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                Wordwise.
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Marks, remarks and reviews.

List of Contents: 1.The Way Forward. 2.Mystery Band. 3.Of Viral Words and Virtual Worlds. 4.Women in the Arts. 5.BAC History Intro. 6.MIA NAG. 7.Hustles and Scams.


                                                   1.THE WAY FORWARD.

“Art reflects the power structure, priorities and concerns of a society, not only in what is expressed, but in what is promoted and preserved, encouraged or ignored.”
                                                     (LSN. Looking Forward Looking Back. NCF 1988.)

The Mercantile System was not dismantled with the Empire. The Metropolitan countries are still in charge of global trade, finance and communication. The lingering belief that   ‘foreign’ is superior to ‘local’, is part of this legacy, as is the tendency of break-away entities to do battle with established art organisations, rather than attempt to make changes in the prevailing, structural underpinnings of art management.

The Mercantile System has re-invented and re-asserted itself in this age of electronic communication and is now fully in control of our daily lives. Yet, we are at a crucial point in time, when a combination of historical knowledge, creative thinking, political will and digital technology  could be used to resist and reverse this process and to forge new, creative paths.

Historical knowledge is important, there are stories to be told and lessons to be learned.
Digital Technology enables this vital, inter-generational transfer of information.[i]. It also offers the prospect of a de-centralized 'no boundaries'  Creative Economy, without conventional gatekeepers and quality controls. Online success is measured in numbers, popularity and profit. Both Traditional- and New Media stand to profit from a strategic online presence. 
 
On-demand printing platforms have a global reach. This means, that Caribbean Design can bring in foreign exchange without any financial output. The significant earning capacity of this burgeoning Creative Sector must be supported by  effective management, flexible Central Bank Policies and responsive legislation in order to reach its full potential.

The Digital Revolution means, that our present and future generations are free to become global producers, but, if  the Mercantile System  remains the, subconscious, underpinning for our understanding of International Trade, the people of the Region, and particularly its artist, are doomed to remain mere local consumers.
A Dynamic Creative Economy which combines the tools of the Digital Age with Ancestral Wisdom and Practical Skills could cause a social, intellectual and spiritual paradigm shift. 

 A Truly Creative Economy requires long-term investments in People, Ideas, Technology and Effective Marketing
.  
  A Successful Creative Economy ensures great financial returns on comparatively small investments, with the added bonus of  an all-round improvement in the quality of life.

Political Will is an essential ingredient in a successful  Creative Economy.

……………………………………
Extract from: “Persistence, Resistance and Political Will”. Individual Paper by Lilian Sten-Nicholson. AICA
Topic: ‘Post-Colonial Issues in Cultural Management’. Carifesta XIV Symposium. T&T. 2019.
 


[i] The obituaries in British Newspapers remain the go-to source for information about 20th century Caribbean Dignitaries. Wikipedia, with its easy access and vetted content, is, today, the  preferred first stop for online research. Sir Hugh Springer’s Wikipedia page is a ‘stump’ and many of his contemporaries have no online presence at all. Perhaps the UWI  could be tasked with establishing a comprehensive Caribbean cultural/intellectual/political/scientific personalities presence in this forum?

 
 


2.​"Mystery Band"
And "The Benediction of the Cellos"
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​Strange things happen on Carnival Friday night, the night when the thin veil that separates reality from dreamtime is lifted to reveal things unknown and unknowable, the night before all the Angels and all the Devils come out to play.  
 I was on my way to listen to the final night practice at the Charlotte Street Pan-yard around 11pm on a chilly  Carnival Friday night in 1989.
Every night of the previous four weeks, from Pan Prelims, through Semi-finals (which at that time were held on the Thursday before  Carnival Saturday) I had taken the same,  familiar route:    
  Maxi from Diego Martin to Independence Square,  walk up Frederick Street past Woodford Square, turn right into Park Street , cross Henry-  onto  Charlotte Street, past  the gas station, the empty lots and the Roti shop, where the  sound of pan practice would meet me on the home stretch to the pan-yard.
 
But on this particular night,  one of the side streets beckoned  with  balloons, streamers and pretty lights.
I fell for the lure and turned right too soon.
 
Town seemed  deserted , the streets empty, but for  a couple of rough sleepers.
I was suddenly, and  completely, lost.
But I heard pan in the distance, so I followed the sound.
 
On my right, a narrow passage opened towards East Dry River.
 
 It was dark and misty. A faint light  and the sound of pan  drifted through a doorway at the end of the wall, near the Dry River.
  Inside was a large room. It had a dirt floor, a single lightbulb  under the galvanize roof, the cord pulled from next door. ‘Tiefing light’.
       A small pan-side was playing. The pans looked a little scruffy, and they had an old fashioned, not fully  tuned sound. Some of the men were bare-back, some barefoot on the dirt floor.
Just inside the doorway a man faced the band, head bent, hand in pocket  listening intently as the men went through the tune.
 I stood in the doorway, one foot on the paved ground outside, the other a half step down on the dirt floor. No one seemed to notice me, but this was not unusual.
 When you are in the music, your focus is on the music, not on the stragglers listening in or looking on.
 
        After a while I stepped back outside , walked the few  yards up the narrow passage back to the main road. The mist cleared and I found my bearings.
I was on Charlotte Street  and I continued to my destination, Renegade Pan Yard.
 
