With support from the V.I. Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts will host a ten-day residency for Kendal Henry, beginning with a reception for him from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 15, at CMCA. At 7 p.m., he will discuss his projects; the following day, at 10 a.m., the first meeting will be held to begin work on a public art project for St. Croix called Common Ground. Non-artists as well as artists are invited to participate in the 10-day project, which will result in the creation of a public art piece.
“Art has the power to transform culture – it can change neighborhoods and people,” said Kendal Henry. He is a former Crucian, who left the island in 1985 after graduating from John H. Woodsen Junior High school. He is an international public arts manager who has been hired by countries and municipalities all over the world to revitalize towns through a union of artists, government officials, tourism departments, manufacturers, craftsmen and other local participants.
As a youth growing up on St. Croix, he made paintings and sculptures to decorate his room in the Friedensborg projects where he was raised by his family, who had emigrated to St. Croix from St. Lucia. He made furniture out of cast off wooden Malta boxes and toys out of popsicle sticks left over from sweet treats made by a neighbor. His grades were good and his family had hopes of him becoming a lawyer or a doctor, so when he chose the School of Visual Arts in New York City, they were disappointed that the family’s first college graduate would choose a career in art. Now, 25 years later, he is a successful, independent curator, public arts manager and urban design consultant, who travels the globe sharing his belief that art is communication capable of great transformative power, able to change lives as he is sought after to implement these ideas through projects that ultimately change the physical and spiritual landscape as they increase economic value and prosperity.
To learn more about public art, Kendal Henry or Common Ground, or to see the show, Daily Strife, come out on Friday evening and/or Saturday morning. School visits may be scheduled between Tuesday, Jan. 19 and Friday, Jan. 22. For more information, contact Diane at CMCA at 772-2622 or go online: www.virginislandsart.blogspot.com,
