Island Expressions: Five from V.I. To Shine in Santa Fe

Five local artists will get international exposure this month at a New Mexico gallery.

"The Caribbean Comes to Santa Fe" is the realized dream of former St. Thomas resident Margarete Bagshaw, owner of the Golden Dawn Gallery, where the show will run from Feb. 26 through March 20.

Bagshaw and her partner, Dan McGuiness, left St. Thomas last fall to return to Bagshaw’s native Santa Fe, but her feeling for the islands and for the artists working here was still very much with her.

When she opened the Santa Fe Gallery, Bagshaw says, "I didn’t want my gallery to be a Southwest art gallery. I decided when I opened the gallery, to work in different genres of art. When I was in St. Thomas, I felt there was some very specific talent there that needed more exposure, that needed to be seen by international viewers."

"Santa Fe is not just about Southwest art,” Bagshaw says. “It’s the pulse of the art market. It’s the second largest art market, dollar-wise, after New York. That’s very impressive, when you consider this is a town with a population of 60,000."

She stresses the show is not about what’s called "Caribbean art."

"No palm trees," she says. "It is fine art being done by artists who live in the Caribbean."

The show is timed to coincide with the largest non-summer event in Santa Fe – the 14th annual "Art Feast," a charity event running Feb. 26 through Feb. 28, which helps fund art in local schools.

"It draws an international crowd of thousands of visitors," Bagshaw says. "The idea of Caribbean artists visiting Santa Fe in the dead of winter is exciting. People will get to see what’s being done in the Virgin Islands. It’s the perfect time to bring them here."

The show will feature St. Thomas ceramist Lynn Berry, owner of Ridvan Studio in Tillett Gardens; St. Thomas painter Tony Romano, owner of Romano’s Restaurant; painter and architect Ahmed H. Alarefi of St. Thomas; St. Croix painter Maude-Pierre-Charles; and St. Croix jeweler Sonya, owner of Sonya Ltd. and creator of the legendary Crucian hook bracelet.

"I had a show at Tillett Gardens where I met Lynn Berry, whose talent deserves national exposure,” Bagshaw says. “She introduced me to Ahmed.. I really like his suggestive touch. He doesn’t overdue detail, the color palate is soft and suggestive. He really has great focus."

She has followed the work of Tony Romano.

"He really gave me encouragement. I’d grown up in a fine-art market, and I wanted something comparable," she says. "I see Tony going in that direction, every new painting is an incredible leap forward."

Bagshaw says of St. Croix artist Pierre-Charles, "Her work has so much energy, it’s so vibrant, even though culturally it’s of the Caribbean, she brings a very strong richness to it that brings it forward to viewers on a different level."

The show was coordinated locally by John and Delores Jowers. Though both expressed a definite wish to remain in the background, Bagshaw says "we couldn’t have done it without them. I called them as soon as we thought of it."

It was John Jowers, in fact, who suggested jeweler Sonya, who opened her shop in 1964, making it the oldest established jeweler on St. Croix.

"She is very interesting historically, but I also feel she has a very elegant way of handling the jewelry. I wanted to bring something Santa Fe has never seen. Her work is unique."

The Jowers have their own affection for Santa Fe. They were married there and lived there for several years before returning to St. Thomas.

Bagshaw herself is a nationally recognized artist. The youngest member of the most significant three-generational female art dynasty in America – her grandmother, Pablita Velarde, the first American Indian woman to paint as a career; her mother, Helen Hardin, the first American Indian female painter to move from the traditional to modern abstract painting; and Bagshaw, known as one of the most compositionally complex modernist artists painting today.

Further information can be obtained by calling Jowers at 776-9860.