It could be called a family reunion, the 30th-anniversary celebration of the Bajo el Sol Art Bar and Rum Room on Saturday afternoon. The works of artists who have appeared in gallery shows throughout the years once again lined the walls and countertops.
Bajo has gained a reputation as the place for artists, writers, sculptors and woodworkers to display their creativity. About an hour before the official start, a small group gathered around a table sipping beverages while Bajo proprietor David Knight Jr. placed descriptive tags on pieces around the shop.
“It started at Mongoose Junction as an artist cooperative. It was founded by artists Aimee Trayser, Kat Sowa, Gail van de Bogurt, and Les Anderson. It’s been through a few iterations since then,” Knight said.
In 2004, artist Livy Hitchcock and her husband Tom Hitchcock acquired it and were stewards of the gallery for more than 10 years. The story of the most recent iteration of the gallery begins in 2016, when David Knight Jr. and Priscilla Hintz Rivera purchased the gallery.
Many of the artists have been with the gallery for a very long time, said Knight.
As he worked, Bill Stelzer browsed the items in the anniversary show. Like the artists on display, Stelzer said he, too, was a Bajo original.
Since then, he has worked as a graphic artist and has contributed to documentary film projects. “I started working (at Bajo) because I knew Gail and Amy and Kat Soa and Les from life drawing classes when I first moved down here in ’92,” he said. “And so with the gallery, they wanted someone to work at nights.”
The night shifts passed quietly, he said, “and I would just sit there in the evening and listen to India and music like that. And when people came in, I would tell them this is all the work of local St. John artists.”
Enjoying the chat at the table that afternoon was Theodora Moorehead; her latest creation hung along with dozens of other works. On the table sat a copy of Moorehead’s book, “When the Spirit Tells Me to Stop.”
Stelzer was asked if he remembered the gallery founders; Les Anderson jumped into his mind. “Everybody has a Les Anderson story,” he said.
While working on a video piece, Stelzer said he envisioned a scene where Anderson would stand at the top of Ram Head, busy at work on a painting. To capture the scene, Stelzer recruited a helicopter pilot. Together, they devised the shot where the chopper would swoop in and circle the top of the peak.
“I picked Les because he was the only one I knew who wouldn’t be scared of a helicopter flying around him,” he said.
Outside the gallery, the song and sax duet Broheem with Love was set up to entertain the guests. Around the same time, woodcraft artist Avelino Samuel strolled in and took a seat at the art bar.
Some of Samuel’s wood sculptures and polished wood vases have been featured at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. “I’ve been in the gallery since 2001 or 2002 — I can’t remember; the end of the year or beginning of next year. And since then, I’ve just been here when it was upstairs, and then we moved down. Yeah, so it’s been a good relationship,” Samuel said.
What he said he appreciated most was the way Bajo owners, through the years, have actively promoted the work of featured artists. “(Bajo is one of the) galleries in St. Thomas around St. John that has worked really fine for me. I can get the work to them when they need resupplying.”
“The other venues I had no idea what was happening with them the pieces were there. That’s what happens after a while if you realize some of the galleries you’re gonna put your work in are just storage for inventory,” Samuel said.
In its ground floor space under the current management, the gallery and art bar has hosted several book signings for local authors, hosted a parade troupe for the St. John Fourth of July Parade, and promoted community art therapy through a mask-making project after hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.
From that post-hurricane project came the documentary film: “Masks in the Aftermath.” Several of the masks made from hurricane debris were also chosen to appear in a Smithsonian exhibit.
