Keith Atteck holds talks on aunt Sybil’s work

Data steward Keith Atteck always knew his aunt Sybil was a proficient artist, but he had no idea how far her reach as a teacher went.

“Not only was she a well-qualified artist, but I didn’t realise how much teaching she did. I met a lady in Trinidad in 2020, who was a student of Sybil’s, and she actually did a drawing of Sybil, because quite often you have these live classes where you sit for people to paint or draw you. She did that class and relayed it to me,” Atteck told Sunday Newsday.

Atteck will be hosting a series of talks on his aunt and her work beginning on March 6, at Central Bank auditorium, at 6:30 pm. His second lecture will take place at the UWI, St Augustine, Chessman Building on March 8 at 1 pm– International Women’s Day then the Arts Society of TT at 6 pm. On March 9 he will visit the Rio Claro East Secondary School at 10 am.

He said one of the schools at which Sybil taught was St Francois Girls’ College, Port of Spain where he visited and met the principal.

“The principal was there at the time she (Sybil) was hired, and then I also met a fellow teacher who was also teaching art but was a student of Sybil’s before she graduated and became a teacher. Through the Virtual Museum of TT – a Facebook group – I have chatted with a number of people who were all students of Sybil’s.”

He also spoke with other artists who would have known his aunt.

“Jackie Hinkson, who is another well-known artist and recipient of the Chaconia Medal (gold) like Sybil, also relayed to me his experience when he first exhibited with the Art Society in 1961 and how big a role Sybil played in encouraging him and the other four artists exhibiting. He commented on the impact she had on his career.”

Atteck said Sybil also tried to get him involved in art as well, but he would much rather play cricket.

“This was in Valsayn Park. My parents built a house at 1 Greenvale, Valsayn and Sybil built her home at 18 Greenvale, so we spent most of our days either playing in the street or going to visit Sybil and my grandmother. Sybil, in particular, had tried several times to encourage me to draw something, but I wasn’t that interested.”

Funny enough, he said, one day when he was at school, a teacher asked his class to do a painting in water colours.

“I had no idea what that meant really and then I sat in front of this piece of paper with my brush and paint. I had no idea what I was going to paint and I remembered seeing Sybil doing an artwork of the Caroni Swamp in her studio in Valsayn. I said, ‘Maybe I’ll do something like that.’ Then I finished the artwork and submitted it to the teacher.”

He said he had no idea it was part of an art competition.

“The next time I got to school, they had all the artworks posted up on the walls and I had a red star on mine and I got first prize. I said, ‘Wow. What’s this?’ And I had found out a month ago that Nancy Richards, another artists, was the one judging that competition.”

He said he hadn’t signed it, so she had no idea whose work it was. But when she found out, he said she was amazed.

“So that was the only work that I did that got recognition in fine art. Although I wouldn’t call it fine art. But I still have it, my mother framed it for me.”

During his research, Atteck said he recently found the original artwork that he was looking at in her studio – the painting of the Caroni Swamp dating back to 1969. He said the painting was done before she went to represent TT in Brazil in a fine arts exhibit.

Though he didn’t keep up with his artistic root, he said his daughter Julia Atteck, 20, is a great artist and she even helped him edit his research which he will share during his lectures.