I gave this no further thought, until some years later, when I was more familiar with Port of Spain. Then I went searching for this place, up and down Charlotte Street, but just could not find it. 
 
 Until one day, when driving downtown  with Pat Chu-Foon, we got stuck in the midday traffic and he pointed to the left and said:  “That used to be ‘Hell Yard’. That’s where pan started.”
 A massive  red gate  blocked the access , but I recognised the passage behind it and the wall against the river. This was it.
 So, what had happened? What had I seen? How was it possible? The whole experience had been a little eerie, but  there was no feeling of  ‘otherworldliness’ at the time.
 
A good while later, I related the story to one of the Elders in my band.
 
 I hadn’t reached far into the telling , when silence fell around us. Everyone stopped what they were doing, eyes turned away, but ears pointed , (I speak softly). Little into the story   the Elder asked: “You went in the River?” “I don’t know where I went , but this is what I saw”  and I described the scene in detail.  It was still  clear in my mind.
 It turned out, that ‘the man standing by the door’ had a name “That is Brown, he always stand there”. The description of the room was also familiar. “You went in the River? I will take you there, but during the day. Not at night”.
It is an open secret ‘Behind the Bridge’ that a ‘ghost band’ plays on Carnival Friday night , it is just not discussed with the uninitiated.
It hadn’t been scary experience, just really strange, and I felt honoured to have been ‘invited’ into one of the many  mysteries of Pan.
       I first painted the “Mystery Band”1  as a watercolour study in 1995.The painting remained with me for a decade and a bit. This is not unusual for my work; every painting has an owner and only time will tell.
Then one day, the daughter of an ‘Allstars’ Man , stepped into my studio and stopped in her tracks in front of the painting. She recognised the scene, because her father had described exactly the same experience at the same place many, many times. No one in his family believed him, they all thought he made it up, ( some of my relatives believe that I am doing that too), but, there it was.
‘All Stars’ Dad redeemed and my experience confirmed, the painting went home with her.
 
 
                                                      "The Benediction of the Cellos".
 
“But always in her life is the ever-present beat of the steel pan, whether it be the soaring flight of the high tenors, the cry of the guitars, the ceaseless drive of the iron and the rhythm drums, or the benediction of the cellos from within the bowels of the band.”
                                                                                                            ( Pat Byer -Dunphy. 1991) 2.
 The ‘Mystery Band’  study morphed into an oil painting: ‘The Benediction of the Cellos’3  which is about the enchantment of intense practice and the magic of Carnival Friday night. Pat  Byer Dunphy, who wrote this passage  was a dedicated Pan afficionado. The poetic description of the music and its instruments, was based on her deep knowledge and enduring love of the artform. During her annual pilgrimages to Despers’ Yard in Laventille,  she  followed the development of the Panorama tunes and immersed herself in the music.
The quote pre-dates the painting by several years, but I thought it was a fitting title.

 
1 Renegades Steel orchestra won Panorama with ‘Mystery Band’ in 1993, four years after my other-worldly  encounter.         https://youtu.be/JVhwLkosFkM
 
“Mystery Band” (1992) is a Lord Kitchener (Alwyn Roberts) calypso. Kitchener is known for his witty double-entendres, but here he does a triple. He describes the sound of pan coming from the East Dry River, “Pan beating, all night in the Dry River, we  hear the pan, but can’t see the band”. Then he goes through the whole process of people arguing about the source of the sound: “ some people say the music sound like the late forties”,  before telling us that “the people laughing at how they get fooled” by the sound of “ole bottle and ole can’’ washing down with the rain and knocking against each other.
 Kitchener let the secret out, then took it right back.                  https://youtu.be/BeSWDxcGzds
 
2  Pat Byer -Dunphy. Catalogue Essay for ‘A Deeper Rhythm’ Lilian Sten-Nicholson Solo Exhibition. National Cultural Foundation. Barbados 1991.
 
3  ’The Benediction of the Cellos’. Oil on Canvas 2006. 36”x28”. $12,800. Enquiries: lilian.sten@gmail.com

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3.​Of Viral Words and Virtual Worlds.

​                                                                by Lilian Sten-Nicholson AICA
                                        Published in ' Barbados Visual Arts Magazine". June, 2021. 

        The Virtual Art Scene has outgrown the physical one, both in volume and in reach.
 It has been a gradual process, but, the year-long global lock-down and enforced isolation has accelerated the inevitable changes in the way we produce, view and disseminate art.
 The Virtual Art World is an exciting extension of physical spaces like Museums, Galleries, Exhibitions and Installations. Google Arts and Culture, is only one example of our, almost unlimited, online access to the world of art and heritage.

Still, there is a huge difference between experiencing an actual work of art ‘in the flesh’ and seeing a reproduction of it.
When faced with a Van Gogh landscape or a Rothko Colour-field painting, one can literally feel the presence and living energy of the, long dead, artists. An energy which is not dimmed by time, but also does not survive reproduction.
 Others look good as reproductions, but are disappointing as originals.
​
My gut reaction, when coming up against Gaugin’s “Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, was:” But wait, he didn’t finish it?” As it turns out, Gaugin himself didn’t think he had, but it looks really good in print.

