BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ARTISTIC renditions from nine of the nation’s best young artists, displaying the theme ‘What St. Kitts means to me’, will be the first entries in the St. Kitts Marriott’s recently opened hall of fame.
The hall of fame is an initiative taken by the hotel to promote St. Kitts through still-life and imaginative compositions.
The art competition, launched earlier this year, offered all public schools the opportunity to submit as many entries as possible for each age division, and allow students the opportunity to make a mark in the resort’s local package.
General Manager of the Resort, Flor Van der Vaart told SKNVibes that the competition is one way to engage the nation’s youth in constructive, educational activities while at the same time providing an opportunity for students to express their creativity.
“We came up with the idea to see how we can showcase the abilities of the youth in a better way. We wanted to see how we can use this art to display to our customers. If we could use art and bring it together with the passion of these youth, then that would be a magical formula,” the GM said.
Three students from each category were awarded attractive prizes and the chance for their pieces to be used by the hotel in its youthful depiction of St. Kitts.
Estridge Primary School mastered the Under-7 Junior Division by claiming all three top prizes. Aldenner Carey and J’Niah Prentice won third and second places respectively, while Daniel Williams emerged as the winner with her crayon drawing of the Marriott Resort.
The U-12 Middle Division saw Irish Town Primary’s Samantha Richards claim the 3rd place prize, while Shanella Harris from Newton Ground Primary was announced as second place. Michema Bradshaw, also of the Irish Town Primary, won an all-inclusive stay at the resort as the first place winner of the Middle Division with a crayon drawing of a tranquil picnic on a beach.
In the U-16 Senior Division, the Basseterre High School registered a clean sweep of all three prizes. An abstract piece depicting nightlife in St. Kitts earned Dejron Griffin 3rd place, while Karise Hanley’s painting of one of the island’s secluded beaches secured her the 2nd position. Sasha Herbert walked away with the 1st place prize for a beautiful piece displaying a sunset from one of the island’s peaks.
“We thought we would have gotten just about 20 applications, but we got over 130. This was the first time for this competition and we had such a good response! This competition is definitely going to return in various forms and fashions,” Van der Vaart said.
Speaking to this media house, the Marriott Public Relations Manager and organizer of the interschool competition, Lavern Stevens, said that the competition was not only held to gather the nation’s finest art pieces but also to introduce young individuals to visual art as a career.
“It allows them to showcase their talent, and a lot of our kids have talent but there is no outlet for it. Through this competition we afforded the children an opportunity to express their talent.
“We got an exceptional line of artwork from the students and were blown away with the high quality of their pieces. Our original idea was just to market the pieces that we have, but because of the quality that we received, we are going a step further and are going to frame the winning pieces to display around the hotel,” she stated.
Stevens informed that a similar initiative for local artists to showcase their talents is on the resort’s agenda and would be announced in the near future.
The winning pieces would be framed and placed in strategic places around the hotel. They would also be used to brand some of the resorts memorabilia, and to market the beauty of the island to the resorts thousands of guests from all parts of the world.
Proceeds from the sale of these items would go to children-focussed foundations in St. Kitts.
