Over the years, Belize's stamps have honored everyone from Pope John Paul 2 to Princess Diana, but now Belizean artists are getting their turn in the philatelic spotlight. The Stamp Advisory Committee today launched a new issue which celebrates Belize's most famous artists. We got a look at what collectors call the first day cover.
Elston Wade, Post Master General
"We know for example when April the Tapir was born but we do not who painted the historic mural in Corozal Town. We know about Christopher Columbus but we do not know the name of the man who created the Sleeping Giant, which is found on the currency of Belize. We know who is 50 Cent but we can't recognize Pen Cayetano who created the Punta Rock music."
And now those figures are celebrated in this new stamp issue, the 25 cent for George Gabb, the 30 cent for Louis Belisle, the 60 cent for Pen Cayetano and the 75 cent for Benjamin Belisle - who was in attendance, the two dollars for Ruben Miguel and the 3 dollars for Manuel Villamoor.
Yasser Musa, NICH President
"George Gabb and the other five artists are pillars of our artistic foundation. They stand above us all and they represent what I would call the foreground to where younger artists that are coming up today will look to them for inspiration."
Musa says they may be local but they have international appeal - such as Ruben Miguel.
Yasser Musa,
"His culture, the one in the middle, is very similar to the style of sculpting that comes from Africa that is a tradition that continues today that has been going on for over 2,000 years. But also while it is connected to that culture, we can all see a similarity to the picture on the right. These sculptures from Easter Island, which is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean were done around 1,100 A.D. So you have to realize that while Mr. Miguel made his work in the 1960s in Belize, in then British Honduras, that art has what is called a archetypal power, meaning that there is a universal accepted inspiration. And he never knew about these statues but there is a natural mystical thing that goes on in artists that I can't explain and I am not here to try explain. I am just here to point out that there is a connectivity."
And just so with Manuel Villamoor's epic Corozal mural and Louis Belisle's ironic impressionist rendering of the Belize City Market.
