Friday, May 20th from 5:30 to 9:30PM is the opening reception for the 2016 Caribbean Color show sponsored by ArtVi Advocates. It will be held in Yacht Haven Grande and will also be open to the pubic Saturday through Tuesday from 10AM to 6PM. The show highlights the work from both adult and student artists from all of the US Virgin Islands. We will also be creating a community art installation so please bring something yellow to add to our shelves at the show. All works will be for sale and a portion of the fee will go directly to youth scholarship funds for Discover Art program and the Youth Art Program at the 7-7 Gallery and the rest goes to the artists. Silver Raven Studio's artwork for this show includes a large acrylic painting called "My Life in Yellow" and an installation piece called "Butterfly Bloom".
When I started thinking of how yellow was important in my life, I quickly realized that the biggest and best yellow in my life is the kayaks I work in as a tour guide for Virgin Islands Ecotours. This painting is a self portrait of me paddling through a tunnel in the Mangrove Lagoon Marine Sanctuary here on St Thomas. It also represents the peace and the beauty of the Lagoon and the importance of Nature in my life. When we are on our tours, passing through that tunnel literally takes us from the sometimes hectic pace of the island into the serenity of the Lagoon. It is a 36 by 48 inch acrylic painting and is for sale for $3000.. To see photos of the work in progress you can click here.
While brainstorming for ideas for a sculptural piece, my thoughts keep returning to the massive influx of butterflies we experienced here last fall. Mostly like due the ending of a six month drought, we suddenly found ourselves practically drowning in butterflies here in the islands. They most predominate species where the Great Whites which range in color from a pale white to a bright yellow. At times the air around you was full of butterflies and it was common to across a "puddle" of butterflies covering the ground. I'm hoping to recreate that magical experience in the gallery. I decided to use many different yellow butterfly species so I did drawings which I then printed onto card stock paper and cut out. Each of the almost 300 butterflies is hand-colored or painted on both sides. The were then all coated and attached to wires.
