Nice Up the Walls, Jamaica, its the passion and brainchild
of Louis Masai Michel. This is only first stage of the project, which is to
eventually build an art school for the yuts in Jamaica. Looking back, this
project seemed to be rushed from the beginning. I'm not sure we even
believed our self that we can pull it off so soon as we did, it looked more
like years ahead. I guess when we stumbled on the Crowdfunder site it sparked
a little hope. Even though we didn't reach the funding goal, it helped us
launch it and give us a way to showcase our ideas more professionally. The
feedback from everyone convinced us to continue in this direction. Somehow,
with the tightest budget you can imagine, with rent to catch up on still, we
got enough for flights, accommodations, food, transport and...more paint?!
We had our first minor defeat at Gatwick airport before
boarding, we got taken down underneath the plane to check the content of our
bags. As you can guess it was the most important part of the whole project, and
they confiscated our cans. You live and learn, so sort
out any paperwork and get it documented, don't fall for someone called a
"manager", double confirming over phone that it is acceptable to
bring a bunch of flammable cans on board. I felt Masai was royally pissed off
where we stood, but i couldn't help but laugh. I wasn't about to stay behind
watching that flight go, wasting all our efforts, so we figured out quickly we
should still get on the flight. We just had to use what ever medium and tools
we find out there, only fair I think to use what resources Jamaicans already
use. |
| NUW paint spots |
Enough said, before we left we managed to get in touch with
Jack Scorpio's daughter Tashima, which showed great interest and similar
visions as to what this project could do. She passed us on to Jack, which
helped with accommodation when we stayed
in Kingston. He also took us to Rebel Salute Festival, with an amazing line up
with artist such as, Tony Rebel, Queen Ifrica, Luciano, Capleton, Taurrus
Riley, Stephen Marley and Romain Virgo. Also Damian Marley showed up at the
end, along with three other shows we ended up seeing during our stay. It was a
full on Rasta
festival in St.Elizabeth going on until the sunrise, beautiful people, colors,
vibrations, and a non-alchol event which gave a whole different and more
positive vibe.
A
likkle something about this humble and respected man;
Black Scorpio is appraised worldwide as one of Jamaica's number one veteran music
producers(since 1970s), having been the founder of numerous hit singers
and djs in the Jamaican music business and have accomplished numerous
awards for his efforts in the music business throughout the years. Over
the years, he has found and has worked in close association with many
artists who today are now deemed as top performers in the industry,
including Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Kiprich,Richie Stephens, Capleton,
Mega Banton, Lady G, Shabba Ranks, Frankie Paul, Shaggy,Gentleman, Sean
Paul, Barrington Levy, Yellow Man, Dennis Brown to name just a few. Black
Scorpio is a legacy!
PORT ANTONIO,
Winnifred Beach Piece
Starting with the smaller work was a good decision, as it made us get adjusted to work in the heat and with different materials. Compared to spray pieces it didn’t make much difference on how long it took, only that everyone came over wanting to talk to made me take longer time. Especially the kids wouldn’t leave me alone, and they were quite eager to help painting too. I needed an extra day because of my lack of concentration to finish the beads and shoulders, so it took a total of 6-8hrs.
Thanks Winni people for letting us Nice Up the beach Walls, hope it gives some good vibrations to keep your beach FREE for everyone. ONE LOVE JAMAICA
Check out Masai on the opposite wall
More on NUW Jamaica soon come!
Next is Gayle Workshop and Louis' herd of gazelle Paste Ups..
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