If the recent Visual Arts exhibition by Fifth Form students in Anguilla were to be judged on the basis of career standards, there would be no doubt that many of the presenters would qualify as upcoming artists. But the purpose of the various displays at the Rodney MacArthur Rey Auditorium on Thursday, March 20, was two-fold.
According to Mrs Navene Mairyshaw, Head of the Visual Arts Department of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School, the exhibits were first of all done for the CXC SBA exams towards the students’ final grade. Secondly, the exhibits were put on display to give the public a glimpse of the students’ creative work.
“CXC has already indicated which set of work will be going to Barbados for further grading,” Mrs Mairyshaw explained. “The other exhibits will remain on the island. In case CXC has other questions, an external examiner will be sent to Anguilla.”
She went on: “The areas covered by the SBAs are painting and mix media, drawing, graphic design, textile design and manipulation, sculpture and ceramics and fibre and decorative arts.
“I am the Head of the Visual Arts Department, and under me I have Mrs Louise Brooks, Ms Dianne Samuel and Ms Catriona Lake. All of us have worked together to bring the students to this area and to hold this exhibition.
“The students customarily showed their work in the classrooms for the teachers and other students, but this year we decided, as a department, that we should allow the public to have a chance to see the work that the students have been creating. We therefore undertook to use this big area in the auditorium to showcase the students’ work. All of them were on board with it and they worked really hard to finish their work on time.”
This is the third year that Mrs Mairshaw, formerly Ms Miller, has been head of the Visual Arts Department of the Comprehensive School.
The exhibition attracted a considerable large number of spectators.Many of them said they were both surprised and thrilled by the level of the work which they described as stunning.
