Women In Art reap rewards

This fact might have pleased Culture Minister the Honourable Joan Yuille Williams had she been present, but she, perforce, sent Minister Eulalie James in her stead — a half-hour or more after the official start to the morning programme.

Marielle Bansfield and Sonel Rowley of Bishop Anstey High School, and Sian Davies and Andrea Ysabelle Lucas of the International School carried away the bulk of the prizes and trophies. Art students of St Francois Girls’ College, St Joseph’s Convent, St Joseph, Naparima Girls’ High School, Siparia Senior Comprehensive, Malick Secondary Comprehensive and Bishop’s Tobago also took their share of the prizes and miniature trophies to keep for themselves and the trophies to be displayed in their schools until the next Women in Art School’s competition.

As Fraulein Rudder, president of the Women in Art organisation, remarked in her welcome address, the entries for 2005-6 were the best in the entire ten-year life of this biennial competition — as one glance at photographs of some of the winning entries clearly shows.

Rachel Bishop’s “Carrat Shack” would not disgrace many a commercial exhibition of landscapes in the galleries of Port-of-Spain. The same could be said for Sian Davies “Flower Bowl”, Marielle Bansfield’s lyrical “Reflections of Motherhood” and Myer Fisher’s dramatic abstract “Untitled”. Jolene Dookgran’s “Graphic Design” arrests and intrigues with its Gothic lettering; Ashley Alfonso’s “Enchanted” has echoes of Van Gogh. One suspects Shivaa Ramsewar comes from a family of potters, judging by the professional, glazed finish to her winning entry for sculpture, “Eastern Drummer”.

The prize-giving ceremony ended with a tour of student’s work in the temporary exhibition rooms which should be open for the public to see the young artists’ works until Sunday.