Search
Search:
Sort results by:
Ads
Search results for : refresh
Search
Showing 61 to 70 of 1000 results
Impact of fuel spill unclear
There is "concern" about potential water contamination from the 70,000 gallon fuel spill at a Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) fuel storage facility in Rock Sound, Eleuthera, said Eric Carey, executive director of the Bahamas National Trust (BNT). Carey, who spoke to The Nassau Guardian from Grand Bahama yesterday, said the spill could seep into porous limestone underground and later lead to water contamination. "That is more of the concern because it could potentially contaminate water resources," he said."The risk is it sits there under the ground floating on top of fresh water but the good thing is because it floats on top of fresh water one could recover it. "I don't know how much has been spilled in this, but from what I have been told...a lot of it that got into the sea would evaporate and I just have no idea how much got into the ground."Carey said the spill would not cause any imminent threat to human health because the Water and Sewage Corporation (WSC) did not harness ground water from the area."So we should not have as a human health risk, the contamination of ground water supplies," he said. "It's so close to the sea that our issue would really be on it percolating from the land into the sea where again I believe that we could take care of the risk that is presented."Carey said some of the fuel spread to the nearby coastal area. "I understand it's diesel and some of it was land based and some of it actually got into the water," he said. "Diesel, from what I understand, it's a volatile enough fuel which would [evaporate] in the water, a lot of it would evaporate. So it wouldn't be a long-term concern for the marine environment."However, Casuarina Lockhart-McKinney, executive director at Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF), said whenever oil spills it is cause for worry. "Any oil spill is bad for the environment, whether on land or under the sea," she said. "Given the fact that land is so porous, it goes through land and into the waterbed. It's bad news for marine and terrestial life, but also people."Environment Minister Kenred Dorsett toured the Rock Sound facility along with BEC Chairman Leslie Miller and other government officials yesterday. Dorsett said while investigations are underway it is too early to say what, if any, repercussions the spill will have on the environment and water table. "We'll await the full report before we speculate to the factual basis as to what happened and [how] to address these issues in the medium term and the long term," he said. "I'm pleased with the response that we see here."Baychem, the New Providence-based company hired for the clean-up, will place a berm 10 feet away from the spill site to prevent it from spreading, Dorsett said. He added that rainy weather has helped the on-site technicians in their clean-up efforts and will likely raise some of the oil which seeped into the ground. "The established protocols are being followed," Dorsett assured. As of yesterday, about 90 percent of the oil was contained, according to Miller. Miller said full clean-up would be complete in two weeks. Officials said they noticed the spill on Tuesday morning, however the information was not made public until Thursday night. The incident occurred a day after a container ship leaked an estimated 3,000 gallons of heavy crude oil into the ocean just off Grand Bahama.
Sawyer's Fresh Market - Quality products at great prices
Freeport, Grand Bahama Island - Shop at
Sawyer's Fresh Market on Oak Street and watch your grocery bill get lower!
Locally Owned -
Locally Operated - Earth Friendly -
Always Fresh - Smart Choice - Best Quality - Fabulous Selection
Visit Sawyer's Fresh Market at 28 Oak Street.
Open 7 days a week! Sundays from 8am to 1pm; Monday to Saturday from 8am to 8pm
Juniors duke it out for culinary title
It was a slim margin of victory, but when the points were tallied L.W. Young Junior School student Jack Knowles had captured the 20th Annual Young Chef competition.
Knowles amassed a total of 451 points for his Mahatma Island Seafood Rice and Spicy Caribbean Delight to beat out second place finisher Kenisha Stubbs of St. John's College. Stubbs totaled 447 points for her Cheesy Mutton Rice Lasagna, which was judged the Best Mahatma Rice dish of the competition and her Coconut Almond Crepes with Cream Cheese Filling.
Petra Kemp of South Andros High finished third with 436.5 points for her Tropical Cranberry Rice Tarts and her Vegetable Pasta in Cashew Italian Herb Sauce which was awarded the Best Robin Hood Flour dish.
Georgina Turner of C.H. Reeves Junior High School, was fourth with a total of 397.5 points at the competition which is sponsored by Mahatma Rice and Robin Hood Flour. Chef Charles Missick from the Central Bank; Chef Carolyn Bowe from the Wyndham Resort and Debbie Wheeler, manager of Test Kitchens for Riviana Foods (Mahatma Rice), judged the competition.
Knowles took home $250 for his win. Stubbs walked away with $150, Kemp took home $100. Turner put $50 in her pocket.
