One artist is inviting people to reconnect with the natural world and take a closer look at the surroundings they often take for granted.
With more than four decades of experience in the visual arts, Beverly Fitzwilliam-Harries has built a career around translating her ideas and inspirations onto canvas. She spent 20 years teaching and mentoring young artists at Bishop Anstey High School and now shares her knowledge through private classes for adults.
She said art is a lifelong journey of exploration and encouraged aspiring artists to embrace the process, even when it means making mistakes along the way.
“I tell them, please, if you have the urge and you want to paint and you want to explore and you want to discover, what’s holding you back? The only thing that you can do is fail, and you could try again. And when you succeed, it’s because you failed.”
Her solo exhibition Outside Inside at the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago features 40 acrylic-on-canvas paintings inspired by the landscapes, flora and everyday scenes of Trinidad and Tobago. The collection captures a range of subjects, from wildflowers, shrubs and mangroves to coastal landscapes and familiar sights of everyday life. Among the works are a steelband in performance, roadside vendors in Kernahan Village and iconic buildings. The exhibition also features pieces created with her students.
For Ms Fitzwilliam-Harries, these surroundings offer more than subjects to paint.
She hopes the exhibition will encourage people to step outside, look more closely at their environment and develop a greater appreciation for the natural world.
“It’s the thing about life today—we live inside, we close our windows, we turn on our air conditions, we observe outside from inside a little bit, just to see what the weather is like. But you need to get outside and look.”
The Outside Inside exhibition opened on Monday, October 26th, and continues until Saturday, October 31st, at the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago Gallery in Federation Park.