FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
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.
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
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.
