Claude Mills, Staff Reporter
Pat Ramsay - CARLINGTON WILMOT/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
Today we continue to profile recipients of the prestigious Gleaner Honour Award. Pat Ramsay gets the award in the category Arts and Culture.
IT'S NOT easy being Pat Ramsay. She will be the first to tell you she can't paint, write or hold a musical note with anything resembling true talent, but what she does have is a nose for detecting the latent genius in other people.
She can ferret it out, nourish it, buff it to a glossy shine and introduce it to the world. That's who she is, and that is why, among her friends and some social circles, she is known, sotto voce, as the 'Great Facilitator' in the fields of art and music.
"When I am shown a work of art, I know when it's good. I love it when artists use the medium to tell the truth about who they are, when they say, 'This is my soul, who I am, this may not sell but this is me' ... That is art, and I can always tell. I see it and feel it," she said.
A real mother bear for arts and culture, she played an instrumental role in the development of the Mutual Life Arts Centre, helping to nurse it from a mere art gallery into a real powerhouse for creative pursuits such as poetry, music and other performing arts during her 17-year tenure as director of the Jamaica Artists and Craftsmen Guild.
Since 1997, Ms. Ramsay has been the cultural director at the University of Technology (UTech) with responsibility for implementing programmes in the arts, and initiating and executing educational projects.
SOME OF HER ACHIEVEMENTS
She lists some of her achievements as being a 10-time music award winner, as well as organising jazz shows, and over 250 exhibitions.
"I initialled the 'Forerunners' and 'Young Generation' exhibitions. Both these shows became some of the biggest annual shows, and continue to this day," she said.
She thanked a number of Jamaican musicians, especially Desi Jones, who she said "gave her amazing support by playing in the basement jazz and music events at Mutual Life Arts Centre".
"I couldn't have achieved it without them," she said.
Ms. Ramsay is a heavy investor in good karma. It is one of the first things that strikes you about her other than the automatic comment: 'Boy is she short!' A stunning five-footer with auburn streaks in her hair, a noble nose, and emotive eyes that speak to the soul, Ms. Ramsay is a pint-size hurricane a lovely blur of headlong energy. She radiates positive vibes, and is a snazzy dresser who is quite fond of silver. During the interview, she wore silver chains, a silver ring, and silver earrings. There is no garish polish on her well-manicured nails, and she subscribes to the less-is-more school of thought when it comes to the application of make-up.
She's arguably one of Jamaica's most attractive divorcées, having divorced noted photographer Ken Ramsay in 1995 after a 32-year-old marriage. She has no biological children, but has forged close relationships with her goddaughter, Candy Hayden, and her godson, Brando.
"I am Candy's mother, and we are very close. She always tells me when I am slipping off the rails," she said.
She identified her mentors as Father Gregory Ramkissoon, Dr. Susan Taylor (Essence Communications director), Dr. Maya Angelou and Corine McClarty.
Ms. Ramsay is quite fond of charitable projects and she is gung-ho about Tomorrow's Children, a joint project between UTech and the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ), that uses the medium of the arts to change the perspectives of children from differing social backgrounds.
