Christmas is upon us! And there is hope and excitement for the potential granting of the wish lists – in part, but better yet, in full! My art wish list varies from the individual to the communal and from the simple to the grand. High on my art wish list under the heading communal is the desire for our student painters to be fed through opportunities to see superb figurative and non-figurative imagery that speak from a diversity of ideas as their starting points. I know it will be a wish granted for some students, if Bernadette Persaud (b 1946) can be supported to show locally a collection of her thematically rich figurative paintings in 2024. I also wish for these and other student painters’ immersion in spaces with the grand non-figurative, non-objective canvases of Bartica-born, London-based Frank Bowling (b 1934) and for them to experience the expansive white paintings of Arlington Weithers (b 1948). Both Bowling and Weithers are essentially landscape painters and each incorporates very sensual recollections of Guyana in their work despite their locales of residence beyond Guyana’s shores. Meanwhile, Persaud’s oeuvre (body of work) predominates with representational references to the land. I wish for our student painters to be encouraged by the work of these three painters and other Guyanese artists in the diaspora and for a meaningful cross-boundary dialogue to develop. This need not be literal, but should that be the case then the granting of my wish is exceeded.
