Caribbean Creatives Art Show & Mixer call to artists

Spanish Town native Erice Reid and Kalphonse Morris, owner of Urban Art Gallery, will organise the third annual Caribbean Creatives Art Show & Mixer on June 2, 2018, in Philadelphia.

The show is a community event that will feature the works of emerging Caribbean visual artists from the Philadelphia region.

This year, the Caribbean Creatives team has partnered with the City of Philadelphia's Office of Art, Culture and Creative Economy to include an artists' talk and live (Caribbean) music.

The works of the participating visual artists will be on display at the gallery throughout the month of June.

Reid, a visual artist and educator, specialises in African-inspired, black-and-white silhouettes with textured lines and rhinestones accents.

She says that she was inspired to launch the exhibit after discovering that there are many artists in the Philadelphia region who are from the Caribbean.

"I realised from exhibiting and attending local shows that many of my colleagues were from the Caribbean or of Caribbean descent," she said. "I was amazed and proud but not surprised to see the talent coming from the Caribbean.

Philadelphia is a city rich in culture, and I thought it important to highlight the work and contributions of Caribbean artists to the local (art) scene. This event allows us to shine a light on these talented artists while sharing the Caribbean (art) culture with the local community."

Kalphonse Morris, owner of the gallery and whose parents are Jamaicans, said: "It is important to bring awareness to the Caribbean artist and to the Caribbean culture. Philadelphia has a large Caribbean (immigrant) community, so this is our way, of recognising the contributions of local Caribbean artists while giving guests a visual, culinary and musical experience."

Last year's event featured live painting by Jay Coreano from Puerto Rico and the works of Amber Nicole Williams, Ariel William from Barbados, Eric Rivera from Puerto Rico, Kayode Malomo from Nigeria, and Sade Campbell from Jamaica.

Interested artists can submit images of their work and a biography to caribbeancreatives@gmail.com. The deadline for submission is March 23.