Anyone who appreciates art but lacks the budget to acquire original works should take a trek to the Fort Christian Museum sometime before the end of September to have a leisurely look at the current exhibition.
It's the annual end-of-the-academic-year show at the School of Visual Arts and Careers, an after-school and summer enrichment program for high school students. Housed in the fort, the program is for gifted youngsters interested in pursuing careers in the visual arts.
About 80 works by 17 young people are on display, and most of them are available for purchase — appropriately at entry-level prices. Many of the pieces, once framed, would contribute to the ambience of a home or an office as well as professionally done work that would cost five to ten times more.
Among the most colorful elements of the show are the watercolors done over white crayon outlines, a technique known as "wax resist" that's also the basis of batiking. The paint covers everything on the paper but the crayon strokes, yielding a design that has a three-dimensional quality and a luminescence akin to that achieved by the use of pastels.
A standout among these works is Adrienne Miller's "Banana Funk," a horizontal piece depicting greenery growing in tropical abandon behind a wood fence. It's a steal at $65.
Pastels are also represented in the show, along with acrylic paintings, "found-object assemblage" sculptures, linoleum cut prints, black and white photographs and pen and ink storyboard outlines for video public service messages.
In some instances, a number of the students have interpreted the same subject matter, allowing the viewer to do some comparison critiquing. Half a dozen pastels, for example, depict vistas of St. Thomas Harbor. Among the most emotionally compelling is Malene Allen's impressionistic "Reflections." It has the look of a scene seen through rain, with diffuse imagery and an overcast coloring that might suggest somberness to some, an eerie foreboding to others and serenity to yet others.
The watercolors are strong on still life, but that's not to say they lack imagination. Kenneth Estrada has a couple of pieces that involve red apples in a manner that does Magritte proud. In his "Nature Watches II," a big one perches atop a small pitcher. His "Fruits of Beauty" leaves it to the viewer to figure out what's what — three apples on a branch, or hovering around it, with yellow blossoms attached, and the branch secured in perhaps an open melon, or maybe just a pair of pale green plates, while overhead hovers an inverted plate supported on a man-made stem. Words, clearly, do not suffice; to appreciate the complexity and simplicity of the work, you have to see it. And for $55 it can be yours.
The three black-on-white linoleum cut prints are all interesting. The technique involves carving a design into a linoleum block, then inking the raised image that remains and hand-printing it onto paper.
For anyone with office space in need of artistic enhancement, the assemblage display is a must stop. There are five pieces, and they complement each other so well that they would make a great grouping on an open wall of a meeting room, executive office or even lobby area. Along with being attractive, they are fine examples of recycling at work.
As the descriptive text notes, each assemblage is spray-painted in neutral monotone — black, white or gray — so as to enhance its three-dimensional impact. Thus, they would go well with virtually any decor.
Miller's "I Have No Idea," a gray one, consists of plastic bottle caps, jigzaw puzzle pieces and braided plastic bags. Brigitte Berry's white "Et Cetera, Et Cetera, Et Cetera" comprises piles of artfully arranged geometric cut-outs. Shamal Rawlins' "Mystery" is a black tangle of seashells, nutshells and twigs. Chasda Clendinen's white "Of Puzzle Pieces and Things" is just that. And Johnson Francis's "Chum the Water" is a gray conglomeration of puzzle pieces and soda can pull tabs. They're priced at $65 and $75 each.
Also on exhibit is one of the ceramic tiles reproduced last year from a silkscreen of a pen-and-ink design of the fort tower by Jared Etsinger. A limited number of the tiles are available at the SVAC classroom, in the museum gift shop and at local art shops. They're $12, with all proceeds benefiting the school and the museum.
SVAC shows have two purposes — to display the students' work and to make the public aware of the teaching program and some of the techniques the young artists have learned. Throughout the show, visitors find posted text blocks describing the how and why of the various mediums employed in producing the art, as well as listings and photos of the youngsters and a brief history of the school. (Note: In an era dominated academically by girls, SVAC has an equal number of male and female students.)
SVAC has been housed in the fort since its inception 16 year ago, except for the year following Hurricane Hugo, which severely damaged the historic structure. The classroom is overcrowded and the exhibition space — in two former jail cells — is far from aesthetically ideal. But the school continues its tradition of training students who go on to pursue college study in the fine arts. Three of them are Class of 1999 graduates, and all are going on to art studies on the mainland.
