Exhibition promotes cross section of artists

Belizean artists are never in short supply of talent, it’s the support they lack. But a different kind of exhibition on at the Bliss should appeal to the art aficionados in us all. Ann-Marie Williams explains.

Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
Over two dozen artists from all over the country will camp out at the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts in Belize City for the next two weeks as they participate in “Joint Ventures”. According to veteran artist Terryl Godoy, the event is a mini-festival, art show and sale rolled into one.

Terryl Godoy, Organiser, Joint Ventures Exhibition
“There’s lots of artists like Papo, like Edgar and many others that does work in San Pedro and no one have ever seen them out painting. So I’m also trying to instill that in them to have them to come over and try out their skills in this building around people.”

“What I’ve just done is to put artist together from all over the country of Belize and to let each other interact and get to know who is who around Belize and also you get the chance to sell your work.”

And the works on display are as varied as the artists themselves. There’s the Pamela Braun’s surreal piece, Godoy’s South Street and Chris Emmannuel’s portrait of Andy Palacio.

Chris Emmannuel, Grenadian Artist
“To me he was like so many of the mortars that struggled to get there and just as they arrived, like Martin Luther King and so many others. It’s a tribute, it’s definite tribute.”

For Kirt Jason Cruz, art has enabled him to attain a sense of normalcy. The San Pedro resident was left disabled after being stabbed in the back and neck.

Kirt Jason Cruz, San Pedro Artist
“I was born with the, to me, with the instinct of an artist so I just decided to pick up the brush with my left hand and started practicing and after four months I stood up with a walker because the doctor told me I wouldn’t walk then I stood up with a walker and started painting.”

So with his brush in the left hand and palette in the right, today Cruz brings beautiful sceneries of waterfalls and his island home to life.

Ann-Marie Williams
“Where would you like to see artists going in Belize, particularly the painters, a number of them are still starving, perhaps yourself included?”

Pamela Braun, Cayo Artist
“We really have a core of strong, strong artists; both male and female. We lose them often times through. We lose them to other countries because we can’t support them. So I think if we could have something whether you put us in the school to work with the children …”

Ann-Marie Williams
“Maybe like some itinerant teachers or so>”

Pamela Braun
“Exactly, your campuses will change with art on the campus you know attitudes change dramatically with art because you create from nothing so you don’t have to have anything to make anything and that would keep our bellies full a little bit.”

All the exhibition pieces are for sale.

Terryl Godoy
“I’m doing South Street. It’s unfinished and it’s right beside me here. I couldn’t finish that painting on time for this exhibition but nevertheless I’ll finish it at the show since we can paint at the show. I have a very old piece of the Albert Street and the swing bridge and we have this bus coming down the street. That’s a very old piece I’ve displayed many times before but it’s my personal collection.”

And indeed, that piece that may well become a collector’s item since Albert Street is expected to get a makeover later this year. Ann-Marie Williams for News Five.

The exhibition ends on March twenty-eight.