, especially between the hovering figures, these pieces are indeed quite alive, as erasures and previous smudges create a subtle layering of disquiet. Such movement seemingly below the surface imbues the figures with a tension that belies their peaceful states.

“I’ve always really been attracted to the figure. I enjoy the tension of the body,” Schmid explains. “One of my favorite classes to teach at the College of The Bahamas is figure drawing. It always hammers the point home for me that the body is riddled with all of these subtle tensions, and I enjoy that as a metaphor for lots of other things.”

Indeed, these slumbering figures are only the dreamy surface, which taps into the inherent peacefulness of the title and that desired respite from daily life.

On the other hand, Schmid presents a series of small-scale collages cobbled together from his drawings, magazines and newspapers, presenting a mash-up of somewhat jarring images that stand in complete opposition to the scale of negative space explored in his charcoal drawings.

Such collages, by their very scale compared to his figures, seem to offer a glimpse—of actual dreams, of daily events, of past events, of desires, of fears, of hopes, again, perhaps we’ll never really know—into that exchange between innocence and guilt to which the viewer can make their own judgments.

“Collages I always find interesting, the juxtaposition of those kinds of elements create avenues for a narrative,” says Schmid. “I want these collages to come together and be a little more aggressive and counter that sense of innocence.”

Indeed, in this new body of work, guilt is not what lies beneath the thin surface of innocence but rather what squirms and shouts and beckons and then reveals itself. Is it in our dreams? Or is it our daily life that gives us pause when we have shuffled off that coil of slumber once more?

“We’re all innocent when we dream” opens this Friday, November 11 from 6 – 9 p.m. at The Cube West Gallery in Old Fort Bay. For more information, visit www.thecubewest.com, or call 362-4702.

Sonia Farmer The Nassau Guardian Arts & Culture Published: November 07, 2011

Read more Comments Off on What Dreams May Come

Read more Comments Off on John Cox – New Works At GSO Law Firm