- Contributed
Lecturer/talk show host, Beverly Anderson Manley, second left, discussing details of a painting with Vivienne Logan, left, president of the Jamaican Artists and Craftsman Guild; Vivian Crawford, chairman of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission; and Dr. David Boxer, chief curator of the National Gallery of Jamaica.
Georgia Hemmings, Staff Reporter
A CALL has been made for the Jamaican Artists and Craftsman Guild (JACG) to use its lobbying powers more effectively to press for changes for Jamaican artists. In fact, the Guild has been challenged to collaborate more closely with the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ), to address issues pertinent to artists.
The charge was issued by Dr. David Boxer, NGJ's chief curator and executive director - himself a veteran artist - as he officially opened the Guild's 25th anniversary show at the Contemporary Art Centre in Liguanea recently.
"It is the collective voice that is key to the Guild's existence, and will be essential to its future effectiveness," Dr. Boxer said. "There are so many areas of concern that need to be addressed, some we have tried to tackle at the National Gallery and have failed. I would like to see the artists of Jamaica take on these areas of concern, and, perhaps with the combined efforts of the Gallery and the Guild (which speaks with the authority of a 150-strong membership), we might make some headway."
Among the matters needing urgent action was the customs regime as it relates to art.
"The difficulty of moving art in and out of this country is unbelievable," Dr. Boxer told his audience. "The customs regime in Jamaica is frightening, as duties are astronomical and are stringently applied with no concern for the health of the nation's art."
Dr. Boxer spoke of the Gallery's efforts to effect change: "We have had meetings with the head of the Customs Department, and the Ministry of Finance, but it seems to get more and more difficult with each passing year."
He cited instances of run-ins with the Customs Department, including the fact that officials tried to extract nearly 60 per cent duties on works which had been part of the National Collection for 40 years and were being returned to Jamaica from the London High Commission for inclusion in the "David Pottinger Retrospective" held last year.
He further related that, "After artist Eric Cadien had been killed, a collector decided to donate a work which had been created in Jamaica and which had hung in the Gallery for nearly five years. The collector lived in Texas, in the United States, so he shipped the work down, and getting it released duty-free was a hellish ordeal."
According to Dr. Boxer, after weeks of letters and discussions, the final release came down to one telephone conversation, and this he related to the amusement of the audience.
Officer on line: "But you see, Dr. Boxer, the point is you cannot prove to us that no work was done on the painting after it went to the United States."
Dr. Boxer: "I cannot prove it because the artist died shortly after, as I have said. And I don't know if his 'duppy' ever went to Texas and added something to the painting."
"All dat...." was the officer's straightforward reply.
According to Dr. Boxer, the artists association - "as a non-governmental body with a voice of hundreds" - should lobby for the removal of tax from art supplies and on art works.
Dr. Boxer also referred to the future possibility of the Guild occupying space in a complex with the National Gallery, an idea which he had worked successfully to the benefit of both organisations in one Caribbean country.
JACG's president, Vivienne Logan, promised to vigorously tackle the problem of relief from custom duties. In fact, tax-free status for art works and supplies had been one of the goals identified by Ms. Logan when she was first elected president of the Guild in October 2000.
Other speakers at the opening included chairman of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), Vivian Crawford, and lecturer/talk-show host Beverly Manley.
Mr. Crawford stressed the importance of artists working to reinforce each other in an effort to globalise Jamaican art.
"Everyone knows our music worldwide, but we do not get enough feedback about our art at the international level," he said. "It is sad that after 40 years of Independence, we do not have a national organisation of art."
He expressed the hope that, with strong input from the Guild, labels of 'good' and 'bad' art would be broadened and re-defined.
Mrs. Manley spoke of the great potential of Jamaican artists and Jamaican people, in general, emphasising the need for unity.
Over 50 artists participated in the anniversary exhibition, displaying a range of art from expressive abstracts to realistic landscapes.
New Guild members Marie Scully, Carolyn Graham, May Mair, and David Rowlands exhibited alongside 19-year-old Elizabeth Toby, the youngest exhibitor/member.
John Campbell, Ewan McAnuff, Dawn Vaz, Carmen Smith, Viv Burnett and Byron Allen, Phylll Williams, Betty Glanville, Reko Baker, Sonia Richards, all displayed a variety of styles and compositions. Kay Sullivan's Mother and Foal (bronze resin), Glenford Gayle's The Winner (beaten aluminium) and Denise Forbe's Fire for the Prophet (welded steel) evoked strong emotions in the metal work/sculpture section.
An accompanying exhibition, tilted Hands On, also ran at the Revolution Gallery, 12 Chelsea Avenue, in New Kingston, featuring 20 member artists working in clay, wood, textile/fibre, printmaking and photography.