Digital art, on the other hand, is born online. It does not have to leave its Virtual Homeland to gain fame and fortune. It can choose to remain in the multiverse of Al technology or cross the boundaries to the world of physical media. This two-way flow of function and form can lead to some very exciting hybrid expressions.
   Virtual Residencies will continue to grow in importance, as will Zoom conferences, and whatever is next in in terms of virtual communication. 

This does not mean that hands-on residencies and face to face meetings will be a thing of the past, we still need to meet with and ‘smell’ each other from time to time.
The immutable fact is, that the Virtual Art Scene has grown up, become independent of its physical origins and is happily proceeding down its own, ever expanding path.
 Yet, it is not a question of choosing one over the other, we need both.
 
‘                             'The More Things Change – The More They Remain the Same’.

   While researching the multitude of online opportunities open to contemporary artists I have, however, found, that the more things change, the more they remain the same.
 The production of art has changed, but has management of the art scene changed as well?
Not much, and structurally hardly at all.

The contemporary art scene claims to encourage innovation, but it remains firmly rooted in the academic and bureaucratic structures of the late 19th century.
The ‘Metropolitan Art Bureaucracy’ is Euro-centric, staunchly conservative, and has successfully colonized the contemporary arts on a global scale.

   The ‘Lingua Franca’ of this budding empire is ‘Art-speak’, a semi- literate abomination, which, much like the elliptical language of lawyers, is a code, which can only be understood by the truly initiated.
‘Art-speak’ combines some of the very worst traits of Academia and the Arts.
Or, (translated to actual ‘Art-speak’): “it dissimilates a congregate of academic disciplines, artistic practices while assimilating the epistemological, conceptual, morphological perceptionalities of the interpretation of time-space, cognitive dissonance and the internality of tome-space”.

Chew on that for a bit.
If you find that it has neither meaning nor flavour, you are correct.
 It is an example of the kind of bland word-soup served up as pseudo-scientific exploration in contemporary art. But, when it comes applying for grants, residencies, online submissions or even passing exams, this is the winning formula.
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                                                          ‘Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth’.

 Many projects are peer reviewed. This is, in itself, not a bad thing, but, constant consultations throughout the creative process means, that what may have started as a good idea, becomes convoluted, diluted and buried in buzzwords. Much like the pretentious restaurant menu, which uses a whole paragraph to describe the Drop of Dressing on a Lettuce Leaf.

 Two examples of this:
Both are ’hybrid projects’, in the sense that they are posted online, but record physical activities. Digital image manipulation plays a part in both.
One is a ‘Collaborative Art Project’, which purports to be a way of: “measuring time through the process of group baking”. (‘’Measuring time through process, is neither new, nor original. It’s how it is done.).
The other, described as “Mothering-Art.” records a few weeks of mundane family life with small children.

As an artist, mother of five, ‘mother figure’ of many and longtime baker, I find both concepts quite acceptable. You can’t hurry bread and raising children does interfere with your ability to concentrate on any one thing for any length of time.
However, the final presentations use plodding, over-referenced prose, inferior photography, forced analogies and soundtracks, which never rise above basic, amateurish standards.

These may have been deliberate attempts at informality, or just masking a lack of basic know-how, but, neither of these overworked and poorly presented projects are on par with the spontaneity of action -painting, stream-of-consciousness poetry or musical improvisations by creative professionals with actual skills.

Submissions of online projects are, typically, peer reviewed in several stages:
  1. In order to be considered, at all.
  2. The semi-finalists then engage in months of back-and-forth with peer reviewers. before the finalists are chosen.
  3.  More peer reviewing and editing before the final projects are published
To use a bovine analogy: they are ruminating or ‘chewing the cud’, and the final results are, therefore, mostly bullshit.
Which, in turn, is used to fertilize the verbal fields of the quasi-academic, contemporary art scene.
The main beneficiaries of this particular process are the salaried employees of the Euro-centric art bureaucracy. Most artists, on the other hand, are free-lancers, just hoping for a break.
 
                                                Creativity Does Not Mesh with Conformity
 
A few remain true to their hearts, minds and spirits. They may choose the more difficult path of creative integrity; the only one that can actually lead to true and lasting validity.
Or oblivion.
Too many others decide to follow the whims, fashions and fads of the market. They are willing to give the judges/peer reviewers/editors whatever they want, just to gain some recognition and earn a living within this stagnant, yet trend ridden, system.

They, literally, conform and submit to a system, which demands strict adherence to prescribed formulas, in which the checking of boxes and filling in of forms, the very antithesis of creative work, is still of the greatest importance.
In the face of these inane and irrelevant formalities, too many artists, some of great talent and promise, just give up.

We do need physical and digital support structures. Research, deliberation and reviews are all essential parts of a functioning art scene, but they must not dictate, replace or cannibalize the creative process. 

It is time to abandon this antiquated, colonial model of upside down, trickle-down economics for an art-based scene, in which the main focus is on actual artists and their real, physical or digital, work, not on the extended ruminations of vague concepts.

By the way, I am tempted to write all my future project proposals as ‘Art-Speak Satire’.
It might just work.



