On Friday November 2nd, at the Waving Art Gallery at Maurice Bishop International Airport, Grenada Arts Council with the kind support of Grenada Airport Authority opened the 9th art exhibit in the past year. “Natural Forms” on exhibit now has work by 5 artists depicting faces and figures along with natural and botanical elements. The artists are Rhennel Joseph, LaVanda Mireles, Ingrid Newman, Julia Gubenkova and Farihah Khan. A diverse group of artists, some exhibiting for the first time, these artists living and creating art in Grenada are part of our local creative scene and bring the Waving Art Gallery’s artist count to 40 shown in the past year. Aside from showcasing artists, the Waving Art Gallery has become a regular meeting place for artists and art lovers in the past year as the exhibits revolve every 6 weeks or so and open receptions are held to launch each new exhibit. New artists have been brought into the art community and seasoned artists have been able to meet in the space, see new work and exchange ideas.
For larger exhibitions, Grenada Arts Council has partnered with Spiceland Mall for Pop-up art exhibits. Pop-ups are short term, usually one day, exhibits where artists bring their work and spend the day talking with art lovers as well as other artists. Grenada Arts Council provides the panels and temporary walls for the exhibit as well as support in terms of advice and guidance in addition to promotion of the artists work on social media. The upcoming pop-up exhibit on December 1st is open to all to exhibit and for this exhibit, Grenada Arts Council is lowering the commission on the sale of artwork to 10% along with a $20 registration fee. These contributions allow the volunteers that work as Arts Council to continue with the work of developing, education, and promoting art in Grenada. The Pop-up exhibit in August had 26 artists and the Arts Council is looking forward to an even bigger showing in December especially as people will have holiday shopping in mind. There is no theme for this exhibit so artists are expected to bring what they have been working on – more information can be found at www.grenadaartscouncil.com.
Grenada Arts Council has been advising and supporting the Ministry of Culture with the recently relaunched Festival of the Arts. Many members of Grenada Arts Council participated in the Festival of the Arts in the past and it is exciting to be able to be a part of it in this manner. 9 schools registered artists from which the top 5 pieces will be selected to go straight to the finals which will be held during the Concert of Winners concert on December 6th. This is the first time that Visual Arts has been offered as a category at the Festival of the Arts and the Grenada Arts Council is excited to identify young talent and encourage further development in art education.
One of the ways that the Arts Council is helping to promote artists in Grenada is through the Artist Profiles page on the Grenada Arts Council website. Not only does this provide internet searches with content about art in Grenada but it also serves as a database for local practices and helps in planning for exhibits. One of the artists currently on display at the Waving Art Gallery was invited to exhibit based on her Artist Profile, whereas she would not have been included otherwise. If you are an artist or have a friend or family who is an artist, encourage them to submit their bio and examples of their work to the Arts Council email: gac.asp@gmail.com. Artists can view existing profiles on the Grenada Arts Council website at www.grenadaartscouncil.com. Grenada Arts Council is also on Facebook and Instagram and all are encouraged to follow along to keep close to what is happening in art in Grenada!
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