'Caye Caulker Vision' is the name of the new art show which debuts this Friday at the Image Factory. The collection of 78 ink and pen drawings is the work of French artist CeLINY Watkin. Watkin has been visiting Belize for the past 5 years and to her, Caye Caulker is more than a vacation spot, it has been an inspiration for her art. 7NEWS got a peek at the exhibit of the pieces which have been to France and back from image factory curator Gilvano Swasey.
Gilvano Swasey, Image Factory Art Gallery
"Most of the works are done in ink or ink-wash with some acrylics so it is a little bit different from the normal oil and canvas and so forth."
"Literally it does reflect back on Caye Caulker. Her experiences are not really as a tourist but as an artist on Caye Caulker. Most of it is architecture. There is one section that deals with people, faces, and portraits. They are done not really in a realistic form but more in a feeling form. She doesn't really paint pretty pretty pictures but she paints feelings; blue, green, and red; feeling faces. It is more about the vibes she gets from the people. What is also interesting are the landscape pieces. You think of Caye Caulker and you would think of a lot of boats. Well they are a lot of boats but many of them (the artwork) are structures with a lot of lampposts with lines which is very typical not just of Caye Caulker but of Belize. Across Belize you always see power lines criss-crossing each other in a chaotic manner but it somehow brings some kind of order."
"Her stuff is on the edge of touristic meaning it is it realism so you can recognize that for e.g. it is a coconut tree or whatever. Meanwhile the boys from Cuba were violent pieces splattered onto a paper. So this has a little bit more order and a little bit more sensitivity. There is a hammock painting, a painting by the seaside so you are more relaxed feeling at home but she gives you an outside view into the life that we live."
The show opens tomorrow night and runs until the end of July.
An interesting aside about the artist is that she did the original artwork for the 1999 Paranda compilation CD, a CD which has become one of Belize's best selling discs ever. But her version never made it into stores because of defects in the CD booklet. Eventually distributor Warner Music dropped the album and the actual photos of the performers were used instead of Watkin's illustrations.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited for the internet by Keith Swift