Quiet and Peace comes to art gallery

Jonathan Guy-Gladding is showing off his art titled Quiet and Peace at Horizons Art Gallery.

Guy-Gladding is well known and loved by gallery patrons for his touching and whimsical portraits of schoolchildren and depictions of laid-back island life, a media release said.

The best thing that ever happened to Guy-Gladding was being sent to the Caribbean. He had been living in New York City, working as a computer artist for Sesame Street while trying to squeeze in his own art on the weekends and evenings, the release said.

Feeling the need to expand his horizons, Guy-Gladding applied to be a volunteer in the Peace Corps and had the great fortune of being sent to St Lucia in July, 1999.

Serving as a woodwork instructor in the southern coastal village of Laborie, he found an unending supply of rich subject matter in the faces and postures of the schoolchildren and the people going about their daily lives.

The pride in heritage and Kweyol culture combined with a sense of community and responsibility toward one another deeply impressed Guy-Gladding and gave direction to his work. Although he had been painting for years in a cubist style, he felt that realism was best suited to communicate the feelings and ideas that he wanted to share, the release said.

His work has been exhibited in several individual and joint exhibitions at Horizons Art Gallery and this collection promises to be "nothing short of impressive," the release said.

In January 2003, he was chosen as artist of the month by The Artist’s Magazine, the world's leading magazine for serious active artists with a circulation of over 200,000, the release said.

In November 2005, he was awarded the Windsor and Newton Award of Excellence from the Best of America 2005 exhibition of the National Association of Oil and Acrylic Painters, Missouri. In 2005, was awarded first place at the New England Exhibition of the Cape Cod Art Association in Barnstable, Massachusetts.

The exhibition which opened on May 7 can be viewed at the gallery, 37 Mucurapo Road, St James, until May 18, from 8.30 am-5 pm Mondays to Fridays, and 9 am-1 pm on Saturdays.

The video catalogue can be viewed on Facebook via the link: https://www.facebook.com/Horizonsarttrinidad/