4. Women in the Arts


 “Men resent a woman getting honour in what they consider is essentially their field.”
                                                                                                          (Emily Carr)

 The early 20th century emancipation of the arts in the British West Indies was driven by  a handful of visionary women, who knew how to navigate within the political and administrative systems of their time. They were  persistent, and courageous revolutionaries, firstly, by choosing Tertiary Educations in the Arts, and secondly, for sharing their knowledge and skills across the existing race and class barriers.
The parallel communities of rulers and subjects developed norms of engagement beyond the rule of law throughout the colonial period. Independence meant, that many of those norms were challenged and  the rise of the arts in the Caribbean was part of this challenge. The pre-independence upsurge of creativity was, however, harnessed by an uneasy demand for official legitimacy and the women who facilitated and shaped the regional art movements, though central to the process,  tend to be seen as the ’ Midwives’, not as the ‘Mothers’ of  Caribbean Art.
Edna Manley was the exception to this; as the artists-activist wife of one Prime Minister and the mother of another, her influence on the political will, which fuelled the Jamaican Art movement, cannot be understated. She was a crucial link between the informal, Matriarchal. art organisations and the formal, Patriarchal, administration.
 
The pioneer work of the ‘Trinidadian Troika’, Sybil Atteck[i], Olive Walke[ii] and Beryl Mac Burnie[iii] covered visual arts, music, drama and dance. Edna Manley[iv] started an Art and Craft school in Kingston and supported emerging Jamaican artists. Golde White[v], who did the same in Barbados, also initiated a network of art organisations in the Southern Caribbean, while Bertha Higgins[vi] pioneered the art movement in Antigua. Higgins and her sisters, (both music teachers), also drilled the ‘Hells Gate Steelband’ in their living room. In the 1940s.[vii]
Golde White studied Art and Design in England,  returned home to Barbados via Argentina and Brazil and  relocated to British Guiana in the mid 1920s. We can get some idea of the Georgetown art scene, around 1930, from one of her letters, which she began by noting: “There has been no Art Exhibition for some time in this colony, and very little is done to encourage artistic talent”. Yet, she had found that there was enough interest in to mount a successful art exhibition. A number of art groups - beginning with the British Guiana Arts and Crafts Society of 1931 - were formed, art classes were established and a legacy created.  Marjorie Broodhagen[viii], Hubert Moshett, Reginald Phang and Edmund Burrowes, were part of this groundswell of Guyanese art. Five years after White’s return to Barbados in 1943, Burrowes formed the ‘Working Peoples Art Classes’ and the Georgetown School of Art was later named after him.[ix]
White joined with other Barbadian Art Graduates, who, having experienced the art scene of early 20th century Europe, sought to move  Barbadian art out of the hobby-painting era into the realm of contemporary professionalism.
  They formed the ‘Barbados Arts and Crafts Society” in order to: “meet the growing need for the development of the Arts in the Community”.[x]  
The early meetings were held upstairs in the Old Icehouse on Broad Street and the BACS was launched as a formal entity in July 1944.
Golde White, Karl Broodhagen and Briggs Clarke, were among the first members, they also became founders of the Barbados Arts Council more than a decade later.
Studio and office space were, in turn, provided by the Welfare Office, the YMCA and  the Vestry of St. Michael, which offered the use of the attic at Queen’s House. The Attic became a hub for studio work, workshops and exhibitions. White’s art classes and her publication “Art and how to teach it.” were both funded by the British Council.
Finding suitable exhibition venues was a challenge. The Barbados Museum, the Garrison Drill Hall  and the Challenor Stand at the Kensington Oval were all utilized with varying success. Admission was not free – 1 Shilling for adults and 6 pence for children and members of the association was a standard charge. [xi]
The BACS  continued to take part in the Barbados Agricultural Society’s Annual Fair, previously the only, regular opportunity for artists to show their work, which, listed as “Fancywork”,  competed with Produce and Livestock for attention.
 
