Joanne Yates-Boopsingh has been drawing since she was the height of a grasshopper. When other children wanted comic books she asked for a drawing book and crayons.

Having done a variety of art-related things, the 30-year-old plus wife of Robert and mother of three young children, has settled into what she terms “my way of being a Trinidad and Tobago ambassador by portraying the beautiful things about our country.” And this she does by painting whatever her expat clients most want to remember about their experiences of the good part of Trinidad and Tobago, on plates, mugs and even a matching teapot.

In very soft-spoken tones, she acknowledges: “There are all the kidnappings etc. but I can see the absolute beauty of our country and have decided to use this medium to show it. I paint nothing unless it is dedicated to God because this is a God-given gift that He gave me and I must use it for his glory.” Joanne becomes excited as she speaks of her work which basically suits our foreign market. “Rather than the traditional Humming Bird and hibiscus, they will get the more personal stuff. Scenes such as Mayaro, flamboyant trees, turtle watching, the roadside vendors where they may have bought vegetables round the Savannah with the coconut carts and person walking the dog, the most popular is the boil corn vendor, and of course those who have eaten doubles.”

The Carnival portrayals include pan around the neck and the masquerader who brought Joanne a costumed picture of herself playing mas in “The Strip”, which now adorns a plate. It’s a good way of collecting memorabilia. She has played twice and next year will add a third plate for her wall when she goes “back to her homeland.” Joanne is predominantly guided by what the clients’ experiences were in Trinidad and Tobago. “I get into conversation and ask them where they have been, what they have done. The next question is what about Trinidad do you want to remember most. I would then find myself on one given day in that area, sketch it, and then paint it for you. Take the President’s House, a visitor here for two months was very disappointed with how the residence looked so dull on postcards, so I painted a rainy season version where everything is green and bright.” The artist’s first love is really portraits: “Professional portraiture but the plates do not lend themselves to portraits, and you do not get orders for portraits every day.”

Joanne has never not known what she wanted to be. Having always wanted to be an artist, there was no guessing after graduating from St Joseph’s Convent in St Joseph. She won a scholarship to the International Fine Arts College in Miami, studied commercial art for two years, came back and worked with an advertising agency which totally coloured her perspective of that field. “I abandoned it as a career post haste.” Her career then took many twists and turns, from painting T-shirts, to portraits, to teaching at Bishop’s Centenary College. With the birth of her second child 18 months ago, she left teaching.

“I just stayed out as with pregnancy, sometimes the creativity disappears and evaporates. But one does not kill an artistic spirit, it is like a plant, and after six months the calling came back with greater desire and I had to find an outlet for it. I was drinking coffee from a mug bought on my honeymoon in St Lucia and happened on this idea, did a batch of mugs, and people went crazy for them.” Joanne works with her clients on a one-on-one basis and has only just started distribution through one retail outlet with no plans to expand into other shops. So far her pieces have gone to Rome, the United States, Canada and Hawaii, just to name a few places.

From football, pan, ballet, tennis, she keeps going

There are not enough hours in a day to do all that Jeneice Ward wants to, and playing lawn tennis, football, pan, taking modern dance classes, homework and studies, she assured, are far from exhausting. That’s until the cold breeze blowing through the car window lulls her to sleep as she makes her way home every evening.

From appointment to appointment and occasional late nights on the computer, Jeneice seems to be giving the “Energizer Bunny” some competition. What is the source of all her energy? Certainly not the servings of cereal and milk she has, ritualistically (morning, noon and night)!

What could possibly be responsible for that mean two-handed, backhand shot she slammed across the net during a gruelling one-hour session with her tennis coach? It was fascinating since, an hour before she was tippy-toeing in her candy pink ballet shoes  and matching leotards twisting and twirling to the delight of her instructors at Thora Dumbell Ballet School at the Chinese Association, St Ann’s. “An excellent student,” was how her tutor evaluated her. In the four years, she had made “rapid progress”. An hour before that, she was rushing out the gates of Bishop Anstey High, Port-of-Spain, amongst the throngs of students in order to keep up with her fixed schedule. Her faithful and prompt ride was waiting outside. Behind the wheel sat her father, Joseph.

Wednesday’s routine was unlike Friday’s. This time she had a date with her football coach Peter Pierre, at the Queen’s Park Savannah for 3.30 pm sharp. Trying to keep our appointment, I missed the chance of seeing her nimble footworks and “accurate ball passes” her coach so vividly described. Instead, I got to see the behind the scenes, after-match routine stretching accompanied by sit-ups and push-ups and tired facial expressions that seemed to harmonise with their (her colleagues) words: “uuurrr, aahh, sir..how much more?” Bits of dried grass were strewn all over their hair and clothing.

