BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-PROMINENT educator and craft artist Adam Azaire of St. Lucia will be launching a free thirteen-week Pottery Skills Workshop next Monday (Feb. 16) aimed at providing marketable tourism craft skills to the people of St. Kitts.
“My experience travelling in the Caribbean is that even though there are lots of potters there is still room for more. I think pottery is an item that is always sought by the tourists,” Azaire said in an exclusive interview with SKNVibes.
The artisan is an Amerindian born in Guyana, was trained at the Burrowes School of Art in his home country and studied Ceramics and Technology in Stoke-on-Trent, England. He has been awarded a Commonwealth Fellowship for his work and has held the position of Resident Artist at the College of Art and Design in both New Brunswick and Tasmania.
Azaire has also spent the past twenty years operating his Lokono Pottery Studio in St. Lucia and traveling the region for the Caribbean Development Bank teaching these types of training seminars.
Despite his extensive training, Azaire said that he was not a natural artist, having grown up in a culture that looked down upon men making pottery; however, he believes that those coming into this course with little or no training can still make pottery a profitable profession.
“I think a lot has to do with confidence. I always tell people I wasn’t born an artist or a potter, but I just did it so much that it became second nature.
“Because I’ve had an opportunity to travel to many different countries, I find that pottery throughout the world always begins the same. When you give a person a bit of clay it is the same attitude as if somebody was doing it 100 years ago. I think it is just something within us that when we get a piece of clay we just start to make something,” he explained.
Austin Weekes, General Manager of the Craft House, said that he believes the Federation is in desperate need of potters, as there is currently only one in St. Kitts and two in Nevis. He cited this as the main reason he submitted a request proposal for Azaire’s services to the Basic Needs Trust Fund a year and a half ago.
“Over the last six months we have had a discussion with a consultant for aide to artisans. She did a tour of the shop with us and was alarmed that the pottery aspect of it is so limited in St. Kitts. The workshop is aimed at empowering our people, particularly our young people…because tourists keep asking for local pottery, especially small pieces for cruise ship passengers,” he said.
Weekes reported that 90 percent of the 38 applicants to the programme have stated on their applications that they were “very interested in taking part”, and said Azaire agreed that he expected a big impact on the participants, particularly the youths from various high schools and Project STRONG.
“Art teaches discipline. You have got to be committed to your craft and you have to do it every day. What I find with a lot of the young people is that most of the time they need someone to tell them to go and do it.
“These young people need an outlet to vent their frustration. They need to know that they can make something and then get something in return. A lot of the time they are not directed in that way and they fall through the cracks,” he said.
Though the participants in the programme will only establish a base from the workshop, Weekes said that The Craft House is committed to working with the government beyond the thirteen-week course to continue the training, grant artisans concessions and “pass on some of these materials to the schools so they may continue”.
