- Contributed
Sharon Lake, third left, chairman of the Board of Directors at Mutual Gallery in Kingston, presents the scholarship cheque to Cecil Cooper, right, head of the Painting Department at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. Looking on are curator Gilou Bauer, left, and Archibald Campbell of the Mutual Gallery.
Sana Rose, Contributor
LAST TUESDAY, April 29, the Mutual Gallery presented a cheque in the amount of US$4,000 to the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) for a one-month course of study at the Pont Aven School of Art in Brittany, France.
The scholarship, which will be given to a third or fourth year student in the Painting Department later this week, covers tuition and accommodation, leaving the recipient to procure funds for airfare and expenses.
Now in its second year, the partnership between the schools began last year with a sponsorship from the Pont Aven School of Art.
The genesis of this programme can be traced back to Bryan McFarlane, Jamaican artist and tenured professor at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth in the United States, who was invited to teach at the French school.
McFarlane proposed the scholarship to the founder and director of the school, Dr. Caroline Boyle-Turner who, on her visit to Jamaica last year, made the offer to the then principal of EMCVPA, Rheima Scarlett.
McFarlane went a step further and suggested that the college approach Mutual Gallery for a contribution towards the project simply because the curator, Gilou Bauer, is French.
SUPPORTING THE ARTS
Mutual Gallery welcomed the opportunity to lend support to the college and agreed to match Pont Aven's previous offer.
According to Sharon Lake, chairperson of the Mutual Gallery's Board: "We are pleased to be able to continue our tradition of supporting the arts and especially, the younger artists. We hope that we will be in a position to do something like this every year because this is great exposure for our young artists. One of the things that we at the Mutual Gallery have always felt that we wanted to really push is allowing the young artists to be able to feel that they are being supported. So we are very pleased to be a part of this programme."
Hope Brooks, dean of the School of Visual Arts at EMCVPA, expressed gratitude and echoed the hope that the scholarship will continue.
The Pont Aven School of Art is a summer institution that has embarked on an expansion venture in order to facilitate a year-round curriculum. It offers a four-week session in June and a six-week session from July to early August.
Courses offered include beginner's French, art history, painting, sculpture, photography and illustration studio classes. Named for the village in which it is situated, the school's courses are credited through the Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education in the United States.
Like its other American school affiliates including the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, credits earned at Pont Aven are transferable to EMCVPA's visual arts programmes.
GAINFUL PROGRAMME
In addition to art education, Pont Aven presents students with the surrounding natural beauty of coastal cliffs and rolling green hills as well as the slow pace of French village life, with which, among other artists, 19th century impressionist and post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin was enamoured.
Last year's scholarship recipient Allison Perkins-Smith testifies to this.
"It's so close to home. It was really an amazing experience but I suffered no real culture shock. The geographical sights are similar to Jamaica. The atmosphere, the temperature, the smell were similar to St. Ann where I am from originally."
She felt welcomed and responded to the warmth of the people: "The Pont Aven community was very supportive and even though I was the only Jamaican and black person in my class, I felt no animosity. The community was helpful in whatever way they could so much so that I was able to erect a huge red wedge at the entrance to a man's cornfield which blocked him from entering for a few days."
While she was enrolled in the site-specific sculpture and assemblage course, Perkins-Smith spent a lot of time with classmates on field trips. She is unable to say at this point what kind of impact the experience has had or is having on her own work but she expects it to filter in.
"My experiences usually trickle into my work. I have taken back a lot. I wrote a lot and I have a lot of memories. While I was in France I felt this kind of Bohemian freedom. I was just going. I connected with the people, had a good time and formed friendships," she says.
Perkins-Smith, who had travelled to Mexico and Cuba prior to France, describes her first time in Europe as "a good experience," and encourages others.
"There's nothing better than getting exposure. Even when you think it is impossible to gain anything, there's so much to gain. I hope the programme continues. Without a doubt, I would encourage anybody to participate in it."
