The National Gallery now has a Facebook group, named National Gallery of Jamaica. Several discussion topics have been started on the group and members are also invited to participate or to share their thoughts and suggestions on the Wall. We also want to recruit more members to our Facebook group, so please share the link and encourage others to join!

For general information, contact Veerle Poupeye, veerle.poupeye@natgalja.com, 922-8540, 922-1561, -3, -4.

Art on the Waterfront, the National Gallery and the MultiCare Foundations annual children’s art summer programme, continues until July 31 and is open to children and teens over 6 years old. The programme makes extensive use of the National Gallery environment, with tours of the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions and various other exciting gallery activities, but the studio sessions are held at the DaCosta Institute, 1a Central Avenue in Kingston Gardens, because of space constraints at the Gallery. Shuttle bus transport is available between the two venues. Sessions are held daily, in weekdays, from 9 am to 1 pm. A nominal registration fee of $ 500 per week is charged and children can participate for part of or the entire duration of programme. Registration forms can be collected from the National Gallery office.

Contact: Mrs. Greta Clarke, Tel: 922-8540, 922-1561, -3, -4.

19 July 2009 through 22 August 2009

The 2009 National Visual Arts Exhibition and Competition opened at the National Gallery on Sunday, July 19, 2009 at 3 pm, when the winners of the medals and other awards were also announced.

This exhibition and competition, popularly known as the Festival Exhibition, has been held annually in Jamaica since 1963 as part of the Independence Festival and has played an important role in the development of post-Independence art, especially the unearthing of new talent. Since 2007, the exhibition has been hosted at the National Gallery, as a collaboration with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, the organizers of Festival.

The exhibition is open to all artists in Jamaica and consists of adult and youth sections that are both shown at the National Gallery. Entries are accepted in the categories of painting, works on paper, sculpture/assemblage, ceramics, fibre art, photography and video art. The youth section is further divided according to age group, 11 years & under; 12 to 14 years; & 15 to 18 years.

Every year, a panel of judges is invited to review the entries of each section, adult and youth, for works that merit awards and those entries that are awarded at least a Certificated of Participation are included in the exhibition. The other possible awards are, in ascending order, the Certificate of Merit and the Bronze, Silver and Gold medals, which are granted to the most outstanding works. Whether or not the top awards are granted is at the discretion of the judges. There are also special sectional prizes for the best work in each category of the Adult Section as well as the several special prizes for the Youth section, namely Summit Prize for the school with the most awards, the Top Teacher Prize, and the Promise Prize for the most outstanding youth entrant. These prizes were decided by the Adult and Youth section juries and will be announced at the opening, along with the other awards. Section prizes may be withheld if none of the entries are deemed deserving.

The judging of the Youth section took place on May 25, 2009. From a total of 488 entries 141 were selected. The judges were O’Neil Lawrence, Lorraine Thompson-Stewart and Lauriston Watson. The Adult judging took place on June 1. From a submission of 420 entries, 81 were accepted. The judges were Paula Daley, Rafiki Kariuki, Veerle Poupeye, and Heather Sutherland-Wade. The Adult jury also included a rotating schedule of specialist judges, namely Hope Brooks (2D works), Michael Layne and Damaris Mayne (3D works) and O’Neil Lawrence (Photography).

In addition to the juried prizes, there is also a Prize of the Public, which is granted based on a closed ballot voting system. Voting for the Prize of the Public continues until August 8 and ballots are available at the National Gallery’s reception desk. Each of these special prizes involves a trophy and a cash award.

The exhibition continues until August 22. As has become customary, the entrance fee to the National Gallery has been waived for the period and it is also an opportunity to see the permanent collections and the Selections from the Aaron and Marjorie Matalon exhibition free of cost.