Rhythm of our people

I paint stories. My energy is in sync with the energy of these islands.” These are the words of artist Gail Pantin, who proves her statement in the third instalment of the exhibition series Pan, Rhythm and People which opened on February 23 and will run until March 4 at the Art Society headquarters, corner of Jamaica Boulevard and St Vincent Avenue, Federation Park.

“This rhythm, this life, this blood. This is my father’s country, this is my country. This is where I want to die. I choose to be here,” exclaimed Pantin.

The exhibition contains over 70 pieces of local people and scenes, ranging in size from six inches to four feet. They are sketches and paintings in watercolours, acrylics, oil pencil, Japanese brush pen, and mixed media, depending on the feeling she wanted to convey. The images include scenes of the Botanical Gardens, Queen’s Park Savannah, and Tobago, as well as Carnival-inspired pieces highlighting individual pan players and vendors who come out during this time.

“I don’t do one style. I am an artist who has always done and enjoyed various themes and subjects in multiple styles. When I think of rhythm I don’t think of just one swaying movement. I think of every pace of rhythm,” she said. Pantin stressed her focus is on the life, the business, and the personality of the individuals rather than not generic players or vendors. “Everybody is doing masqueraders and maybe the Kings and Queens but you’re not seeing pan paintings like this, individual panmen, real people.

Each individual pan player has their own rhythm - slow and relaxed or fast and exciting - it’s colourful and really loud.

“All of the panmen have a different rhythm, whether it’s their face, their motion, their style, the energy and excitement they put out. Trinidad and Tobago is like that. Tobago has this soothing, peaceful, down deep rhythm while Trinidad has this exciting feel,” she explained.

Therefore, she also created several “slower” pieces showcasing life in Tobago including a street artist working on a sketch, a bird perched on a fishing boat, or people playing a make-shift game at the side of the road. There are also images of landscapes, flowers and trees, including the tree under which the body of murdered Japanese pan player, Asami Nagakiya, was found.

Pantin told Sunday Newsday she always wanted to be an artist.

She clearly recalled that, when she was five she spent most of her time with old people and children, and decided she did not want anyone to teach her to paint, but would practise and gain experience like her older friends.

“I realised for me to be a painter I had to have experience so I always said that when I was 50, that is when I would have enough experience to be called an artist,” she said.

Initially, Pantin wanted to use her creative ability for medical purposes, particularly prosthetics. However, when her father died at age 14 and her mother and siblings moved to Canada, she decided to focus on commercial art in order to make a living.

While in Canada she worked in the commercial field and had very little time for painting. However, she always had an interest in Asian culture and decided to visit for a year. While in Singapore, she got a job as an art teacher and stayed therefore 20 years teaching, doing community work with the government and travelling the continent. She also worked with children of varying economic backgrounds and social challenge, and developed a passion for improving the lives of children through art.

Again, Pantin was so busy she had no time to paint. However, she decided that if she wanted to call herself an artist, she should put aside at least ten minutes per day to paint. Therefore, twice per day for 14 years she spent five minutes creating a portrait.

“I was doing the commercial art hoping I could be an artist one day but I got so carried away with it that I decided if I can not make five minutes a day to do a painting then I should not be working in the business of being an artist,” she said.

Pantin said she does not believe she is a natural artist, but she persisted and continues to work hard at it. “You can only get better at something of you think there is a way to improve but if you think you’re good at it, there’s nowhere to go... It took a long time to call myself an artist. This is the first show in which I really feel I’m an artist because of the intensity and complete focus involved - I paint and I sleep,” she said.

Two or three years ago (she admits she is “really bad” with time), Pantin returned to TT with the aim of “capturing the essence of the country” and to work with communities, especially children, to give them a medium to express themselves.

“One day I woke up and said I want to come back home, work and make a difference here. I want to use art socially, not so much to breed artists, but to build confidence and to have it as a subject to make people get in touch with something within them,” she said.

Pantin said she already started when she ran the Art Society’s children’s workshop last August, and hopes to continue by working with Holy Name Convent, her alma mater, in the near future.

She is also in the midst of another project, 100 portraits, in which she uses Japanese pen to draw portraits of people. The portraits are purposefully black and white so that skin colour or tone does not distract from the features.

A few of these portraits are featured in the exhibition.