MAHATMA ISLAND SEAFOOD RICE / Serves: 4-6
3 strips bacon, chopped
¼ cup olive oil with chili, garlic and hot peppers
¼ cup onion, chopped
¼ cup tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch celery with leaves
2 cups water
¼ cup shrimp bisque
½ teaspoon salt
1 Maggie bouillon cube
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 crawfish, chopped
½ cup shrimp
1 large conch, cut up
3 ounce crab meat
2 cups Mahatma gold rice
¼ cup pumpkin, chopped
¼ cup cabbage, chopped
Grinch conch using food processor, remove and put aside.
In a medium sized pot, add chopped bacon and allow it to cook down. Add olive oil to pot, chopped onion, tomatoes and celery and saute.
Add water and bisque to pot and allow to come to a complete boil.
Add remaining seven ingredients, and allow to come to a simmer, covered for 30 minutes. Add pumpkin and cabbage, simmer, covered for 15 to 20 minutes longer.
SPICY CARIBBEAN DELIGHT
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup cream cheese
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon pumpkin spice
1 teaspoon allspice, ground
1 teaspoon ginger
1 cup jujus, chopped
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ cup crushed pineapple
½ cup grated coconut
2 cups confectioner's sugar
8 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease tins with a small amount of shortening, using a pastry brush.
Add 2 to 3 teaspoons flour to pan. Gently tap side of pan to evenly coat the bottom and side. Tap bottom to remove excess flour.
Peel and remove seeds from juju. Discard seeds. Dice juju shells. Measure 1 cup and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, set aside.
Beat together sugar, butter and cream cheese in a large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add vanilla.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin spice, allspice and ginger.
Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture. Mix until well blended.
Add jujus to the batter with pineapple and coconut. Mix well.
Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly to edge.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Loosen edge of cake with knife. Using oven mitts or pot holder, place wire cooling rack on top of cake in pan. Turn cake and pan over so wire rack is on bottom. Gently shake cakes to release from pan. Remove pan. Cool completely.
Beat cream cheese. Add vanilla in a large bowl with electric mixer at high speed until fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar.
Place on plate, scoop cream cheese sauce on top. Spread spicy juju sauce over, top with chopped juju and mint leaf.
Spicy Juju Sauce
4 cups jujus, chopped
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
Place all the ingredients into a sauce pan, simmer at a low heat for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and allow sauce to cool slightly. Serve immediately over warm cake.
Enjoy Island Java Coffeehouse and Desserterie
Freeport, Grand Bahama, The Bahamas - Enjoy
Island Java at the Port
Lucaya Marketplace!
Island Java specializes in fresh, high quality pastries, coffees,
gourmet sandwiches, catered boxed lunches and pastry platters. It is
always exciting for us to meet new catering guests. Although we are
known for our pastry and sandwiches, our catering menu offers some great
variety.
We pride ourselves on great service and fresh, delicious food
with a generous helping of warm Bahamian hospitality.
Why the Christie administration will not be able to avoid the coming economic armageddon
Dear Editor,
Prime Minister Perry G. Christie and his Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government have a mammoth task ahead of them -- rescuing a dying economy.
I was alarmed after reading about the massive financial deficit the country finds itself in for the 2012/2013 fiscal period.
According to the prime minister and the Minister of State for Finance Michael Halkitis, the budget deficit is projected to be a staggering $500 million. That's over half a billion dollars. The Bahamian government collects approximately $1.5 billion in revenues per annum.
However, that is not enough to meet the financial obligations of an ever-expanding government.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis, the PLP, while the official opposition, thought that this year's budget deficit was in the neighborhood of $300 million. But they had grossly underestimated the deficit by some $250 million.
The $500 million deficit is a clear indication that the former Free National Movement (FNM) government had overspent by the hundreds of millions in its effort to stimulate the sagging economy. According to one of the national dailies, the national debt will reach the $5 billion mark before the end of the upcoming 2012/2013 fiscal year. With a population of about 350,000, this means that each citizen is saddled with a debt of $14,285.
The Ingraham administration was emulating U.S. President Barack H. Obama's economic policy of pumping government money back into the economy in order to stimulate economic growth. Clearly, the financial advisors in the Obama administration are following the theory of the late British economist John Maynard Keynes.
After nearly three-and-half years in the Oval Office, it is now evident to all and sundry that Obama's fiscal policies have failed to get the U.S. out of the prolonged Great Recession.
Now there are fresh reports that the U.S. economy is slowing down again. This bad news couldn't have come at a more inopportune time for Obama, who will be seeking reelection in November against his GOP rival Mitt Romney. The Great Recession has already caused several incumbent governments around the world to fall over the past several years. The FNM government was no exception. It looks like the same fate awaits Obama. Even Red China, Brazil, India and many of the nations in Europe are now struggling financially.
