Design

Bajan Rose: Barbadian Artist Sheena Rose

The more I venture back into the art and design world, the more enthusiastic I become with what I'm learning. I was so pleased to read about Barbadian artist Sheena Rose in the New York Times. A Fulbright Scholar, she studied and received her Masters degree in the United States and creates in her studio in Barbados. Her range of media and styles from performance art, painting and line drawings combined with her use of very personal subject matters gives her art so much range and energy. Ms. Rose's series, The Invisibles, is currently my favorite because of the delicacy of brushstroke, color, feeling of movement and deep emotion. As a Barbadian-American creative, I'm very proud to see her body of work honestly reflect the cross sections of her life in Barbados, womanhood, culture and more. I have so much respect for her boldness and her decision to challenge creative expectations like creating "tourist-friendly" art or her choice to keep her studio in Barbados for now. I'm excited about Sheena Rose and I am looking forward to seeing her current and future works in person.

Photo by Rose Marie Cromwell for The New York Times

Photo by Rose Marie Cromwell for The New York Times

Currently Reading... (Following the Sphinx)

New York Magazine's Art & Design issue is out featuring the Kara Walker. The article addresses what I assume is what many creatives who accomplish a hugely successful work might struggle with - What's next? For Ms. Walker, it's her latest projec…

New York Magazine's Art & Design issue is out featuring the Kara Walker. The article addresses what I assume is what many creatives who accomplish a hugely successful work might struggle with - What's next? For Ms. Walker, it's her latest project following the extremely inspired and thought-provoking A Subtlety (or the Marvelous Sugar Baby an Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant). 

SIDE NOTE: The creative geek in me truly appreciates her titles and see them more as short poems whose length often compliments the scale and complexity of her work.

Descriptions of her studio, her love of Andy Warhol & Charles Schultz's work and surprisingly strong criticism from fellow artists about her choice of subject matter makes me more appreciative of her boldness and gave me a different perspective on her work that I've experienced first-hand at the Whitney, Brooklyn Museum & the former Domino Sugar Factory.

I've been feeling creatively re-energized and curious compiling articles, books, exhibits and talks to take in and learn from. Ms. Walker's story has encouraged me to take a step towards my sphinx and beyond.