Pictures

Last year (2010), we did a visual arts component of the Wadadli Pen competition for the first time. Mark Brown assisted with setting that up and put a team together to select the winners. Last year was also the first time, entries were theme-specific, and that was mostly because Wadadli Pen after a three year hiatus was returning as part of a Black History Month programme I was spearheading with a small grouping of Antiguans (Zahra Airall, D. Gisele Isaac, Kush DaVid, Cedric Holder, Mark Brown, Brenda Lee Browne, the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda, the Best of Books). The visual art competition – which consisted primarily of mixed media pieces – was more successful than the lit arts competition, last year, I’ll be honest. The lit entries have picked up considerably this year (though it’s nowhere near what it was during the competition’s first run and in particular 2005) but 2010 was dismal. The art entries in a way kept the competition alive. So, it’s always bugged me that I didn’t have them for posting here. But thanks to ByZIAPhotography, the indefatigable Zahra Airall, I have at least some of them – albeit not properly tagged. If any of the artists venture here and can identify their pieces, I’d appreciate it. Everyone else, enjoy. And if you’re a budding Antiguan and/or Barbudan artist (35 or younger) who hasn’t yet registered for this year’s art competition (creating illustrations for the short listed stories), I hope this will provide inspiration and you’ll email your name, gender, age,  location, school, phone and email contact to wadadlipen@yahoo.com to be registered. I have to admit, even more than the stories themselves, I’m eager to see what images artists come up with in response to them. I may be a writer but I have a deep appreciation for all the arts. However, don’t worry, I won’t be judging the 2011 art pieces; that task falls to art teacher Renee Philip and her team.