“She’s got a very good idea of the game,” Pierre commented after her three-week training with him. “Jeneice exhibits good technique and I understand that she plays tennis too which complements her footwork on the field. Ball games go hand in hand.” Pierre is tennis coach for Bishop Anstey girls’ and UWI women’s football teams and one of the coaches at Skeene Hyacinth Football Institute.

Admittedly, the 82lb, 13-year-old amazed them. For the past week she’s been measuring her height daily, which to her disappointment, remains 4 ft 11 1/2 inches. She wants to be able to say she’s taller than her mom, Jai. Just one foot more, she convinces herself. But it was inevitable that Jeneice would be athletic. It was noticeable that she had the “long distance muscles” when, just a year old, ran “a stretch and a curve” while her father was warming up for his long distance meet at the National Stadium.

Joseph ran in the marathons from Freeport to Port-of-Spain. Both Joseph and Jai are tennis players. Her parents assured that there was no need to coerce Jeneice into playing sports. “I love all,” Jeneice said. They try to maintain doing everything as a family unit. “From as early as they (Jeneice and her brother Jerome) could walk we got them baby rackets,” said Joseph. Jerome, 16, of Fatima College, is ranked #3 in the U-18 group. “I also wanted to do ballet because I used to listen to music and dance around,” she said.

At Newtown Girls’ RC Jeneice was also netball captain. She put a hold on swimming lessons because of her fear of the deep. She’s holding on to her “loves” until it’s time to choose one. She said: “Dancing gives me pride and confidence in myself, performing in front of parents. Football gives me mental toughness and tennis builds my physical fitness and strength.” Jeneice plays competitive tennis and is ranked third in U-12 and second in U-14, nationally. Her biggest success, to date, is winning the recent U-14 doubles of the Barclay’s Bank International tournament beating Canada in the finals. She also won the U-14 doubles with her partner Ria Dookeran in the National Junior Tennis Championships and was a finalist in the singles event. Jeneice is one of few being called to the Junior Fed Cup to represent Trinidad in El Salvador in early May. Her participation remains tentative due to insufficient funding.

Jeneice eventually, got around to answering my initial question. “I dreamed of three things I wanted to be — a professional tennis player, a professional footballer and a surgeon.” She explained the latter: “I love the study of organs and I love children.” She’s also contemplating becoming a dentist. She didn’t have to say the ‘L’ word when describing her relationship with her brother. “Normal sibiling rivalry. We argue a lot but we share a lot of secrets that mummy and daddy don’t know about. When we get in trouble we pick up for each other.” Not to mention how much she misses him when he goes abroad to participate in tennis invitationals. Her favourite sports personalities are Venus Williams (tennis) and Mia Hamm (football), favourite book — the Harry Potter series and favourite instrument – the steelpan.

Beautician and hair stylist Indra Gopaul has centered her entire life in the beauty business. She has spent 30 years not just creating hairstyles, but offering the total body beautiful look with make up, skin care, manicure and pedicure treatments. Seemingly shy and quiet, she has a braver heart than a lion. Despite the many trials and tribulation in life she has conquered the odds and has accomplished all that she dreamed about and more.

Hailing from Chaguanas, Indra wanted to reach the career women  and those in executive positions on a daily basis. Her aim was to provide the best beauty services and in her quest to do so she decided the only place she could accomplish that was in the heart of Port-of-Spain. Her parents and relatives warned her that it would be difficult for an East Indian woman in the city but she decided to open shop anyway.

After operating for ten years at her Chaguanas home, and without a second thought she opened on Chacon Street. Then in 1985 just as she had built a clientele of well-to-do people, her shop burnt to ashes one night. Determined to keep her clients she opened another one on Frederick Street but could not keep up with the competition and she decided to close shop and go abroad to advance her skills. She went to Robert Fiaz Saloon in Brooklyn where she studied skin care and beauty culture. There her managers observed that she was extremely talented with the scissors. “They were amazed at the way I would shape the hair of the clients who came in for a cut. Soon I was given a job to cut even though I was a student,” she said.

She later established herself in Brooklyn with a friend and did a lot of  business. But she got homesick and decided to return bringing back some of the most modern equipment in the beauty culture business. With new experience and zest she was determined to make it in Port-of-Spain. She established her shop again on Chacon Street and began advertising her business. Within a year she built such a big clientele that customers had to be given  appointments. She also established a school for young students. To further upgrade her skills in skin care and hairstyles Indra went to Vidal Sassoon in England. She also did body  and massage therapy  and returned to Port-of-Spain after one year.

