An important exhibition of local talent took place at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman at the beginning of September and viewers only realised the youth of the artists exhibiting when they looked closely at the label next to each painting, which displayed their age as well as their name.
The exciting pieces, all with a Cayman theme running through the chosen topics, were the culmination of work by children aged from 4 to 11 who took part in the Cayman Traditional Arts summer camp, run by Trina and Chris Christian.
Over a four week period during the summer Chris led the group through all the stages of creating a masterpiece.
Chris explains, ‘It was important for the children to appreciate how a painting is put together, so they began by choosing a photograph of the Cayman Islands natural fauna and flora taken by a local professional photographer that particularly appealed to them. They would then go on to recreate using acrylic paint on canvas.’
Chris continues, ‘I taught the children how to use a grid system to scale out their photo and then transfer the drawing onto their canvas. Each child was then able to create an accurate drawing to work from. The children were taught how to mix their colours and they applied them using a realistic impressionist style.’
CTA was pleased to have some corporate sponsorship to allow two children from the community each week to attend the camp for free.
Trina Christian acknowledges the sponsors’ involvement, ‘We would like to thank CUC, Butterfield Bank, The Ritz Carlton, Grand Cayman and Shaw Overseas Group for supporting the programme and enabling children to attend, who may not have had the opportunity.’
The young artists enjoyed explaining their paintings to visitors who attended the group’s opening of their exhibition, which had a good turnout and was well catered for, with the Ritz Carlton serving copious amounts of fruit punches (courtesy of Tortuga Rum Co) and water, as well as a delectable choice of cookies.
Florence Allan, age 8, chose two Cayman parrots as her subject matter. She says, ‘I chose to paint the parrots because I love animals and I thought that they looked cute and pretty in the photo. I drew the outlines first, which was quite difficult, but once I got into the painting it became a lot easier.’
Autumn Davies, also 8, decided to paint a colourful tree, with evening hues of deep blue, purple and red. She says, ‘I liked this tree but wasn’t quite sure how I was going to paint the light that I could see in the photo. In the end I left it out and I was really pleased with the results.’
Andrew Christian, age 7, created a spectacular painting of stingrays, with attention to detail which included accurate use of shading and layers of imaginative light and colour that created a visually stunning sea-effect. Andrew says, ‘My Dad inspired me to do my work; I wanted to have painting in the Ritz, because I thought it would be really fun. I chose the eagle ray because they are very rare; I used silver and gold because they are my favorite colours. It took a long time to do this piece.’
When asked what she liked most about the art camp, Sammie Rowland, age 6, said, ‘I don’t have a favourite bit, I liked it all. We did painting and we went outside and made things. It was fun.’ Sammie created two paintings. One was from a David Wolfe photo of horses on the beach at sunset. The other is called the ‘Sun Queen’ and depicts a brightly painted lady.
Josh Ebanks, age 9 says, ‘I chose to paint a fish because I like fish. I used a paintbrush to paint colourful dots all over the fish.’ There is vivid movement in Josh’s piece, with swirls of light indicating the action of the painting.
Derrick Ebanks, age 8, also chose a watery theme for his art, in the form of stingrays and created an interesting underwater perspective, with the viewer enjoying the outlook of the stingray itself, through the surface of the water.
Thaddeus Ebanks, age just 4, painted swimming turtles because he says he loves turtles, and did a great job outlining the shells and showing the movement of the creatures in water.
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