Paula Lindo – Our histories, stories, present, future.

Caribbean fine art is now becoming more accessible due to ART-ery, note cards featuring the works of noted artists such as Shalini Seereeram and Mary Adam. The idea is the brainchild of Anu Lakhan and Robert Clarke.

Lakhan said she wanted to make these cards for two reasons. The first being that she wanted to make Caribbean fine art pieces more accessible to the wider public, as not everyone goes to art galleries and museums. “That means so many other people are getting the opportunity to see these incredibly beautiful things. We want people to see these incredibly beautiful things because Art is important.” Bajan freelance writer, Austin Fido, who has contributed to the project, said there is a lot of art out there that people might not get to see otherwise. “The two pieces that we started with, Shalini’s piece, “Nalini”, was in a house in Norway last we heard of it, and Mary’s piece is part of her private collection, so unless you happen to be a personal friend of Mary Adams or you know where in Norway “Nalini” is, you can’t see these pieces. So that’s not a hard and fast policy of the collection, but it’s a feature that caught my attention.”
The second reason, Lakhan said, is that she wanted to dispel some of the ingrained stereotypes of Caribbean art. “I don’t want to disparage anyone who does anything with coconut trees and beach scenes, etc., but I think T&T in particular and the West Indies in general has many more sights to offer, than those handful of images that people see replicated ad infinitum and I personally wanted to have the opportunity to show some of those off.”
The decision to make blank notecards instead of greeting cards was a personal choice, Lakhan said, as using a blank card suggests “any sentiment I chose to express and its accompanying visual image are mine. I think there’s a market for people who want to use their own words, who want to be more specific or more subtle or be more quirky, just things that they feel that they can’t with a greeting card. I very often think and allude to this as my old-worldliness, that the thank you card or the note card is the last thing that separates us from the beasts of the field, it’s the last mark of civilization and if you take the time to send an actual handwritten message, to me that’s a much bigger display of a sentiment.”
The process for choosing the artists was two-fold, with the idea being pitched first to artists admired by Clarke and Lakhan and then the artists deciding if they wanted to participate in the project. Lakhan said the rights to the works are licensed to the company for a specific period of time “specifically for these cards. The artists understand how they are made, they understand the production process and they’re happy with the materials chosen. Nothing gets put out without the artist’s approval.” Fido said a share of the proceeds go to the artists, with the whole project being set up to provide a sustainable revenue stream for each artist.
Lakhan said they are open to submissions from both new and established artists, and the choice depends on the quality of the work. “Art is a very layered thing and people like things for different reasons, because they like pictures of animals or because they really like work in acrylic or because they have a passion for this particular artist or they might like a technique, and a new artist is as capable to bring that to us as an established artist.”
The cards are so far exclusively available in Trinidad at five retail outlets. Online purchasing is not yet available, though Lakhan said this might be added at a later date. “The problem with sales online is that if you buy, for example, just one card online, we have to ship it to you from Trinidad and you’ll probably pay a bit more for the shipping than for the card itself, depending on how you choose to have it shipped. We’re very open to the possibility of getting it to a customer who wants it but we’d have to make arrangements in a very tailored fashion.”
In addition to the two artists currently featured, upcoming production runs include images from Peter Minshall, jeweller Bobby Jardine and Jamaican artist Amy Laskin.
For information on ART-ery products, visit the website http://www.arterywestindies.com, find them on Facebook under ART-ery, email here@clarkelakhan.com or telephone (868) 360 4657 or (868) 374 9241.