Riding the Creative Current

This week, the Lower Elementary children had the opportunity to be inspired by the creativity of others as they visited the ongoing Cross Currents biennial exhibition at the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands. A vibrant and diverse range of artwork was on display, ranging from sculptures, textile compositions, video installations, paintings and graphic prints. All of the pieces on display conveyed their own unique, artful answer to the question, “What is contemporary Caymanian art?”

 

There was an extra special family connection to the art exhibit, as two children in the LED class were related to artists who had work on display: one student’s father, Mr. Pascal Pernix, and another student’s aunt, Ms. Pippa Ridley. 

 

The creativity continued the day after the trip to the NGCI. Mr. Pascal, whose vividly-coloured series of prints, Sans Nom, graced the walls of the gallery,  joined the class to talk about his creative process, answer questions from the children about his work, and enable the children to create their own compositions based on the series. The children asked some very thoughtful questions, particularly focused on from where Mr. Pascal drew his inspiration. All of the students were thrilled to be interacting with a “real live artist” after viewing the artwork in the gallery just the day before, and they threw themselves wholeheartedly into creating brightly-coloured compositions of human and animal figures superimposed on a patterned background. The resulting art pieces were joyful and vibrant, and clearly carried the spirit of the original works that inspired them. 

 

Many thanks to Mr. Pascal for sharing his time and talent with the children, and for giving the children a heartfelt and authentic artistic experience.