Natalie’s art

WHEN Natalie Francis was eight years old, she received her first toy sewing machine. From that moment onwards, she sewed non-stop, from evening till the following morning. “I didn’t sleep a wink. And among the first things I started making and selling was women’s T-back underwear, $5 for one, before it even came out on the market,” said Natalie, textile designer and craftswoman. Her initial desire as a little girl was to manage and own a garment factory. In the run-up to achieving that goal, she was able to find an outlet for her creativity. Her father was skilled at carving and her sisters at sewing.

How could she be original? Natalie combined the two. After taking craft classes at a school in her neighbourhood, Cunupia, she learned the art of decorating with the use of banana bark. When the bark is dry, it can be stripped in sheets from the tree, then cut and fashioned according to the decorator’s desire. With a newfound skill and a host of ideas, Natalie is pushing the limits on items she can make out of banana bark. Some of these include notebook covers, postcards, floral arrangements, handbags, wall plaques and picture frames. She also does hand-painting and batik. Her banana-made notebook covers were a hit at her textiles and garment construction YTEPP class, many years ago. They remain intact up to today. “My father has land in Enterprise with a lot of fig trees, and I started to strip bark like crazy. When I started out I used to go to the forest to collect local material. I wasn’t working at the time, so I would go and collect dry palms to work with,” she said. She once held jobs in the garment industry, working as a clerk in a fabric store and as a domestic worker.

Natalie pointed to her macrame-styled curtain, which hung in her porch, also made out of banana bark. The curtain was her first project after learning how to twist, paint and strip banana bark. She is pulling out her finest pieces in preparation for today’s Emancipation Day, some of which will be on display at NEDCO’s office in Chaguanas, and at Obatoke’s Earthly Creations at her home on Gibson Trace North, Jerningham Road, Cunupia. (Obatoke, which means daughter of King Obatala, is her adoptive name, according to the Orisha faith). She was able to secure a loan from NEDCO to help fund her small business. Because of the rainy season, it has been difficult to acquire material to make new decorations. “I had asked the Ministry of Agriculture to help us in getting fig bark, locating trees and if it means paying for it (banana bark) I’ll do it,” she said.

“This is a craft I would not stop doing. I can’t describe the peace I get within, doing it. You have to love the work. If you go to study the ridicule and embarrassment from people, you wouldn’t do it.” However, she has been able to eke out a living for her herself and her three children. Apart from making “fig-bark” arrangements, Natalie, along with her team — friend Mosa James, sister Ashely and daughters Anastacia and Monifa, hand-paint T-shirts for various occasions as well as design ornamental dolls dressed in East Indian and African wear. “My own creations are craft work. I don’t like to be labelled like the rest.” Natalie plans to pass on her skills in craft by teaching youths in her neighbourhood the art of banana bark use.