Saturday, February 20, 2016 @ 7pm
to Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Opening night will feature performances in poetry, dance and music by local artists... Queen Maxine (ethnic dance & poetry), Anbesa of Army Gideon (acoustic performances) and Sisco of Mixed Culture. Performance starts at 9pm.
"Perspectives on Performances" is a fine art exhibition featuring photography by David I. Muir along with the works of invited artists including Roy Sweetland, Philip Curtis, Don Parchment, Gail Zucker, and El Puru.
THE ARTISTS
DAVID I. MUIR
David I. Muir, a native of Jamaica, is a fine art photographer living in South Florida. He has a special love for candid, cultural and lifestyle photography – signature components of his exhibits. He excels at capturing a whole story through his lens, which often emits strong emotion from viewers of his work.
Muir’s work has qualified for juried art contests as well as group and solo fine art exhibitions.
Muir's love affair with photography began in the early 1980s when he would take his father's camera to school and capture images of campus life in Kingston, Jamaica.
The transformation from hobby to profession propelled the growth of David’s portrait and event photography business, DAVIDiPhoto Inc. The commercial photography business is recognized as the premier event photography business of South Florida's Caribbean- and African-American communities.
Muir co-founded and produces Caribe Arts Fest, an annual international art festival based in Broward County, Florida that includes events at the Museum of Art, in Fort Lauderdale, along with visual art exhibitions, performance art showcases and educational artist workshops.
Muir has been featured by numerous Jamaican and American media houses, including the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Hot105FM, NBC-6, ABC-10, FOX, CVM (Jamaican TV), TVJ (Jamaican TV), Jamaica Observer and the Jamaica Gleaner.
ROY SWEETLAND
Roy Sweetland is a Jamaican photographer who resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his Wife Annett, and daughters Sumitra and Candi. He is currently the senior events photographer for the BUZZZ Caribbean Lifestyle Magazine since 2003 and covers events in the Jamaican Diaspora worldwide.
Roy started photography as a hobby back in the 1970’s, covering weddings and parties. Roy is now a freelance special events photographer who covers concerts, press launches, sporting events, etc. for various clients and media houses including VP Records, Sagicor, Headline Entertainment, and Buzzz Caribbean Lifestyle Magazine. Roy also operates a Caribbean Image Archive and events photography image service.
Roy's achievements include over 200 Reggae Album covers for artistes including Delroy Wilson, Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs and Anthony B. His images have appeared in numerous Books, Magazines, Newspapers including: Coffee table books “Moods Of Jamaica;” “Beautiful Jamaica;” and, the 2007 Book America Fair award winning “ Reggae Scrapbook” done jointly with world renowned Reggae Archivist Roger Steffens and Peter Simon. Magazines that have utilized Roy's images include Billboard Magazine and Source magazine. Roy has won 20+ awards in the JCDC annual visual arts competition including Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals plus certificates.
GAIL ZUCKER
Gail Zucker is an American who began visiting Jamaica in the late '70s. She fell in love with the island, its people and the pulse of Jamaica, reggae music. She built a small cottage in Negril, across the road from the beach on a Jamaican family’s land. When the government changed before 1980, she had the opportunity to buy property on the West End of Negril and built a guest house which she owned and operated for many years. Over the years, Gail has had the pleasure of being hostess to many reggae artistes who performed at the venue next door, thus began her interest in the Reggae Music industry.
She loved taking photos from an early age, many of Jamaica and other destinations traveled, including Asia, Bali, Thailand, and Africa. She continues that love of expression, her specialty now concert and event photography.
PHILIP MICHAEL CURTIS
Philip Michael Curtis - Painter (acrylics and pastel)
An artistic protégé, Phillip Michael Curtis; foray into the art world began at the tender age of seven. His first effort, Last Supper, toured his native Jamaica, creating a buzz about the creative future of the pint-sized painter.
Curtis' painterly style speaks to viewers lyrically. His work pops in vibrant colors and rich tones in his preferred media - oils, acrylics, and pastels. His visible brush strokes are carefully controlled, yet can be characterized as freely impressionistic.
The artist's music series stirs the soul as he brings in focus the sounds, movement, and smokey ambiance of the nighttime jazz scene. Not only does Curtis put viewers in the audience, his tasteful nudes, portraits, caricatures, and genre paintings of his island home brings together his varied design styles.
Migrating to the United States as a teenager, Curtis studied at New York's FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) and the Art Student League. He worked as a fashion and general illustrator and eventually moved to Miami where he worked as a courtroom artist. It was this skill that got him noticed - one of his paintings was featured in the film, Out of Time featuring Denzel Washington.
RICARD "EL PURU" BAILEY
Ricardo "eL Puru" Bailey is a Jamaican photographer. eL Puru’s love of photography began in 2006 when he was introduced to the art by his father, who gave him a Digital Camera. His love for photography soon transformed into an intense drive for the next shot. Subsequently, "Puru" began taking pictures of almost everything around him.
Puru has honed his skills as an event, lifestyle and pop-culture photographer and has a reputation amongst rising Reggae acts and other entertainers as a photo guru. eL Puru has captured stunning photographs for entertainers and media-companies such as Jah9, Tarrus Riley, Protoje, Chronixx, Machel Montano, Pentateuch, Feluké, Riddim Magazine, Buzz Magazine, and The Jamaica Observer. Additionally, he was acknowledged for his excellent photography with an award from the National Geographic Urban Image Challenge.
DON PARCHMENT
Don Parchment - Photographer.
Don’s first camera was a Kodak Baby Brownie, he owned whilst attending a boarding school in the St. Elizabeth hills of Jamaica. Students were encouraged to develop their hobbies, and his has grown into a lifelong passion.
In Jamaica he developed that passion into a professional career as a fashion photographer. In the late 1980’s, he relocated to New York where he expanded into product and catalog photography. Currently residing in Florida his photography interests have broadened to include life style, travel, corporate and social events. He particularly enjoys covering concerts and festivals.
Having spent many years honing his photography skills, his trademark became his uncanny ability to make people emote.
As a photographer his constant quest for beauty in people and places is what motivates him to create images that ignite a special connection between himself and the viewer. The pursuit of capturing these images in the art of photography is his unending passion.
CATHLEEN DEAN
Cathleen is Director/Producer at BlackCat Media LLC. and adjunct professor in communication studies at Nova Southeastern University’s Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences. Cathleen Dean has spent several years as both talent and behind the scenes in radio, television, and film. In addition to writing and directing the short films Stories of Hope and Corporate Karma. She served as co-producer and co-director of the 2012 award winning film Runaway Afrique and is the Miami producer for the 48 Hour Film Project. Cathleen is an alumnus of Columbia University.
In December 2014, Cathleen was selected by the Art of Community Programing Committee to participate in a global public art project: The Inside Out Broward Project for the centennial celebration Broward 100 - Celebrating the Art of Community.
BROUGHT TO YOU BY...
Funding for this project is provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council.