The West Indian Exhibitions 1944-51.
The BACS had established Inter-island connections through personal relationships, but  the dream of inter-island exchanges was first fully realized in 1948,when the British Council provided financial and logistic assistance and the UCWI offered support through its Resident Tutor in Barbados,
Golde White reconnected with her friends in the newly established Guyana Art Group and  approached both the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago (est. 1943) and the nascent Antigua Art Group with proposals for an annual West Indian Exhibition. 
Higgins and White exchanged friendly and frequent letters.  The BACS also encouraged the formation of art groups in St Vincent, St Lucia, Grenada and Dominica through the Colonial Education Departments and the British Council.
The initial response from these departments was, that there was ‘no art, nor any interest in art’ in any of these territories, but White challenged this  and the officials eventually agreed to enquire about local artists, facilitate the formation of art groups and assist with the shipping of works for inter-island exhibitions.
The BACS mounted five Annual West Indian Exhibitions at Queen’s House  between 1944-51.
The British Council also facilitated the shipping and mounting of several exchange exhibitions in Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and British Guiana.[xii]
The path from an embryonic state of existing talent to the birth of a new Caribbean art-movement is mapped  in  formal correspondence  signed  ‘I remain, Madam, your obedient servant’ from the colonial officials, frequent exchanges of ideas between White and Higgins and letters from the other groups, which  invariably began: “Apologies for not responding sooner…”.
The determined search for talent and the official support for cultural development led to the recognition of a Non-Academic Pan-Caribbean aesthetic, an authentic and legitimate ‘Visual Dialect’.
Bertha Higgins wrote:
 “Mrs. White had asked if I have discovered any ‘Primitive Artist’s. The work of Cecil Adams is decidedly his own effort. He was never taught and the piece he has sent was on yellow cotton with house paints. There are two or 3 other boys of our group who do similar work.” [xiii]
One of these ‘boys’ was 19-year-old Arnold Prince from St Kitts, who held his first solo show at Queen’s House in 1949, the first step on the path to becoming an  Associate Professor at the Rhode Island School of Art and Design. [xiv] Young Dunstan St.Omer, of St.Lucia, also held his first inter-island solo show at Queen’s House the same year.[xv]
A total of 152 works, Oils, Watercolours, Drawings and Sculptures from Barbados, British Guiana, Trinidad and Antigua were exhibited at Queen’s House in March,1948.
Sybil Atteck, M.P. Alladin, Henri Telfer  and Geoffrey Holder[xvi] represented Trinidad and Tobago.[xvii]
The selection process caused some controversy: R. S. Anton-Haynes, whose work had been refused by the TAS, wrote: “I am posting some of my work today so that the general public will see some of my Art and the kind of work that were refused by those who are supposed to know Art and good Art too. I know that it will be late for entry but I am hoping you will do the best you can to raise the standard of your Exhibition”.
The networking of Southern Caribbean artists  created new opportunities in a growing market, but seven years of intense activity depleted the resolve of the volunteer-based and poorly funded organisation. In 1951 it merged with the newly founded Art Department of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society.


[i] Sybil Atteck. 1911-1975. School of Fine Art, University of Washington. Escuela des Belles Artes, Lima. Expressionist painter, founding member of the Trinidad and Tobago Art Society (1943).

[ii] Olive Walke. 1911-1969. Royal Academy of Music. Founder of ‘La Petite Musicale’. Her collection of “Folk Songs of Trinidad and Tobago” were published posthumously in 1970.
 

[iii] Beryl Mc Burnie. 1913-2000.Columbia University. Danced with Katherine Dunham and Martha Graham. Established the ‘Little Carib Theatre’.
 

[iv] Edna Manley. 1900-1987.Sculptor, painter, educator. Founder of Jamaica School of Art and Craft. 1950.
 

[v] Golde White. 1890-1977. Painter, Educator.  Founder or of BACS and BAC.
 

[vi] Dame Bertha Higgins. 1889-1966. Artist, teacher, musician. Founder of the Antigua Art Group in the 1940’s. Senator in the Parliament of the Federal Government, 1958. 
 Awarded the M.B.E, 1960.  
 

[vii] The ‘Hells Gate Steel Orchestra’ preceded TASPO at the Festival of Britain in 1951.

[viii] Marjorie Broodhagen. 1912-2000.Columbia University. Artists and Educator. Founding member of the Guyana Art Group (1946) and  Guyana Women Artists Association. 1987.
 

[ix] Don Locke, Stanley Greaves, Aubrey Williams and Errol Brewster are among the WPAC and Burrowes‘ School of Art graduates.

[x] Letter to The Editor, The Advocate Co.Ltd. Broad Street. Barbados.  March 12th. 1951.
 

[xi] The standard price of a painting was $20 and the total sales from most shows averaged $200-300.
 

[xii]  When the British Guianese Art Group invited BACS members to be part of their annual exhibition in 1947, the British Council  offered to ship the art at its expense .
(letter signed by A.W. Steward 07-06-1947).
 

[xiii] The idea that  ‘primitive art’ is the only genuine expression of Caribbean art is still haunting us.

[xiv]  Artist and author Arnold Prince. 1925-2014  Associate Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design and the North Adams State College in Massachusetts. Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Rhode Island.
 

 
[xv]  Dunstan G. R. St. Omer KCMG 1927-2015.
Saint Lucian painter, muralist and educator. Designed the national flag of Saint Lucia. KCMG 2010.
 

[xvi] Geoffrey Holder.1930-2914  made his name as a dancer, choreographer, painter, actor and stage designer in New York.
 

[xvii] Letter from Trinidad Art Society 2/3/1948 offers apologies for not getting in touch sooner, sending 20 paintings, facilitated by F.D. Gray of the British Council.
 

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    5.  The Time Has Come To Tell The Story Of The Barbados Arts Council.
 
The Barbados Arts Council was established on December 6th 1957 as a Non-Governmental organization with a mandate to promote, support and develop all the Arts of Barbados.
The early years saw an emphasis on the performing arts, but the visual and literary arts were also actively developed in a number of sub-committees.
Today, the BAC functions mainly as a Visual arts organization centered in the BAC Gallery at The Pelican Craft Village in Bridgetown.
​
The BAC Gallery has an ‘open door policy’, which welcomes established artists and new talent alike, and so it has remained a vital force in the development of the arts in Barbados for the past 60 years.

 
 The BAC also serves as consulting body for art-policy and –administration, while looking after the interests of art and artists in legislative matters.
 
