Irene Bacchus’ unsurprising appearance at last Sunday’s UncappeD event at the National Stadium at Providence was as much as a response to one of the creative sector’s rare local market opportunities afforded our local craftsmen and women as it was a tribute to her own sustained commitment to the sector for more than two decades.
On Sunday, what appeared to be a fresh collection of her own distinctive creations had been turned out at the Stadium. A host of assorted items made mostly out of wood and leather were assembled on her table. Hers was a cramped space amongst others, some of whom were newcomers to the local craft industry. Many of them have only just recently begun to travel the road that Irene has traversed repeatedly, though hers, she insists, is still an unfinished journey.
At Providence on Sunday, her work halted me in my tracks. It had happened previously, at other craft shows. Some time had elapsed since we had last spoken so I asked her whether she thought we could talk about where the sector had gone over the years that we had been talking about its development. Casting an eye at the traffic drifting through one of the many corridors created to accommodate the various vendors, she suggested that we “leave it for another time.”
