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Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesIsland Expressions: Ginelle Encarnacion

Island Expressions: Ginelle Encarnacion



Ginelle EncarnacionArtist Ginelle Encarnacion says her talents can be attributed to Jehovah, her parents and her high school art teacher. Those talents run the gamut from jewelry design to painting to music.

"Jehovah is the best artist," Encarnacion says. "Using his creations I make my art. My talents are from Jehovah; he is the reason I have my art."

Native Crucian Encarnacion, 28, says her artistically inclined parents, Jeannette Davila and Carlos Encarnacion, have always encouraged and supported her in everything she has done.

She recalls a cute story about her parents being real live models wearing and testing shoes she made from taped-together construction paper. She made paper dolls and designed clothes for them and even toyed with the idea of being a fashion designer.

"Whatever I had in my hands, whether it was markers, crayons or pencils, I was always drawing," she says. Her school teachers even told her to stop doodling on papers she turned in.

For her classroom instruction and training she gives credit to Anselm Richards, her 10th through 12th grade visual arts teacher at St. Croix Central High School.

"He taught me how to use color and composition," Encarnacion says. "He gave me a way to let my creative self come out."

Encarnacion spent many extra lunch hours in the art room perfecting her artwork. She attended Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Pastels are her favorite medium and portraits are what she likes to do best.

"I love the human form," Encarnacion says. "It is such a beautiful thing, and a joy to capture on paper. Straight lines and architectural drawing is hard for me to do. If I’m commissioned to do that I’ll do it, but it’s not my joy."

Her work varies from realistic beach scenes to rain forest scenes such as Creque Dam done in acrylics. She has done realistic pastel figure drawings of old-fashioned cane workers dressed in colorful clothing.

She also does modern art, where she just feels like drawing whatever is in her mind.

"I challenge myself and see if I can get as close as possible to what I see in my mind," she says.

She does commissioned pieces, and her finished pieces are sold at Many Hands art store and Nelthropp and Low Fine Jewelery Store, both in the Pan Am Pavilion in Christiansted.

Around four years ago, jewelry design just fell into her lap when someone suggested she give that art form a try. She works as a designer of rings, bracelets, pendants and earrings in precious metals and gem stones at Nelthropp and Low. She has created beautiful sterling and gold one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry using chaney, which are shards of china.

"I treat metal as a three-dimensional art form, taking pieces of it and working with it, thinking how can I make it more beautiful, and working until I design something I really love," she says.

When she isn’t creating pieces of art, she says she likes to play guitar and sing. She is also very involved in church mission work.

Encarnacion admits she isn’t a well-known artist yet. She aspires to get her works in the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts in Frederiksted and in shows at St. George Botanical Gardens and Whim Plantation Museum.

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