The BAC mission has been documented in minutes, correspondence, newspaper articles, sketches and notes, most of which were, thankfully, kept as the BAC headquarters moved from Wakefield to Queen’s House, then to Pelican Village, and, recently, to two different locations in the Pelican Craft Centre.  But our tropical climate (with the added punch of ‘Sea blast’) is not kind to archived documents and the records of decades of dedicated work were only just salvageable.
These primary sources form the core my research.

My first task was to sort, sanitize and scan everything, even the smallest scrap or scribble. These are being saved, physically in plastic containers and. digitally, in an external drive, which will be presented to the BAC on completion of research and publication of findings.
My second task was a Timeline and the third is to publish the findings both as an E-book and printed version during this 60th Anniversary Year.
 
____________________________________________________________________________________
 
The Barbados Arts Council  Inaugural Meeting. Wakefield. British Council. 06-12-1957  
 
PRESENT WERE:
 
Mr. Julian Marryshow (in the chair), Mr. Hugh Springer,
 Dr. and Mrs. Rawle Farley, Mrs. B.B. Ward, Mr. Aubrey Douglas-Smith, Mr A. Briggs Clarke, Mr. Clyde Gollop, Miss. P. Brown, Mr. L.A. Harrison, Mr. Lyndon Clough, Miss. Rosemary Skinner, Miss Nell Hall,
 Rev. O.C. Haynes, Miss Cicely Parkinson, Mr. G.O. Bell, Miss Enid Archer, Mr. Walter Thompson, Mr. Oliver Chandler, Mr. Collis Bayley, Mr. Lionel Gittens, Mr. Curtis Nurse, Mr. Bob Taylor.

 
The Chairman outlined the need for an  Arts Council and how the idea had evolved.  The Draft of the rules and regulations were discussed and amendments suggested before the election of officers. It was agreed that the UCWI and the British Council should be invited to nominate one member each to the Central Committee.

 
FIRST ELECTED OFFICERS.
 
President: Mr. Hugh Springer.
Vice Presidents: Mr. Julian Marryshow and Mr. G.O. Bell.
Hon. Treasurer: Mrs. Rawle Farley.
Hon. Secretary: Mr. Bob Taylor.
Assistant Hon Secretary: Mr. G.O. Bell.
P.R.O:  Mr. Oliver Chandler.
Central Committee:  Mrs. B.B. Ward, Mr. Lyndon Clough,
Mr. Aubrey Douglas-Smith, Mr. Clyde Gollop, Rev. O.C.Haynes.

 
 
There were plans to incorporate the Council.

Hugh Springer called for the establishment of a National Gallery and for a permanent home of the Arts Council in the form of a Cultural Centre with facilities for all the Arts.
These calls have been repeated by most Presidents since, but are yet to be answered.


Committees for Music, Drama, Dance, Literature, Film, Photography and the Literary Arts were established. The BAC organized Concerts, Recitals and  Art Exhibitions, produced Plays, Film shows and Radio programs.
It ran Competitions and Workshops, funded Scholarships and hosted visiting Lecturers, Authors, Artists  Musicians, Theatre Companies and Orchestras.


 There was close co-operation between the BAC, the U.C.W.I., the British Council, the Ministry of Social Services and the Bridgetown City Council.
 
The Council also retained a number of Affiliated Groups.
 
The Central Committee met regularly at Wakefield, the British Council Headquarters. The BAC advised on the design and functionality of the Civic Theatre at Queen’s House and was promised office space in the refurbished building.
 
This was realized in 1960 and the Queen’s House remained the BAC Headquarters until 1967, when essential repairs forced a “Temporary move” to one of the Council’s Galleries at Pelican Village.
 
When, in 1958, Hugh Springer left to take up the post of Registrar at the UCWI, Jamaica, Bruce Hamilton replaced him as President.
 
He was followed by Denis Malone in (1959),
Sir Frank Holder (1960-64), Bruce St. John (1965-67),
 Sir  William Douglas (1968-72).
 John Wickham (1973-74),  Grantley Prescod (1974-82),
Gordon Parkinson (1983-86), Lilian Nicholson (1986-89),
 Ian Walcott (1989-90),Donna Millington (1990),
Ian Walcott (1991-93), Neville Legall (1994—96),
Lilian Nicholson (1997-99),
 
Presidents since 2000:
Neville Legall, Hugh Corbin, Denzil Manns, Martina Pile, Rasheed Boodho and Sylvester Clarke.

  The current President is Neville Legall, whose dedication to the Council has served the Art Community well over several decades.

   There is an abundance of well-known actors and unsung heroes in annals of the BAC. Some made brief, but impactful appearances, others kept a low, but steady, profile, yet made invaluable contributions.

    Among them were Karl Broodhagen, who inspired generations of artists at home and abroad, Briggs Clarke, Golde White, Basil Jones, and people like Ed Oxley and Keith Blackett, whose calm presence and “institutional  memory” was an invaluable asset in trying times.  There were many, many others and they will all be remembered and honoured in “Our Very Own. A history of the Barbados Arts Council”.

 The book is dedicated to Mrs Anette Warden, who, as Miss Anette Scott, took up the post as Gallery Assistant at the Pelican Gallery on November 20th, 1967.  She became the Council’s Administrative Secretary when Miss  E.H. Williams  retired.

