Art Creation Foundation for Children
For this holiday season Ridge Art is featuring papier mâché bird ornaments made by impoverished children from Jacmel, Haiti. The children participate in a program organized by Art Creation Foundation for Children. They  are learning traditional Haitian arts and crafts and attending school as well as being provided with food, health care and emotional support. Most of these kids were living on the street prior to becoming part of this program. An indomitable woman named Judy Hoffman started the foundation with some friends five years ago. Click here for more information and how to make a donation to this very worthwhile and effective organization. http://www.artforhaitianchildren.org/ |
Hugh Guy Rouanez
A few years ago while on a buying trip to Haiti I made the acquaintance of a wonderful painter named Hugh Guy Rouanez. He is basically a self-taught popular painter like those whose work one sees sold all over the Caribbean in markets and shops catering to the tourist trade. Big, colorful paintings of market scenes, quaint villages, idealized island life, etc.
Even though Rouanez's subject matter is pretty much the same as those of his fellow popular artists, his work is far  superior on two levels. Technically, his paintings are beautiful and imaginative. They reflect the natural magnificence and human richness present all over the islands. His skies are glorious with colors reflecting the rapid changes in weather that can occur in the Caribbean. His palm trees curve sinuously, often around each other. His people are engaged in all kinds of activity.
But on a second level he subverts all this with an ironic world view, an acknowledgement of the bitter reality that is Haiti. None of his people smile even when the scenes are supposedly happy ones. With the exception of his fabulous palm trees, generally his trees, if not leafless, have bare branches poking out ominously while surrounding them are denuded hills, all a grim reminder of the environmental disaster poverty has wrought. These elements contribute to an underlying poignancy and seriousness that give his work a depth most painters in his genre lack.
When you click on the link to see his work, you will see the first painting I bought from him entitled Agoue Taroyo. Compare this painting with the most recent work we purchased from him and you will see how much he has advanced. This is an artist to watch.
Click on the image above or on the link below to view his paintings.
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