Artisans exhibit at Commercial Centre
It may be a long three months until Christmas but it’s not too early to start thinking of gifts. This morning we visited the Commercial Centre in Belize City and found that a number of artisans are urging customers to “think Belizean”.
The exhibition displays a number of art and craft works created by a small group of artists, who are trying to make a name for themselves on the local market. According to Paula Flowers, the show’s coordinator, artists like herself do not get the necessary support needed to encourage them to grow.
Paula Flowers, Coordinator, Exhibition
“We need to help out our Belizean people, many of us, like myself, started and we didn’t get the amount of help out there, like encouragement. And during my shows, I did get, but not enough. So what I am trying to do is to help the artist out there who cannot pay the four hundred dollars or the three hundred dollars, to go and show their art work at a specific date or so.”
Flowers, who is a crochet artist, has creatively taken nylon and cotton threads and turned them into clothes and various household wares.
Paula Flowers
“I have bags with different types of threads on it. I have tablecloths, bed spreads, doilies, hair pieces, blouses for all different occasions and I have bathing suits. So I have a whole line of different things.”
Just next door to Flowers’ display, is that of Curvin Mitchell of Sand Hill Village. Mitchell, who has carved a number of trinkets from coconut shells, is also trying his hand at making hammocks from cotton and nylon. The artist believes his work is superior to the foreign competition.
Curvin Mitchell, Artist
“The way how the Mexicans make their hammocks, they would just cross the string, cross them right so. So if one of the strings burst, the hammock would split in the middle. But the way how I make mine now, you can see every string has a knot, so if one burst, it would not affect it that much.”
But there is more than just decorative art on display. Just in time for the celebrations, is an array of local wines by Dawn Sutherland of Burrell Boom.
Dawn Sutherland, Co-Owner, Dawn Foods Ltd.
“Well, right now we have about eight different local wines. We have sorrel, orange, grapefruit, serosi, tamarind, blackberry, cashew, herbs.
Well, after me and my gentleman do it for a longtime, he gradually test it right, to see what is the nicest taste he get out of it and to know how much sugar to put in it and that is how he gets his wine.”
For an added treat, the exhibition also has a number of paintings by well know Belizean artists, like Terryl Godoy, Benjamin Nicholas and Alex Sanker. Flowers says while it does not cost a penny to see the show, the public is encouraged to buy, as part of the sales will go toward the Belize Cancer Society.
The show, which runs through October third, can be seen on the second floor of the Commercial Centre.