   Mrs. Warden’s sense of order, fairness and attention to detail was unsurpassed. She did not tolerate fools or frauds and did not hesitate to speak her mind when the occasion arose.
She often also went beyond the call of duty and spent many hours making sure, that all was well with the Council and its members.

  Artist’s organizations are, notoriously, as fragile as the egos of their members, and so they tend to have a limited lifespan.
    Mrs. Anette Warden is, in my humble opinion, one of the main reasons why this particular Art Organization has lasted for a full 60 years.
 
 Lilian Sten-Nicholson A.I.C.A.
 December 6th 2017

Acknowledgements:

 This project was made possible through a grant from the Art and Sports Fund Committee  (ASFC). 
 I am also grateful to BAC Presidents Rasheed Boodho and Neville Legall,who facilitated the use of the  BAC archives  and to the late Fielding Babb who graciously allowed me access to his Log Books 
 and  historical collection.
​


                      6. Missing In Action: Barbados' National Gallery of Art. 

The call for  a  Barbados National Gallery was first made by  Golde White in 1937.
20 years later , the call was repeated by  Hugh Springer at the 1957 Inaugural meeting of the Barbados Arts Council. Since then many  committees have been formed and dissolved, funds have been raised and disbursed.

The National Collection has grown, but there is still no National Gallery.I presented  this paper, arguing the case for a National Gallery, at the AICA Conference in Barbados,1998. 

                    Reaffirming Identity: The role of a National Gallery of Art.
​
By Lilian Sten-Nicholson. AICA.
         Barbados owns a National Art Collection of   considerable historic, aesthetic and financial value. It contains work from prehistoric times and the days of colonial rule as well as contemporary art.
Yet there is a prevailing misconception, that the Visual Arts are a recent introduction to our culture.

       Barbados as an independent country is 32 years old; Barbados as a nation goes way back past the first settlers into Arawak times. From the time of the first habitation, the arrival of the first settlers, the labour of the Gaelic and African slaves, the rebellions, the political struggles, the building, the growing, the living in this island, this nation was formed.
And all through that time artists commented on, recorded and interpreted the process.
      We have remnants of large Arawak settlements. We have 500 year old houses, still standing, still in use. We have an African Baobab tree, planted in Queen’s Park 1000 years ago and we have families, whose known roots are as ancient as that tree.
And yet we are seen, and see ourselves, as a young, developing nation.
       The perception of the Visual Arts and the political entity of the nation as ‘young’, ’recent’, ’developing’, are similar in their ungrateful denial of ‘those who went before’.
But there the similarity ends. With the exception of the Visual Arts the Barbadian heritage is in good hands, The National Conservation Commission looks after trees, parks and beaches. The National Trust cares for buildings of historical interest. The Barbados Museum and Historical Society tells our history through artifacts, books and pictures. The National Archives and the Library service look after the written word in all its forms. The Political establishment celebrates itself in and out of Parliament. In each case there is a central agency, which documents, records, preserves and displays.
But the National Collection of Art has no permanent home. It is scattered through ministries, schools, libraries, hospitals and banks.E
     In 1987-88, an Organization of American States ((OAS) sponsored survey of the National Collection was undertaken by the National Cultural Foundation (NCF). A preliminary study by Annalee Davies listed the location, the size and to a small extent, the condition of 141 pieces and 28 murals. A more detailed report by Pat Byer-Dunphy ((in 1988) revealed another 145 pieces, described them in detail and stressed the need for urgent restoration and preservation of the work. Many pieces were found behind filing cabinets, in closets or leaning against walls. Many were rotting, foxing, exposed to the elements or cleaned with solvents.
​     The OAS grant was also used to mount a Queens Park Exhibition of the National Collection works of Ilaro Court, the official residence of the Prime Minister, and Government House, the residence of the Governor General.
      Ninety five works were gathered under the heading “Looking forward-Looking back”. Both collections contain historic and contemporary works of art. The historical pieces were executed by Colonial administrators and visiting Europeans, while the modern works represent a transition period in which the growing number of Barbadian artists, though still influenced by the great international artists of our time, were developing their own traditions. The turning point was in the 1930ies, a time of political turbulence and rising black consciousness.
Art reflects society. It is an expression of the culture of a society. It reflects the power structure, the priorities and concerns of a society, not only in what is expressed, but in what is promoted and preserved, encouraged or ignored.
        The lack of indigenous artwork from the colonial period does not  mean, that the Barbadian people lacked talent or ability. It means that their cultural expression was to varying degrees ignored, discouraged or banned, while the artistic efforts of the rulers were seen as valid and therefore appreciated and preserved.   To demonstrate this  the 18th century portrait of Major David Parry (Governor of Barbados, 1784-1794) and Ras Akyem’s “Prediction” faced each other on the cover of the exhibition catalogue and on the walls of the Queens Park Gallery.
        While attempting to insure the exhibition   “Looking Forward-Looking Back”, we began to get an inkling of the value of the National Collection. The local insurance companies had no evaluation system for art. We had to consult with Lloyds in the UK. The estimated value of the portrait of Major David Perry was 50,000 pounds. The 24 Lionel Fawkes Watercolours  were valued at 3000-5000 pounds each. They were badly foxed in 1988,  due to exposure to the elements in the Ilaro Court atrium, but, unless they have been unretrievably lost to further foxing, their total market value should  now be at least 120.000 pounds.
This means that the minimum current value of these 25 pieces, 1/16th of the National collection, is $600,000.
     This may have been a wake-up call. The need for a National Art Gallery was understood. The National Cultural Foundation was given a mandate to establish a Standing Committee with members drawn from ‘key organizations and interested persons’. The purpose of the standing committee was to prepare a comprehensive report on proposals for the establishment of a National Art Gallery. The Barbados Arts Council (BAC) and the Art Collection Foundation (ACF) submitted proposals.
These were summarized and expanded in “Proposals for the setting up of a National Art Gallery (Lois Braithwaite  and Ruth White, NCF 1989).
    The committee agreed on the following objectives:
  • The National Art Gallery will display, research, restore and document the National Collection.
  • It will expand the collection using a stated acquisition policy.
  • It will provide temporary and permanent exhibition space and create incentives for Barbadian artists at home and abroad.
  • It will have space for the permanent exhibition of the National Collection, for temporary, current, topical and special exhibitions as well as a Caribbean Collection.
  • It was further recommended that a lecture theatre, an art department with a studio space, a library, a workshop for restoration, conservation and framing, storage space, a conference room administrative office and parking facilities were provided It was agreed that the building should be centrally located to provide easy access for walk-in patrons. There were differences in opinions about the proposed locations, advantages and disadvantages were explored. The parties also differed about the organizational structure: on the one hand a private foundation subsidized by government funds, on the other: a Government body assisted by private fundraising. Added to that was a demarcation of interests. The Barbados Museum and Historical Society   wished to continue to be responsible for historical collections, while the ACF (now the Barbados Gallery of Art) wished to have sole responsibility for all 20th century works. The NCF and the BAC insisted, that a National Art Gallery must have a comprehensive collection of historical as well as modern works. The NCF report, however, only makes recommendations for a Contemporary collection
 It was proposed, that the report be submitted to the Ministry of Education by April 30th 1988, for Cabinet approval by May 31st 1988 and that a possible site for the gallery should be chosen not later than August 31st 1988.
It is now August 1998. It is ten years later and we are losing our National Collection to dust, termites and indifference.
Successive governments have either looked over the project and dismissed it, or just overlooked it. It cannot be because of lack of funds, for the funds allotted to the re-situation of statues, commemorative structures and special events could have been used to finance and run a splendid National Gallery.
Neither were the disagreements within the standing committee strong enough to cause a dismissal of the project.
What prevents the establishment of a National Gallery is not the lack of funds, nor the lack of ideas, but the prevailing attitudes towards art and artists, the divisions among artists themselves and the contradictions inherent in the system.
We are fortunate, in that we have an amazing number of talented artists for such a small population. We are fortunate in that we have at least 7 organizations looking after the interests of art and artists (NCF/BAC/BIDC/BCC/BMHS/BGA/ICOM).
We are also fortunate, in that we have a transient population in the form of long-stay visitors and tourists, who will buy art. The international market comes to us.

