Natalie Willis, Author at National Art Gallery of The Bahamas

What’s in the frame: Tourism, art, installation and rebuilding the old whore of a body

15 August 2017 Natalie Willis

By Dr Ian Bethell-Bennett. Frames capture or remove things, images, objects, people for or from the public eye. The frame of the photo can bring something into sharp focus, or it can reduce that same thing into an abstraction in the fore or background and highlight something else. One image usually metaphorically represents an entire discourse and political, economic and socio-cultural paradigm, a way of thinking about enslaved bodies and their relation to consumer politics, that is to say, discourses of otherness and sexualisation.

If an entire population moves, is it still a nation?: The consequences of censoring self.

11 August 2017 Natalie Willis

By Dr Ian Bethell-Bennett. Sam Shepard has died. Sam Shepard has died and we are left to remember his works. It is a different dying than Derek Walcott because he is further away, perhaps, but he throws into sharp relief our refusal to see ourselves as we pass through our everyday lives. A country teetering on the verge of yet another downgrade, a society shrouded in debt but unwilling to spend less because tings coss more and VAT bite me in my…? Perhaps to see their lives, their futures.

Studio Visit: Robin Hardy “Turning and Refining Salvaged Wood”

10 August 2017 Natalie Willis

By Keisha Oliver. Last summer, I had the pleasure of turning my first bowl from Madeira wood with established woodturner and furniture-maker, Robin B. Hardy. With no formal training, he has developed a niche for one-of-a-kind pieces hand-crafted from a variety of wood grown in The Bahamas. Operating out of his basement workshop for the past seventeen years, Hardy’s design style is simple, functional and elegant, allowing the wood to express its own qualities and natural imperfections. His practice as a woodworker is inspired by curiosity and the challenge each piece of wood presents. He has coined his creative repertoire as “discovered art in salvaged wood.”

Mixed Media Summer Art Campers Shine at August Opening: The Joy of Fostering Creativity

9 August 2017 Natalie Willis

By Malika M Pryor. The air was filled with anticipation, impatient little legs swinging from the laps of their parents, who were awaiting the brief remarks and activity ahead. Younger siblings toddled through the centre aisle while teens, hovering in the back rows, eyed the assortment of fruits and cakes little more than an arm’s length away. The scene described would seem more fitting for a wedding but, in fact, it was the opening reception for the NAGB’s Mixed Media Summer Art Camp’s (MMSAC) 2017 Exhibition, A Journey Through Time: Telling Our Story. Taking centre stage in the cube-shaped gallery within a gallery, or Project Space (The PS), campers’ art transformed the room into a fantastic burst of colour, light and joy on Tuesday, August 1st.

Gendered norms and deconstruction: The body, the image and the ability to speak out for self.

2 August 2017 Natalie Willis

By Dr Ian Bethell-Bennett.As The Bahamas moves into a new administration, 50 years of Majority Rule and over 40 years of independence have done little to remove the boundaries around free expression and positive self-imaging. Basking in its Victorian properness, as long as it is useful, the tourist destination boasts a particular image of Caribbeanness that is acceptable and palatable to the population because they have been taught to accept it.

Reporting From Rome: The Care in Curating

1 August 2017 Natalie Willis

By Natalie Willis. Three weeks of Italian summer and being surrounded by art professionals sounds like a dream, and in many ways, of course, it is. From the “shallow” things—like eating gelato for breakfast (which, I’ll have you know, is entirely civilised)—to the deeper stuff, of discussing intense readings around the purpose and history of curatorial practice and being able to view Caravaggio paintings in resplendent old buildings, the Goldsmiths ‘Curating The Contemporary’ summer art intensive, hosted at the British School at Rome, was an education, and in ways I had not anticipated. I was supported by the Charitable Arts Foundation as well as The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas to embark on this journey of professional development that would prove to also be one of intense personal development

Studio Visit: Jessica Colebrooke “Crafting a Sustainable Future for Ceramics”

31 July 2017 Natalie Willis

By Keisha Oliver. Five days a week, you’ll find Bahamian ceramicist Jessica Colebrooke in her Nassau studio, which is tucked away behind her home in the Gleniston Park community. 19 years ago, Colebrooke started out in a 10 x 10ft room with a sheet of plywood on two crates and a small kiln. Today she owns and manages “Jessica’s Tileworks Studio,” one of the leading ceramics and tile manufacturers in The Bahamas. As a mother, wife, educator, artist and entrepreneur, Colebrooke has committed her life and work to supporting and nurturing a culture of creativity.

Gender and the Dream: Confronting Stereotypes in Black masculinity.

25 July 2017 Natalie Willis

By Dr Ian Bethell-Bennett

The dream sold is of young men being told that they are prosperous, only to realise that they are imprisoned in a tangled web of failure or underachievement. Young men from the inner city, once the thriving home of Blacks–forced by segregation and reduced circumstances to live in particular parts of town–is cast as the worst place in the country, a place that only produces criminals.

From the Collection: “Let Us Prey” (1984-86) by Dave Smith

24 July 2017 Natalie Willis

By Natalie Willis. The title is undoubtedly provocative given the Bahamian bent toward Christianity, but “Let Us Prey” (1984-86) is, quite literally, a gift. Donated by Dave Smith in 2007, the work is at once an act of good faith, while simultaneously critical of bad. It’s another painting from the National Collection that we have given some gentle care to and put on display for the current Permanent Exhibition, “Revisiting An Eye For The Tropics,” and fits into the theme of the Bahamian Everyday that works within this exhibition.

Studio Visit: Lavar Munroe. Finding New Meaning to a Familiar Space

24 July 2017 Natalie Willis

By Keisha Oliver. Interdisciplinary artist Lavar Munroe grew up in the Grants Town community of Nassau, The Bahamas, and has lived and worked in the United States for over thirteen years. Munroe’s work exists as a reflection of the environment of his upbringing and presents an ongoing critique on contemporary society and its relationships between the people of the ghetto and the ‘Others.’ He maps and celebrates his personal journey of survival and fortitude from the heart of the ‘Over-the-Hill,’ community whilst confronting broader issues concerning social stereotypes