Art and Artist Community – Nassau Bahamas
The Waterloo Center for the Arts will be hosting an exhibition and symposium featuring the Master Artists of the Bahamas. The exhibition opens on October 14, 2011.
Guests will have a chance to meet the artists and learn from them and other scholarly presenters during the exhibition opening and 2-day symposium.
At a moment when so much contemporary art strives to exceed the parameters of what came before in many instances, to break down the very category of art in an effort to prove one’s politics and the contemporary relevance of practice ”Wrestling with the Image’ stands out as an exhibition that rejects this iconoclastic impulse and instead embraces creative practice and representational space. There is nothing grand about this show, nothing iconoclastic or fashionably radical, no mass denunciations. It is a quiet, surprising show that seeks without pretense to address the complexities of Caribbean history and identity. And it gently demands to be viewed on its own terms.
“I think it is important just to have the female perspective, if only because our concept was to have an exhibition for Bahamian women by Bahamian women,” says Oliver.
“I think most of the art that was submitted maintains a common thread of the Bahamian woman and motherhood,” she continues. “We do also have artists who have touched on different aspects of femininity and Bahamian culture and struggle so there are a few that have gone out of the expected or traditional concepts.”
Though Bahamian artist Khia Poitier is only 20 years old, she’s already made her mark on the Bahamian art scene—and she’s headed for big things, starting with enrolling in the Rhode Island School of Design’s undergraduate program in Illustration.
As this year’s recipient of the Harry Moore Memorial Scholarship in the Arts, given out by the Lyford Cay Foundation to an artist pursuing studies abroad, and the National Merit Scholarship from the Ministry of Education, Poitier is ready to make a difference in the way the public views art.
The D’Aguilar Art Foundation is proud to host an exhibition of works called “The F Factor: Female Artists of The Bahamas.” This exhibition features work in a wide range of media from 22 women artists and showcases their impact on the visual Bahamian art community. Two of the artists showcased are Sue Katz and Jan Elliott, both of whom hold studios at Popop.
Too often, art classes act in a “academic vacuum” says College of The Bahamas art instructor, John Cox.
To give his advanced students experience in the local art world and to “breathe life into the art program” at the College of The Bahamas, he helps them plan and carry out site-specific art pieces.
A stellar cast of young women artists, including Popop-based artist Dede Brown and Kachelle Knowles, an intern at Popop, will be featured in the Public Treasury Art Programme’s (PTAP) upcoming exhibition ‘Bahama Mama’ which investigates the historical, cultural and social aspects of Bahamian women.
Textile artist and quilt maker Jan Elliott will be spending September 11, 2011 at Popopstudios making flag garlands adorned with peace symbols to mark the anniversary of this world-changing event 10 years after.
An open invitation is extended to the public to drop in and participate in the activities related to this historic day.
Khia Poitier, a winner of the Popopstudios Junior Residency Prize (PJRP) in 2010, is now a student at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where she is pursuing a degree in illustration.
RISD is one of the highest-rated fine arts colleges in the US and Khia follows in the footsteps of many other Bahamian artists who attended the school.