Barbados, though small and outwardly portraying itself with a common identity, does in fact consist of many small units, which do not connect easily with each other. Because of this, efforts are often duplicated
The scattered and neglected National Collection is symptomatic of a culture in which the indigenous is loved, but not respected.
We do not lack talent, we do not lack infrastructure, we do not lack buyers. We lack focus!
A National Gallery provides focus.

The transient art market is seasonal, and although it is profitable, we lose some of our best work. Work, which will have to be bought back, when we wake up to its true value.
 The way to deal with this issue is not by banning exports, but by instituting a sensible acquisition policy for the National Collection.
A sensible acquisition policy is one that values all manners of art.
Artists are born to all classes, colours and creeds, always have been, always will be. Theirs is the vision, it is their job to interpret, record and enhance the living culture.

But, whereas artists are born, careers are made.
When we select works for the National Collection, we need to remember the lesson of the former colonial masters: to preserve that which defines, records and enhances our own systems.
And to value it.
This means that we have to go beyond the conventional ‘Gallery Art’ and document ‘Street Art’, the paintings on mini-buses, push- carts and shops, murals and mini-parks. All these constitute a wealth of truly indigenous work, a focus on the elusive ‘identity’.
The main visual stimulus of today is that of the fleeting images of the TV screen. News, views and circumstances pour into our homes through many channels. Truths, half-truths and lies   ‘bounce off our heads’ at an alarming rate.
The steady presence of a painting, to reflect on, to interact with, to love or to hate, creates some balance in how we see ourselves.

“Where there is no vision, the people will perish”. Marcus Garvey said so, King Solomon said so too. It was true then, it is true now. So, presumably, “when there is vision” the people will not perish. But only when vision is followed by action will the people flourish.
The peoples of the Caribbean are gifted and will excel in anything they set their mind to do. The unprecedented flowering of the Jamaican arts in the 1970-80s was not accidental. It was the result of political will, development of a cultural infrastructure and the recognition of the value of indigenous culture.
The further development of local and regional cultural infrastructure is necessary, only then will the rich talents of our people continue to flourish.
A National Gallery of Art is more than a showcase of national treasures, it is essential to the development of the arts and the society they represent.

January 04th, 2022

1/4/2022

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    Lilian Sten-Nicholson.AICA. 
    Artist and Author.


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