amjamin

In north east India is a district, which is off the tourist grid, seeped in oft time warped traditions – Madhubani (translated as Forest of Honey – Madhu: honey, Ban: forest) – is the home, and lends its name, to the country’s foremost traditional painting genres, which dates back centuries. Rustic, traditional, and precise, each work tells a story – of the painter’s thoughts, dreams, aspirations, and critically giving life to Hinduism’s holy scriptures and deities. A mix of folklore, realism, celebrations, joy, and spiritualism, Madhubani is a personal statement of the artist, carrying on a tradition that has been handed down from generations. Ram Charita Paswan, is one of scores of painters who started dabbling with colours when he was six years old.  “I used to watch my grandmother paint,” the bespectacled, lean fourth-generation painter said. “I used to take cotton wool, tie it on a stick and try to dab paint on a paper, but I always ended up making a mess of th...

Rasheda Tennant works on a customised ring of silver and brass   "My pieces have to tell a story," says Rasheda Tennant, a young Jamaican jeweller, who said she combines her clients' personal choices, their stories with an eclectic mix of media, colours, and design. The jewellery that she creates is a statement - literally and figuratively. Tennant said creating is in her DNA. Her grandfather and father were woodcarvers and she, from as far as she can remember, spent her childhood and teenage years in their workshop, tinkering with the tools, carving, and hammering wood. "I was always helping my father; I used to accompany him whenever he went to the sites. I helped him in his workshop," Tennant said. She told The Sunday Gleaner that the training was hands-on and on the job. "That's how I have these muscles," Tennant said, as she flexed her chiselled biceps, shaped by hammers, nails, saws - not your typical doll-totting girl. The play th...

The creator and his creations - Wazari Johnson “I am like a child on Christmas morning when I open my kiln,” said Wazari Johnson, his shirt dotted with spots, and hands caked in clay, ready to shape the docile, earthy mass of mud into statement pieces. It's love, he said, that makes the wheel spin around, fire in the kiln burning and ideas to create the poetry and prose in glazed ceramic. “For me, everything about ceramics is just simply awesome,” Johnson said. “I love everything about the process, from getting the idea of what form I want to create, to preparing the clay, to taking it on the wheel. I love seeing the piece slowly dry and finally proving what it's made of in the fire, I love glazing and glaze firing.” These ideas, like any artists’ creation, form on a blank slate. In this case, from specks of mud, which Johnson said is therapeutic to work with and is also adaptable to changes. “I find that clay is a very versatile and "forgiving" material,...

Camille Dookie, creating stories in fabric It all starts with a thread, which when interwoven and intertwined creates magic, covering metaphorically and literally anything from life's journey to the physical being of a human - complex, yet simple. "Textile and fibre arts, to me, are intriguing because it's like taking an extended walk through time," said Camille Dookie, textile artist and decorator. "When I study a technique," she said, "I have the opportunity to see heritage and traditions passed down through history from generations and ethnicities, so I can appreciate the art form for what it is; the history of our lives." Textiles, Dookie said, is at the centre of the historical developments and confluence of nature's resources with mankind. "The history of textiles begins with the first fibre ever made from natural resources," she said. "It continues through time in some of the most controversial episodes in th...

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...