Artist comes home, still has her touch
When she married a man from Tobago and relocated there six years ago, it was our loss and that island’s gain. But artist Rachael Heusner Superville has not abandoned Belize entirely. Her latest show opened last night at St. John’s College and yesterday News 5’s Ann-Marie Williams took a sneak preview.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
Rachael Heusner is back home for a short holiday, however, she didn’t come empty-handed. She brought a twenty-piece collection of her paintings, many of which are vignettes of Belizean life.
Heusner says the pieces reflect a simpler time, one worthy of preserving. Her favourite is “Bus Stop”.
Rachael Heusner, Artist
“Because it has this young woman and her child, and they’re so many young women nowadays having children that it’s a everyday thing. And part of recording in painting is recording history. And I think that’s what the history is saying right now.”
There’s also “Broken down Taxi”.
Rachael Heusner
“You wonder how some of the broken ones that continue driving, but they are. Also, representational of our country and time in which we live.”
But as the time in which we live becomes more complicated, Heusner plans on keeping it simple by painting what she loves–children and old people.
Rachael Heusner
“Just because of how children behave, the freedom, the liveliness, the comicalness of things that they would do. And I like old people because of all the character in the faces and just being able to know what they’ve done with their life just by looking at faces and so on.”
Of the twenty works of art currently on display at St. John’s College art studio, only two pieces are in black and white.
Rachael Heusner
“It shows a lot of drawing skills, control of dark and light. Sometimes because of the subject matter and choosing to do a black and white does send you back into a certain time period.”
Although the display is titled “Back Home”, it also has a touch of Caribbean harm and appropriately so, since this Belizean artist now calls Tobago home.
Rachael Heusner
“This is really Tobago old time band, like for instance the jawbone that is really the…they call it tambran. It’s like a little drum short like that and they beat it. And as they go along the road they keep lighting a fire to warm it.”
“Red Panty” is reflective of both Belizean and Tobago.
Rachael Heusner
“In Tobago, a lot of people still go to the river and wash, like they do here in the country. It’s kind of comical, because you see the little girl coming out the water, and the water kind of pull back on (laughs)…so it’s funny. I kind of like to add a little bit of humour into the art, it makes people laugh.”
And after a decade of painting, Heusner acknowledges that she hasn’t done it alone.
Rachael Heusner
“I like an American painter call Norman Rockwell for the said reason that his pieces told stories. They told stories of America and how it was and I think I try to do that. and I think those are the type of artwork that I’m drawn to, things that are representational, that tell stories.”
Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.
If you were thinking of purchasing one of Rachael’s paintings, don’t think too long. By the end of last night’s opening all but two had been sold. The show runs through Thursday. Opening hours are 8:00 to 4:00.
