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Rodell Warner’s artist residency at New Local Space launches a year of consolidating increased international outreach with support for local artists.

February 19, 2014, Kingston, Jamaica
“There is a palpable evolution taking place with art in the region right now” states New Local Space (NLS) executive director Deborah Anzinger.  She believes that the combined effect of resilience and tireless work of a few individuals and organized initiatives both private and public in Jamaica is sparking new and exciting developments in the art Jamaican art scene.

Initiatives like Alice Yard in Port of Spain, ARC Magazine out of St Vincent and the Grenadines, the Fresh Milk Platform and Projects and Space in Barbados, and Popop Studios in the Bahamas are putting in the time to develop, not only local art scenes, but regional ones with more and more collaborations between artists across the Caribbean and the world.

With the support of NLS’ parent company Creative Sounds, NLS has also done its part, steadfastly holding on to its commitment to artists and the right of the general public to not just survive but to live and experience the thrill of culture in motion that is the foundation of contemporary art.  NLS has increased its reach through online programming -- Its art talk radio show IN, which brings international exposure to local art practitioners and introduces international art practitioners to the local public, now airs once a month.  The program has been a great networking tool for local artists and curators to find ways of collaborating with their international counterparts, and viewership has more than quadrupled since the first episode last year from 90 people to 534, providing an excellent educational archive for art students and the general public.  Guest on IN have included: Annalee Davis of Barbados, Elvis Lopez of Aruba, Holly Bynoe of St Vincent, with guests such as Diana Nawi, Associate Curator of the Perez Art Musuem in Miami (PAMM), Rachael Barrett of Three Sixty Degrees, and Trinidadian artist Rodell Warner our incoming artist-in-residence, slated to appear in the coming months.

NLS has also begun partnering with contemporary arts organisations abroad to extend its exhibition programming into their more thriving local markets.  An exhibition of four NLS artists, one Trinidadian and one Trinidad-based, titled FLOAT travels to well-respected Washington DC art gallery Transformer this May, with a scheduled artist talk at American University. 

Through NLS’s residency program the organisation has been able to facilitate regional and international collaboration, providing professional and critical support for artists and facilitating relationships between organisations and people across the region. Last year, American artist Wilmer Wilson completed a residency, and NLS has upped the number of accepted artists-in-residence that we’ll take in 2014 to three.

This March, Trinidadian artist Rodell Warner has planned to embark on a unique community art project that will connect Trinidad and Kingston’s creatives through material, digital and wearable art, using images he’s taken in nature. Rodell will produce patterns and printed fabrics from his nature photographs and has invited designers and other artists working in Kingston to help him create wearable garments and art from these fabrics and patterns. NLS will provide him the workspace and share this collaborative work publicly in a multimedia live event in May. The short list of collaborating artists is Leasho Johnson, Ai Yoshida, Ayana Riviere, Storm Saulter, Phillip Thomas and Afifa Aza. 

To support Rodell’s travel and project expenses, a Kickstarter campaign has been developed to raise funds for his travel and material costs. The campaign closes in less than one week on February 26.  So far 47 people have pledged US $2101, but the campaign must make it all the way to $3400 for his project to receive any of the funds already pledged.  The link for the campaign is as follows : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2035671304/rodell-warner-art-residency-at-nls

“We believe strongly in the power of art to raise the profile of the region, foster collaboration and understanding and improve economies and quality of life across the Caribbean” Anzinger states, “but first art must flourish in the Caribbean. The region must invest in its own artists, and work together to develop our potential.”   A similar case in point of unprecedented changes in a place that became art capital of the world is demonstrated by the first ever press release from MOMA written in 1929 before the museum opened its doors,

To find out more about the work of NLS visit them at:  www.NLSkingston.org, www.facebook.com/NLSkingstonand www.NLSkingston.tumblr.com.