The literary journal, "Caribbean Writer," brought together six artists from St. Croix and far afield to St. Croix’s UVI campus Wednesday to show their work and speak with fellow artists and art lovers about inspiration and technique. The artist talk and showing was the brainchild of that journal’s new editor, Opal Adisa.
"The Caribbean Writer is the literary gem of the Caribbean," Adisa said at the outset of the energetic evening talk. "In a field where many journals do not have a long pedigree, the Caribbean Writer is now in its 24th year." While centered on the written word, the journal "would not be what it is without artists," she said. "Both the cover and the inside pages have original art."
Local artists Danica David, Cynthia Hatfield, Elisa McKay and Sue Snow spoke about their painting and multimedia works, and from Egypt, Nubian artist Shayma Kamel, displayed works in paint, pencil and collage.
Also, Atlanta mixed-media artist Lauren Baccus, who works under the name Peanut Jones, showed a PowerPoint display of some of her distinctive Andy Warhol-inspired prints and unusual, one-of-a-kind handmade shoes.
David, owner of Danica Gallery in Christiansted, calls her work contemporary folk art. She operates in a variety of media, from paintings to handmade jewelry. Many of her paintings capture images evocative of the people and townscapes of St. Croix.
"I try to celebrate my culture as a Virgin Islander," she said. "I love to show madras and the beauty of the people."
Showing PowerPoint slides and photographs of their past works, each artist described their philosophies, their techniques choices of material and artistic history.
Kamel, who is visiting Adisa from her home city of Cairo, gave the longest presentation, showing slides of numerous ink drawings and paintings, some using components like tea and henna. Many of her works have a certain Picasso-esque abstract quality. She also showed photos and film of animation work she has been doing with children in Palestinian and Egyptian refugee camps, in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Some of the animation, done with cut-out paper figures, focused on young women’s personal experiences with female circumcision, which Kamel has been organizing communities to teach against.
With many artists in the audience, not to mention the fellow artists there to speak, the discussion became like an artist’s retreat, with lots of insider technical questions. For instance, McKay glues African and other fabrics onto her paintings and collages, often as the clothing and bodies of people in her works. Questions about her work quickly evolved into a spirited discussion of brands of glue and application techniques. Rather than Mod Podge, McKay uses humble, versatile Elmer’s glue and a toothpick, it turns out.
After the lively discussion, the artists mingled together, sharing more thoughts on subject matter, technique and tools, and trading contact information.