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Naecia Dixon with her illustrations "I am not a word person," said Naecia Dixon, a fashion illustrator, who plays with forms, colours, and figurines and expresses her emotions through myriad strokes than the defined shapes of letters and sentences. The fine lines that define fashion illustration, according to Dixon, are a work of art. "This form has principle elements of art," she said. "I am still a raw talent. I have so much to learn." The difference, according to her, is that in fashion illustration, the subjects are the clothes and the accessories, which become the focal point and have intricate details. In simpler terms, fashion illustration is the communication of fashion that can be expressed through drawing, painting, or illustration. Detailing is the key in getting the best results. "Fashion is a tough industry; it is very competitive," said Dixon, who is self-taught and dreams of taking this natural talent from paper to t...

The man, his canvas and the subject immortalised - Webster Campbell paints The Chapel at the Mona campus of the University of the West indies. "I am as old as Jamaica," said Webster Campbell, sitting down under a tree in the grassy expanse of the University of the West Indies, dabbing colour from a palette and meticulously painting an arch on the canvas. For an artist who measures his age not by years, but by the number of sunshine days that his country has savoured as a free nation, Campbell is one of Jamaica's most prolific painters. He loves to be on the move, encapsulating the history, landscape, architecture, and relics of the island on his canvas - for him, the beauty of the art lies in places where time is standing still and life is al fresco. "I have always been inspired by old buildings and monuments," Campbell said. "I want to capture them in my paintings, because we never know if those buildings will be there tomorrow." He is co...

Decked hina doll of the empress on display on the occasion of Hinamatsuri "I have always decorated the dolls since my daughter was small,” recalled Sayoko Takase, pointing  to the elaborate display of hina dolls, Hinamatsuri – or the Doll Festival, celebrating girls – which is about good health and future happiness.  Elegantly attired in traditional Japanese finery – silk kimono and jewellery – the hina dolls were intricately placed on a pedestal on March 3. “It (Hinamatsuri) is the celebration of health and happiness of girls, it does not matter how large the display of the dolls are, it is the thought that matters,” said Mrs Takase, wife of Japanese ambassador to Jamaica, Yasuo Takase. Her daughter, Yuria, is grown up now, studying in a University in Tokyo, but this occasion still finds relevance. “It is a celebration of being a girl, and I feel proud,” Yuria exclaimed. Hina doll of the Emperor The dolls, are not only pretty faces and grand attires, they ha...

A social commentary - severance and divorce, paintings by Mortimer "When I was seven and go to church, I used to use the blank 'note' pages of the Bible to draw," Mortimer McPherson recalled. "The notes were drawings in my Bible." Perhaps a divine intervention that was encouraging this youngster's creativity to ooze from his pencils and send a message to the Almighty, Mortimer embarked on his artistic journey. There were some other key influences in his life, as he was growing up in St Catherine. "My mother was a dressmaker, and I was always observing her process of putting things together," he said, "and there was a painter and sculptor in the community, whose works also inspired me." But, he said, his mother was not too pleased when Mortimer decided to pursue arts as a career. "My mother couldn't come to terms with that decision, my older brothers went to the university and she wanted me to do that too," M...

Ideas and the process, according to the fundamental principles of Apple, is a product of those who are round pegs in square holes, and those who see things differently and, most times, the bulb glows when one least expects it. "I was watching a documentary," said Tricia Williamson, social media and online communications manager, Jamaica Public Service (JPS), "I saw how, in Africa, they used material from billboards to make bags, and I thought, why we can't do the same here?" The light-emitting diodes (LED) of the television screen transmitted the inspiration and the BannaBags project was conceived. The objective was two-pronged,Williamson said, to reuse and recycle banners and billboards, which would have found their way into the dump, and to provide a cheap and sturdy option for school children. "This project is addressing a viable need and helping schoolchildren who are in need of back-to-school supplies, at the same time providing employmen...

Leandro Soto "Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sunset sky," resonate these words of Rabindranath Tagore, India's national poet, and an artist in his own right, into the works of Leandro Soto, multidisciplinary visual/installation and performance artist. "I am deeply inspired by India and the work of Tagore," the artist says. "He combines the beauty of the verse with the knowledge." "I am traveller," Soto professes, his eyes gleaming from the round Gandhiesque bespectacled frame, recounting that his journeys have been a key and critical influence in his creative thought process. Growing up in Cienfuegos, a coastal city in south Cuba, Soto had his first stroke of inspiration when he was five. "I seem to be surrounded by spirits and energies, which used to guide me and I started painting," he recalled, sitting cross-legged, as cool breeze kissed the wind chime...

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it," says Confucius, whose words of wisdom are embedded in the crystal-clear brew from the Land of the Rising Sun. Sake, the potent confluence of spring-fed water and grains of rice, has been an integral part of Japanese society, and Noriyoshi Nagai's family tradition for six generations. "It (Sake) is a historical beverage consisting of rice and water; it is not just a business, everything I produce are like my children," Nagai said. Nestled in a valley among the snowcapped Mt Hotaka range, Kawaba village is a postcard-perfect setting. Lush green foliage, crisp cool air and the clear spring water flowing down the streams, which Nagai recalls, became the source of inspiration for his ancestor Shoji Nagai, who founded the Nagai Sake brewery in 1886. The idea for the brewery came from the inherent desire to preserve the sanctity of the nature and purity of water. "The water is so pure that you can ...

What does one get when one combines ivory, silk threads, red sandalwood, dog skin and tortoise shell? No, it is not a part of any ritual or ingredients out of a horror flick. They are the raw materials for the traditional Japanese plucked lute - shamisen. "The word 'shamisen' means three strings," explained Hidesaburo Abe, founder of Abeya folk music group. In the land of the Samurai, the shamisen is an integral part of the country's traditional folk culture. "There are a variety of shamisen in Japan," said Hiromoto Oyama, first secretary, Embassy of Japan in Jamaica. "The instrument has variants, according to the region and the kind of folklore that it is being played with." INDIAN ROOTS Shamisen traces its origins to Okinawa, south Japan, where it is said to have come from India. Musical instruments similar to the shamisen have been excavated in Mongolia. "The shamisen has a variety of sizes, but the shape is almost simi...