Indra has no regrets about her career moves and while reminiscing on how she got started in the business she said when she was ten years old, her neighbour who was of African descent used to buy several wigs and asked her to style them. “My neighbour would call me to plait her hair. I would spend hours making dozens of small plaits for her. Then she would pay me and bless me, saying I have good hands,” she remembered. “Then my neighbour would ask me to wash and dry her wigs for her. I took great pleasure in caring for her hairpieces. I would dry and style them and she would use them to go to church, weddings and other functions in the village.”

At 15 Indra had a sizeable clientele at her home on Sundays waiting to style their hair. Back in the sixties the style was “petal” and “drop curls”. Through the years the hairstyles have been changing rapidly and she keeps in touch with changing trends in the US and UK. “Today, people are into a lot of short cuts and coloured hair. While there are not many men into colouring their hair, they love the short and clean look,” she noted. There is also a demand for hair extensions and weaves,” she said.

Naparima Bowl, San Fernando remains one of the best venues where many of the world’s most famous performers go to perform for southerners. Although the venue has been earmarked for renovations, there has not been any major work done to the building for more than 25 years. However, the new manager has a plan for the Bowl.

Reynold Bassant, one of TT’s most prolific writers and cultural activist, has been able to provide service for scores of artistes who visit the Bowl on a daily basis. Bassant seems to be the most qualified person for this job and many people predict that there will be change to the Bowl now that he has taken the reins. He has spent 30 years of his life as the Chief Librarian at the Carnegie Free Library, San Fernando but Bassant is well known in  performing arts circle. He seems to be the anchor for those who are into the performing arts in South. Many would turn to him for advice and also for review of their work.

One might wonder how come a librarian connects so much to arts in San Fernando? Well it’s easy, Bassant encouraged the artistes of the southland to showcase their talent for the people who frequent the library. He used the library as a place where the playwrights, poets and story tellers are able to reach an audience one-on-one and talk about their art. “It worked in many ways. It showed the skill of the artistes who want to communicate with an audience but in a homely atmosphere filled with warmth, love and affection. It also gave the listeners an opportunity to think about the arts and develop a love for it. Cause there are many people who hear about storytelling and they get turned off thinking this is not something interesting, but when exposed to it they realise how much fun there is in listening to a story told in the company of friend and relative,” he explained.

Bassant noted that while the policy of the libraries remain to provide books for the reading public, he used the forum for a lot more. “In the beginning I went through a lot from my bosses for promoting the arts through the library, but later on they realised that my idea was generating a greater flow of youths to the library.  Despite the initial problems I had I was later complimented for my efforts,” he said. He noted that the library started celebrating all the major festivals including Carnival, Divali, Eid-ul-Fitr  and Christmas. The public was invited to  attend these functions and the library provided documents on the origin of the festivals and also on the people who were invited to participate in the cultural aspect of the festivals.

From his office at Naparima Bowl  Bassant said he was lucky to get a break with a newspaper to do feature writings about the artistes in 1974. “I was able to inform the country on the happenings of the south-based performers. It was one of the best opportunities I had to assist the many striving performers of the southland,” he said. During the 70’s and 80’s the public looked forward to learning about the arts through the pieces submitted by Reynold Bassant. He gained a reputation for his excellent writings and won many competitions. He took the first prize for poetry in the PNM’s 25th anniversary competition. Later on he won the Public Service Association’s  excellent writing contest and the National Cultural Council’s annual writing competition.

Bassant noted that it was Newsday’s the editor-in-chief, Therese Mills (who was the editor of Guardian at the time) who gave him the opportunity to publish his short story Jai on the School Bus. This gave him  a boost as the public got to view his writing from a different angle. Bassant grew up in Marcano Street, Princes Town, and his parents Joseph and Violet Bassant still live there. It was while attending Naparima Boys College that he met the playwright and dramatist James Lewah who trained him and he acted in many of Lewah’s productions.

Bassant is now working with the Ministry of Culture to make the Bowl the “sanctuary of the performing arts in south Trinidad”. Just like he did with the library, Bassant is now working feverishly to give the artistes the opportunity to showcase their talent for the schools and other institutions. “I believe if those who are painters, writers and musicians can come and spend an entire week at the Bowl, then the schools and other institutions can come in and see what the artistes have to offer by paying a small fee of $1, he said. Through a government scholarship he was able to attain a BA in English language, history and sociology. He also holds a Masters in Library and Information Science and a diploma in public relations and human resource personnel management. Bassant and his wife Dawn have a two-month-old baby, Justine Amanda. He has two other children from a previous marriage,  son Mark lives in Canada and daughter Candice lives here.