Grand Bahama Students Awarded in Trash 2 Treasure Art Exhibition
By Grand Bahama Port Authority
Nov 7, 2009 - 1:38:12 PM
Trash 2 Treasure Senior Winners: (Left to right) Mrs. Sabita Budhu, Teacher, St. Georges High School and Sister Mary Patricia Russell Junior High School; Jaide Williams, 1st place, St. Georges High School; Malik Wright, Edmund Hunt and Miquel Young, 2nd place, Grand Bahama Catholic High School; Mr. Caudel McNab, Teacher, Grand Bahama Catholic High School; Yoshima Rahming, 3rd place, Eight Mile Rock High School; and Mr. Ken Heslop, Teacher, Eight Mile Rock High School.
Freeport, Bahamas
- This
year’s ‘Trash 2 Treasure’ Art Exhibition was a stunning
success, thanks to the talented efforts of high school students on
Grand Bahama
Island .
Organized by the Keep Grand
Bahama Clean (KGBC) committee and the Grand Bahama Artists Association, the
island’s students competed in two categories, junior and secondary high
school divisions. Awards for the top three exhibits in each category were
presented at an elegant Awards Ceremony hosted at the
Rand Nature
Center on
East Settlers Way .
Trash 2 Treasure Senior Winner: (Left to right) Mrs. Nakira Wilchcombe , Environmental Manager – GBPA Group and KGBC Committee Chairperson; Jaide Williams, 1st place, St. Georges High School ; Mrs. Lorna Munroe, Technical Assistant, KGBC Committee; and Mrs. Tansey Louis, KGBC Committee Member.
Offering remarks was Mr.
Arthur Jones, Vice President of Building and Development Services, The Grand
Bahama Port Authority Ltd (GBPA). “Hopefully, by participating in or
attending this event, your awareness of the need to protect and preserve our
environment has been heightened,” said Mr. Jones.
By means of a powerful
visual presentation, artist and guest speaker, Mrs. Chantal Bethel, challenged
all in attendance to practice the three R’s – reduce, reuse and
recycle.
Trash 2 Treasure Junior Winners: (Left to right) Mrs. Tansey Louis, KGBC Committee Member; Mr. Rico Cargill , Environmental Officer – GBPA and KGBC Committee Member; Mrs. Nakira Wilchcombe , Environmental Manager – GBPA Group and KGBC Committee Chairperson; Jenna Roxbury, 1st place, Grand Bahama Catholic High School; Richard Levy and Derecka Lynch, 2nd place, Sister Mary Patricia Russell Junior High School; Trevonte Adderley, 3rd place, Jack Hayward High School; Ms. Olethea Gardiner , Environmental Officer – GBPA and KGBC Committee Member; and Mrs. Lorna Munroe, Technical Assistant, KGBC Committee.
According to Mrs. Nakira
Wilchcombe, KGBC Chairperson and Environmental Manager – GBPA, the
artistic competition was fully supported by the schools with entries from nine
institutions.
“We were certainly
pleased with the support we received and the overwhelming display of talent and
imagination of these youngsters. Additionally, we wish to thank the
various teachers who mentored them,” Mrs. Wilchcombe said.
Trash 2 Treasure Junior Winner: (Left to right) Ms. Olethea Gardiner , Environmental Officer – GBPA and KGBC Committee Member; Mrs. Nakira Wilchcombe , Environmental Manager – GBPA Group and KGBC Committee Chairperson; Mr. Rico Cargill , Environmental Officer – GBPA and KGBC Committee Member; Jenna Roxbury, 1st place, Grand Bahama Catholic High School ; Mrs. Tansey Louis, KGBC Committee Member; Mrs. Cecilia Bodie, KGBC Committee Member; and Mrs. Lorna Munroe, Technical Assistant, KGBC Committee.
In the junior division, top
finishers were: 1st place - Jenna Roxbury, Grand Bahama
Catholic High School,
‘Soda Can
Bird’; 2nd place – Richard Levy and Derecka
Lynch,
Sister
Mary Patricia Russell Junior High School,
‘Fishing’;
and 3rd place – Trevonte Adderley, Jack Hayward High School,
‘Boat Model’.
In the senior division, top
finishers were: 1st place - Jaide Williams, St. George’s High
School,
‘Centre Piece’;
2nd place - Malik Wright, Edmund Hunt, Miquel Young, and Mikarla
Swann, Grand Bahama Catholic High School,
‘Wood
Student Sculpture’; and 3rd place - Yoshima
Rahming, Eight Mile Rock High School,
‘Abstract
Sculpture’.
Trash 2 Treasure Junior 3rd Place Winner: Trevonte Adderley, Jack Hayward High School , with his “Boat Model” exhibit.
Prizes included - Artistic
tutelage with renowned Bahamian artist, Mr. Antonius Roberts, Artist sets,
Bahama EcoVentures Airboat Tours, Cash prizes and BTC Phone Cards.
Trash 2 Treasure Junior 2nd Place Winners: Richard Levy and Derecka Lynch, Sister Mary Patricia Russell Junior High School , captured second place in the junior division with their “Fishing” piece.
