The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

FREEPORT – Grand Bahama artists Sheldon Saint and Chantal Bethel displayed their newest collection of paintings at an art exhibition titled 20/20 at the Grand Gallery at the Grand Lucaya Resort.

Mr Saint and Mrs Bethel have both been painting for more than two decades.

“When Chantal approached me back in February of this year, we both realised that we have been painting over 20 years and we felt it would be a great idea, and we titled it 20/20,” Mr Saint said at the official launch.

This year the Bahamas celebrated its 40th independence anniversary, and they decided to celebrate and pay tribute to the country through their artwork.

Michael Pintard, owner of the Grand Gallery, said the two artists are well known and their artwork has been showcased throughout the Bahamas and internationally.

A large crowd attended the viewing, which featured 29 paintings in total.

Chantal produced 14 acrylic paintings depicting the country’s national symbols and culture. Her collection included pink flamingos, blue marlins, and a Junaknoo dancer painted with a “crackle acrylic.”

She also paid tribute to the late parliamentarian Henry Bowen by painting the pen he used to sign the Constitution.

“We are celebrating the Bahamas national treasures and paying a tribute to Mr Bowen, who is a national treasure who signed the Constitution of the Bahamas,” she said.

Mr Bethel said this new body of work is different from her previous art collections.

“My medium has changed; for the past two years I have been working with crackle, which is an acrylic medium and it has very nice texture and I am having a lot of fun with it,” she said.

When asked how she felt about the turnout, she said: “I feel wonderful because it shows that we are appreciated.”

Mr Saint produced 15 watercolour paintings of real life scenes in the Bahamas.

He said he loves to paint scenes of the sea and uses the colour in lot of his other paintings.

One of his paintings, titled ‘Old Shoes’, depicts a young boy sitting down wearing an old shoe with a hole, scraping a conch shell.

“The little boy is scraping the skin off the conch shell to prepare it for market to sell to the visitor as a souvenir,” he explained.

Mr Saint was also pleased about the turnout on Friday.

“The support from residents is fabulous, we love the fact they came out and supported us,” he said.

The exhibition will run until November 16 and they have invited students to view to their artwork.

Mrs Bethel and Mr Saint felt it was important to invite the students.

“We hope that a lot of the students would be inspired by what we have done,” Mr Saint said.

Mr Pintard said while it is good that people have come to support Bahamian art, it would also be nice to show their support by purchasing the pieces.

He also urged persons to continue to support emerging artists in the Bahamas.

“We are commemorating 40 years of Bahamian growth and development. And while we are not where we believe we ought to be as a country, we have come a long way,” Pintard said.