A pre-Christmas exhibition and sale dubbed ‘Our Forest, Our Life’ saw artists from Main Street, the Moving Circle of Artists and KAYAP showcase and sell their work on the grounds of the Iwokrama International Centre’s Georgetown office last Saturday and the sale continues today and tomorrow.
The display included paintings, pottery, art made from recycled glass, tibisiri craft, sculptures and jewelry made from beads and other local materials. The featured artists included Arianne Harris, Nigel Butler, Ransford Simon, Sheliza Rampersaud, and Anna Iles (coordinator) of the Moving Circle of Artists; Bryan Clarke (coordinator/founder/president of the Main Street group), Junior Vancooten, Brian Van Rossom, Janette Patterson, Brentnol Lewis, Stephen McKenzie, Lisa Thompson, Frankie Lumerick, Albert Barnwell, Desmond Hollingsworth and Gail Ann Barry and from KAYAP Indranee Roopsind and her 12-year-old daughter Rachel and Nelsonia Budram (coordinator).
Director of Resource Management and Training at the Iwokrama International Centre for Forest Conservation and Development Dr Raquel Thomas-Caesar said the concept for the exhibition and sale came about after she purchased a painting. She had visited her friend, animal activist Syeada Manbodh, and seen some of her paintings and mentioned wanting a forest feature painting for herself. Syeada helped her get in contact with Clarke, who told her about a water lily painting he had. She asked him to take it to the Iwokrama office so she could finalize her purchase. On arriving there, she said, Clarke pointed out that the parking lot was a good space for an exhibition.
Raquel said she liked the idea immediately and thought that with it being 25 years since the Iwokrama Act was passed, the exhibition and sale could be one of the activities to mark it.
“Iwokrama is one of five protected areas in Guyana, which is a collaboration between the government of Guyana and the Commonwealth. In 1989, President Desmond Hoyte made the space of a million acres available to the international community for research and development. But, they didn’t have the Protected Areas Act then so a special act had to be created for Iwokrama to be able to do its work, which was not passed until 1996 when President Cheddi Jagan signed off on that, creating the Iwokrama International Centre to be able to manage this million acres of forest. It’s been 32 years since the offer was made by President Hoyte and 25 years since President Jagan signed off on the act,” she explained.
She noted that once management agreed to the art event, a date was settled on. However, before the event, Raquel was out for a run in the National Park with designer Sonia Noel, which led to them reaching out to the Protected Areas Commission, the Moving Circle of Artists and the Main Street Group to work together on a project to beautify the park by painting tree stumps and the Iwokrama name along the pathway.
Banks DIH got on board for that event and sponsored the paints and bottles of water for the artists.
“…One of the main things I was promoting the event as, was not just an exhibition but it was an exhibition and sale. I wanted people to come and buy. This wasn’t just about showcasing the work. I wanted artists to make money, so I kept pushing. I don’t think our artists get enough attention and support… The idea was to give them more attention and we got good support. It wasn’t like hundreds and thousands of people coming in but the people who came in, came to buy, which was the intention,” Raquel said.
She enthused about young Rachel Roopsind from Toka Village, North Rupununi, who had her clay art on sale.
Raquel said she hopes Iwokrama can be involved in more exhibition and sale events for artists in the future.
Meanwhile, Clarke shared how thrilled he was that the event was a success. The artist added that he hopes to see more being done as it results in beautifying Guyana and pointed out that he has plans to have art and science students from selected secondary schools be responsible for maintaining the artwork at the National Park.
Meanwhile, some of the artists will be showcasing and selling their work this weekend at two other exhibitions.
