Highlights from the 2012 Liguanea Art Festival

So it seems that every imaginable force is against this post which should be part one of two. For the past few days I’ve been typing like the world was ending at random intervals with the hope of posting it to my blog. Now that I have the photos …the damn word document has VANISHED…… *Counts to 10*

Tired as hell! My day started with me walking to catch a taxi only to be greeted with a torrential down pour that left me soaked right through …thanks to the gentleman who pointed that out … I hadn’t noticed -_- … but I appreciate the level of concern he showed. Lunch was two hours late. It was delivered to us from goodness knows where (seriously, I just jumped on the let’s order food bandwagon)… I was so hungry I ate it all … still alive so …. Now home and I’ve started folding 4 of 60 pockets for a wedding invitation I’m working on …. But I am determined to write this today and now have to rely on my pop-down memory to fit in as many details as I can. It’s quite scandalous that I’m a week late and yes I know I have quite a bit of catching up to do…. Blame work … It sucks the life out of me but I quite like it and will miss it when my contract ends. (Bitter-sweet moment)

Last weekend was one I had eagerly anticipated to the point that I had mentally skipped an entire week and almost book my bus ticket for the Knutsford. [Sweet ride BTW] I’m telling it in reverse  so first off was Sunday the 29^th (quickly checks calendar…yes I was correct) at the annual Liguanea Art Festival organized by June and Tong Wong… and as I write I’m thinking how much better this sounds than what I had originally intended. I suppose that loss is a blessing in disguise.

I got the full experience of being at the festival in that I was there from 8:01 by Laura Facey’s watch 🙂 It was interesting watching the transformation of a parking lot to an ordered maze of booths, some filled to its capacity with amazing art work which included paintings, drawings, sculptures, photography and jewellery. *Wish I had some extra cash though – Next year?!* 

 

After helping to set up, I linked up with Garcia and we sauntered around taking in all the sites and at one point were treated to a complimentary ‘kisko’ each. (Ha ha the last time I had one of those was back when my dear parents still had to open it for me!) Needless to say, it was quite refreshing.  She also fulfilled her dream of introducing herself to the beyond talented Gene Pearson and went a step further to take a photo with him. I saw so many people I haven’t seen a while and It was great to see the work of my former lecturer Alison West-Martin. (Sorry I don’t have a photo)  We were later drawn in by Artist Fernard who was eager to hear our views on his work that he deemed Fauvism, Expressionism and Abstract.  We had a rather lively conversation about the art form, his favourite pieces and how he started selling his work  before moving on to another booth.

Speaking of artists Kamaal was pretty popular and with good reason. He continued his ‘tradition’ of painting in his booth and amazed passersby. Had I ¾ of his talent…. *Sigh*

  

As one would imagine … the hunger eventually kicked in. There were a few food stations set up but only one that caught our eye – Aladin; which turned out to be Mediterranean cuisine… not so impressed that they had a photo of the actual characters on the front of their menu but I got over it. There was a hunk of meat?! [called gyro – lamb and beef combo] on a huge rotating clindrical thing-a-ma-jiggy and while we were disturbed by the look of it, our curiosity was piqued. After walking around it for a while we mustered up the courage to buy one. Money well spent actually. It’s on hope road so I’ll try something else on the menu (but noooo to the ‘Foul M’Demas’ :O) when I’m back in that area.

Gladly the sun won a brief battle with the rain that threatened to literally rain on the parade. From all indications, the event was well supported and I for one enjoyed the live drumming and singing performances; caught the end of an impromptu capoeira demonstration, realized how not-so-scary johnkanoos dancers are.

Capoeira

Johnkanoo Dancers

*CTRL+SAVE* The vybe was just right and although I was looking a tad bit burnt out from the day before’s activity, (soon to come) I was happy that I was able to be there.

Mom saw this photo and said I look like an underprivileged child *sniffle*

I discovered that apparently I’ve been hiding under a rock for some time when Garcia requested cranberry-grape wata. That was definitely new to me and I concluded that it had yet to reach St. Ann … saw it yesterday glaring at me on the shelf :S [Understandable though as my lunch routine is: Supermarket -> water section -> pick up fruit and nut peanuts -> cash register -> vegan restaurant…… WORK. What can I say, I’m a creature of habit]

Before I knew it, the day was almost at its end – well for me. I had a bus to catch! Luckily my sis ensured that I got to New Kingston on time. *Twitch*  I took a final glance and after saying my good byes, I walked away quite pleased and of course tired.

P.S. Don’t forget to make your order for Mother’s Day!

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