The work of 11 artists was showcased on Thursday when the Guyana Women Artists’ Association (GWAA) hosted its 31st Annual Art Exhibition, which was held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre at Liliendaal.
The work on display included paintings, sculptures, textiles, and various mixed media pieces, from artists such as Carol Fraser, Tara Bentick, Jennifer Gibson, Anna Correia-Bevaun, Keisha Pilgrim, Elodie Cage-Smith, Irene Bacchus-Holder, Denise Bristol, Elizabeth Hughes, Brandee Douglas-Bradford and Dawne Isaacs.
The exhibition, which was titled ‘Rhythm of our Journey II,” in contrast to previous years, ran for only one night. Fraser, who is the president of the GWAA, explained that it was due to not finding a location to accommodate the exhibition for the usual week. She said Castellani House was booked and while they had approached other locations, most were already booked considering that it is the holiday season. She explained that to avoid cancelling the event entirely, they approached the Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes, who agreed to let them use the conference centre for a night.
Fraser further disclosed that Hughes agreed to allow the women to hang their paintings on the wall permanently but noted some refurbishing works have to be done first.
During her brief remarks at the opening ceremony, Fraser said that the exhibition was an opportunity to coordinate and keep GWAAA founders’ vision “and great legacy, alive.” She noted the exhibition was also a chance to show the work that GWAA members have been doing. Their works, she said, is their unique way of exposing their creative thoughts through art.
She disclosed that GWWA has a lot of plans for the future, which include painting an inspirational mural at the Joshua House children’s home. She added that their vision is to transform Main Street, Georgetown into an artist’s walk of fame. “It is our strongly held view that it will add to the aesthetic attraction for tourists, even as we celebrate our artists, who would have made great contributions to the tapestry of art in Guyana,” she said, while mentioning O’ Donna Allsopp, Winslow Craig, and Philip Moore.
Meanwhile, Minister Hughes, who was among attendees at the event, said that while the love of art is a passion, it is time for the creative industry to be transformed into a lucrative one. She encouraged artists present to take advantage of opportunities which will soon be presented as Guyana is on the verge of economic transformation.
