3rd Annual Art s

April 2000 Table of Contents

3rd ANNUAL ABACO ART FESTIVAL
by Jack Hardy

Attending the 3rd Annual Abaco Art Festival on 25th and 26th February was almost like a family re-union. It was possible to catch up on new works and new thrusts from artists who where there for the third time and also regret the absence of several prominent Bahamian artists who were unable to make the show. To make up for their absence, there were several new artists on display.

The festival was opened by Hon Robert Sweeting, MP for South Abaco, on behalf of the Minister of Tourism. A very large crowd admired the works on display and talked with the artists, hopefully placing orders to go. As usual, the works that caught my eye already had a SOLD sticker on them.

The theme of this year's festival was A Tribute to Randolph Wardell Johnston, the Canadian-born artist who opted out of the rat race in 1950 and brought his family to Little Harbour, Abaco. There he established his home, studio and foundry and produced a great number of works which reflected his life's philosophy: "Feel intensely, imagine vividly, control precisely".

Although Randolph Johnston neither advertised nor exhibited his works, they can be found all over the world, even in the Vatican. Nassauvians will be familiar with his Bahamian Man and Bahamian Woman sculptures for Jumbey Village, the Tribute to the Bahamian Woman on Prince George Dock and the Sir Milo Butler monument in Rawson Square. Randolph Johnston died in 1992.

It was wonderful that Bob Zwickel was able to join the festival after being unable to show at the previous two. He is also a Little Harbour resident and was a friend of Randolph Johnston, whom he assisted as age began to take its toll. Bob's water colours and acrylics of seascapes were evocative and sometimes brooding, capturing Abaco scenes with a sureness of touch. There were brighter and more tropical presentations featuring anglers and fish as well as a couple of small and tasteful nudes. Not on display was Bob's Chambered Nautilus which is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Natural History in New York.

It was a pleasure to see Marjolien Scott of Great Cistern once again presenting some of her latest works. Both her style and her medium - acrylics on silk - are delightfully unusual. Her works evoke colour, movement and elegance set off by broad pastel-coloured frames which are made by her husband.

Last year Cavelle Macdonell provided rather diminutive and somewhat abstract works that provided a counterpoint to the mainly tropical themes depicted in most of the other displays. This year she showed she had learned her lesson well and become far more mainstream. Figure studies are far more accessible to the average viewer.

The largest number of presentations belonged to Ann Ray, who was enjoying her third festival. Her works were exactly what most people came to see - vivid tropical colours and scenes of Abaco and the Cays. Every time I tried to talk with Ann, she was in conversation with a prospective patron, so I assume she had a successful show.

Right up to date was Marsh Harbour's Don Barnes, who was the only artist present to acknowledge that fact that a terrible storm had ravaged Abaco. He assured me that he had not sat with an easel and board during Hurricane Floyd but captured well the destruction and physical reconstruction of Crossing Rocks by the immense storm. Don had, I believe, a successful year because all his paintings were new - all but one. Their atmosphere and richness of detail set Don apart from many artists in the festival.

One young talent that burst upon the scene in this festival was that of Alice Bain with her bas-reliefs and tiles. She is already known as an accomplished journalist on the island since Hurricane Floyd. Her artistic talents were immediately obvious in this show and I left Bahamasair Chairman Freddie Gottlieb in the process of negotiating some custom tiles.

Porcelain images were the highpoint of Monique Simons' display. Beside her expressive works were more mundane artifacts such as keyrings, mouse pads, rosebud holders, refrigerator magnets and other practical everyday items that brought art into use instead of being merely decorative. She is a Nassauvian who now lives in Marsh Harbour and can customise her patrons' photographs or her own interpretations into bijous that are useful and always at hand.

Special to me was the display by Colette Rolle-Bootle, whom I knew for several years as a customs officer at Treasure Cay Airport. Now serving as a senior officer at Marsh Harbour Airport, Colette showed she was more than just a lovely young lady and an efficient civil servant. Her paintings depicted Abaco from the inside, tourists enjoying Treasure Cay beach and other beaches empty and inviting you to enjoy them. "I like my scenes to be relaxed and peaceful," Colette told me. She certainly has achieved that goal and in time she may get a harder edge to her work and appeal to a wider clientele. She already has mastered the first of her talents, to give an air of openness and space to her paintings which is exactly what you feel when you are in the places Colette brings to us.

The works of Ann deLorge were new to me - refreshingly new. Although she included an acrylic of Hope Town Lighthouse, it was very different from other perceptions. "I paint jazz," Ann told me. She is entranced by the rhythms of Bahamian merengue music and wants to use it as a source of inspiration in future works. I particularly enjoyed an evocative bayou scene of perched pelicans which was done in shades of blue.

The youngest artist on view was 19 year old Beth Sweeting, who nevertheless was able to sell several of her works. Beth graduated from Forest Heights Academy, Marsh Harbour, in 1998 and later that year entered Palm Beach Community College. Regrettably, after one semester she had to terminate her studies due to illness in the family. Beth hopes to continue her studies in the not too distant future and funds raised from the sale of her paintings will go towards her return to Palm Beach to complete her associate degree before going on to a fine arts college.

Joining the local and Abaco-based artists were Rupert Watkins from Freeport and Donald Russell from Nassau.

A delightful touch to the opening was the background music provided by violinist Jennifer Hudson playing classical and modern musical pieces.

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