The ‘Trash 2
Treasure’ Art Exhibition ending Thursday, 5th November brought
KGBC’s month-long anniversary celebrations to a successful
conclusion. KGBC kicked off its third anniversary with a clean-up
campaign in the Yeoman Wood subdivision. Various organizations joined in
the Keep Grand Bahama Clean celebrations by holding simultaneous clean-up
campaigns at several sites. A church service at the Universal Household
of Faith and special anti-littering school visits accompanied by ‘Chicky’
from Kentucky Fried Chicken rounded off the slate of events.
Chantal Bethel
Chantal Bethel
Speech
Presentation to the Keep Grand Bahama Clean
Committee.
The “Trash to Treasure Competition”
Glory Banks Gallery, October
29th, 2009.
“Three is a magic number
We’ve got three R’s we’re going to talk about today
We've got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
If you're going to the market to buy some juice
You've got to bring your own bags and you learn to reduce your waste
And if your brother or your sister's got some cool clothes
You could try them on before you buy some more of those
Reuse, we've got to learn to reuse
And if the first two R's don't work out
And if you've got to make some trash
Don't throw it out
Recycle, we've got to learn to recycle,
We've got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Because three is a magic number “
These are the words of the song on the 3R’s written recycling advocate and
singer Jack Johnson
Distinguished guests, ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls
Good Evening.
First let me congratulate the “ Keep Grand Bahama Clean Committee and the Grand
Bahama Port Authority for undertaking such a great and much needed
project… and I really mean much needed project.
I toured the gallery earlier today and I am totally amazed at the work
displayed: Look at the materials used: 2x4’s, soda cans, nails, plastic forks and
knives and the list goes on…this is what I call wonderful imagination.
I also wish to congratulate the winners of this art competition. But you
know all of those who participated in this exercise are winners because at the
end of the day, the process must have been beneficial to you. The fact
that you have entered the competition means that you had to do some research
about the subject. And somehow you must have experienced the three R’s if only
in thoughts “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle”.
It should be noted that we have amongst us a true true green artist. My
Colleague Del Foxton is very aware of her surroundings and she ought be
commended for being the first artist on Grand Bahama
Island to create paper from
seagrape leaves, seaweeds and many other indigenous plants.
I am truly thankful and honored to have been invited to share my thoughts with
you this evening.
According to a recycle advocate most of us are familiar with recycle and
reusing, but how often do we think of the third R which stands for REDUCE?
Reduce is probably the most important of the three Rs because, if we reduce, it
would limit the need to recycle and reuse.” Think about it.
By reducing, we cut down on the resources that we use which results in less
garbage being produced.
Reduce takes us back to the basic question:
"Is it a need or a want?"
So often, our wants result in impulse buying. It is amazing if you ask yourself
the question, is it a need or a want before you actually buy. Many things end
up being a want, not truly a need.
Reuse is often confused with recycle, but they are really quite
different. Reuse in the broadest sense means any activity that lengthens
the life of an item. Recycling, on the other hand, is the reprocessing of
an item into a new material.
This Podium is an example of Reduce, reuse and recycle. It is made with the
roots of the Banyon tree. It was created by Claudette Dean and myself in
2005 when we did a show on our roots.
As an artist who recycles, I will expand on “recycling for an entirely new purpose”.
This brings me to the theme “Trash to Treasure”
What is Trash?
Trash is described as anything worthless, useless, or discarded.
What is Treasure?
Treasure is described as something of great value and highly prized.
How can something worthless and discarded becomes valuable and highly prized?
This evening allow me to share my personal story with you.
I am a both a painter and a sculptor. At some point in my life I made the
decision to learn how to draw and paint. Sculpting happened by accident.
My sculpted forms are carved out of the crown shaft of the Royal Palm tree – a
piece of nature -. It is the reason why I call this collection “The Royal
Collection”.
My love affair with the Royal Palm tree began some four years ago as I was
walking along Spanish Main Drive
where I live and encountered what would become my material for sculpting.
I became totally captivated by something that appeared totally
ordinary. This ordinary yet magnificent piece of nature is always
discarded.
When I pick up a piece of Royal Palm and take it to my studio, I don’t usually
have preconceived ideas. I begin by examining the material, I connect
with it, I listen to my inner voice………. the process is a spiritual and
intuitive one where the spirit of this piece of nature reveals itself. It
is about seeing beyond what is there, giving room to my intuition. I then
draw upon my vision. At this point, the challenge for me is to give this
primitive forms humanist content.
This is a work in progress, I have no one to learn from, no model to follow,
there is no information in any book or the internet about the crown shaft of
the royal palm. So I am experimenting and documenting my finding. The crown
shaft is somehow a cross between wood and a leaf. So I have to find out
what works best.
As a sculptor I find, I reuse, I alter and I redirect the purpose of the
palm. Personally, I do not usually use the word recycling with my work
but it is simply that.
I believe there is beauty in discarded material. Making “something from
nothing” is part of my philosophy.
On a final note I was very sad to read that Grand Bahama ranks as the second
worst destination in the world according to the National Geographic Society’s
study in pristine environments. So again I congratulate the committee for
taking this step and it is my hope that this project will mark a new
beginning for Grand Bahama as we keep it clean and also as we encourage artists
to be creative. Would it not be wonderful if we had outdoor sculptures
everywhere and painted mural to tell the visitors our story?? Think about
it…
Remember 3 is a magic number and with the 3 R’s :Reduce, Reuse and Recycle we
can do wonders for Grand Bahama Island.