Preparing for CEPEP - UWI graduating Art class of 2009

Brothers and sisters, I learnt a great lesson here. Never believe in something that does not believe in itself. Never try to help when help was never asked of, never tell the truth when truth does not want to be heard and never consort with those less of you. Only believed in the beauty which Art can bring
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Art of the times, Obama, Kanye West, Sex, Death and the casualties of being too casual

Steve Ouditt, chair of the department well wishing his graduating students to a public who he stressed may not fully understand the artwork produced for their UWI DCFA credited degree

Any student who graduated from the the Visual Arts Unit of The University of the West Indies (UWI) Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA), 2009 should ask themselves a key question. Can what I’ve learnt over these four years make me feel confident enough that where I am about to venture into…………, that my qualifications in this field will pave the way to a prosperous and fulfilling career. If anyone paid close attention to the speeches at the open day exhibition, there would be a certain doubt placed on the graduates as to say their art and concepts may be too high to grasp or esoteric in its field. One grasp is that this show reflected work no less than first or second year standards. Works located on the periphery of the main space should not have been accepted.

Seven look puzzled at UWI graduates concepts on Art practice.

Yet, the spoken consensuses was the general weakness from the variety of installations, paintings, sculptures, industrial design pieces which were placed in spaces that were too small. Students opted on the readiness of technology to make a collage of photocopies or that of found objects, video projections as if the four year old brief was executed as a final over the past weekend.

This is not to say that a genesis an of idea can’t happen. An immediacy can give you a rush. But here needs to be practice in the same relationship you would like seen with a tailored garment, a nicely designed pair of shoes or an ergonomically functional mobile phone. Four years of learning a craft. Perfecting it and understanding it. Art is supposed to give hope in a world bombarded with consumerism and throwaways. How many students who showcased publicly their best efforts are eager to re-assemble, functionally use or reinstall their artworks in their living rooms and live with them honestly? Dear graduating class of 2009, your journey has just begun.

Khmama Cox’s cd cover cases which merged as Barack Obama and made up of people of colour who have left their mark in history. This is similar to the photographic work by chuck close. It would have better produced in colour, yet it would have been more difficult to construct the variable tones. See Lisa Brice and Adele Todd’s exhibition, Paradise

A video by Natasha Mahabir debating the etymological use of the word CUNT, one of the stronger works from the show – I rather much prefer, ” He lick down meh nanny – Soca lyric”

Issues and reasons, hypothetically:
Lack of classroom space, lack of equipment, lack of workshops to build work properly. And a credited degree viewed as an easy one to pass. Remember this is Art, I could pelt things together and write something on it knowing that I don’t even understand. – No rocket science in dat.