According to a U.S. Internet daily, the jobless rate in that country has climbed to 8.2 percent. And this is not counting the millions of discouraged workers who have simply given up on looking for a job.
Even more alarming is a recent report stating that about half of American households are now receiving some form of government handout in other to make ends meet. The U.S. national debt is fast approaching $16.3 trillion.
It is projected to reach $17.5 trillion next year. Obama has added $5 trillion to the national debt since early 2009.
When the U.S. suffers, we suffer. Our economic health hinges on the state of the U.S. economy. Many American families have simply cut back on their spending.
Of course, this means that more and more Americans are not taking vacations the way they used to when the economy was buoyant.
With over 85 percent of our visitors coming from the U.S., it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why the tourism sector has floundered in recent years. Many of the hotels in Grand Bahama are either closed or have scaled down.
One example is the Grand Lucayan Resort. This resort has three hotel properties, but only one is open for business, Breaker's Cay.
Even our financial services sector is a mere shadow of its past. The two main economic engines of our economy have struggled. Tourism and banking have carried this country for over 50 years. In fact, these two important industries, in their present forms, were created by the legendary Stafford Sands, The Bahamas' first tourism and finance minister in the United Bahamian Party government. He was the architect of the modern banking system and the year-round tourism industry. Since majority rule, no government has introduced any industry that has been able to have the kind of impact that tourism and banking have had on our economy. Not one. Our overdependence on tourism and banking has finally caught up with us. We have failed to diversify the economy. Now the chickens have come home to roost. Before majority rule, ours was mainly an agrarian society. But after 1968, many Bahamians began to view farming and weeding as Haitian work. We don't produce anything. Over 98 percent of our food products are imported from abroad.
I think that we have entered a new era. I believe that our way of life in this country will experience a radical change in the next decade or so. I also believe that our dollar will eventually be devalued, as was the case with Jamaica under the socialist Manley regime during the turbulent 1970s.
I think that the level of poverty in this country will continue to increase, despite the valiant efforts of the prime minister. Sooner or later, Prime Minister Christie will have to start entertaining thoughts of reducing the over bloated civil service.
With a population of 350,000, we have a staggering 25,000-odd persons on the government's payroll. What's more, we have government corporations like the Bahamas Electricity Corporation, the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas, Bahamasair and the Bahamas Water and Sewerage Corporation that are bleeding the Treasury dry. Obviously, with the nation in a financial mess, the government just cannot continue to allow these unprofitable entities to bankrupt this country. Tough measures will have to be taken by the prime minister.
In the last analysis, successive Bahamian administrations have been guilty of running deficits.
With tens of thousands of Bahamians in the civil service, successive governments had no other choice but to overspend.
The recent revelation by the prime minister concerning the financial state of the Treasury should cause every Bahamian to be concerned about the future state of our economy.
No matter what policies the Christie administration implements, the stubborn facts remain that ours is a service based economy that is overly dependent on the U.S. economy.
Outside factors have brought our economy to its knees. While it was politically expedient for the PLP during the past several years to downplay the gravity of the global financial meltdown and its negative impact on our economy, sooner or later the prime minister will have to admit to the nation that our economy has been negatively impacted by outside forces.
Between 2002 and 2007, the first Christie government created some 22,000 jobs, but Christie's first tenure as prime minister had coincided with the presidency of George W. Bush. The period between 2002 and 2007 saw great economic growth in the U.S., especially in the housing sector.
The first Christie regime was simply a beneficiary of the tremendous prosperity in the U.S. Now, however, the prime minister will have to contend with a recession which has baffled even the keenest financial minds on Wall Street, and he will have to deal with a president who believes in the Marxist theory of wealth redistribution.
Christie will soon discover that it is lonely at the top as the leader of this country, despite having a massive cabinet.
The eyes of the nation are on him now, not on any of his 20-plus cabinet ministers. They will be expecting him to do what he had promised on the campaign trail - fix the economy and create thousands of jobs. Frankly, I don't think that he will be able to avoid the coming economic armageddon. In fact, not even the mighty United States of America, China, Brazil, Japan, Europe and the former Ingraham administration have been able to do so.
- Kevin Evans
Award-winning bank rewards Bahamas medal-winning athletes
Nassau, Bahamas - Fresh off their win in the Men's 4x400m Relay in the 2012 Summer Olympics
in London, four Bahamian athletes dubbed the Golden Knights met their
team sponsor, BOB, today and walked away with cash in their pockets
to complement the gold medals around their necks.
It was as much
a meeting to remember for bank executives as it was for the four-man
team who stole a country's heart as they passed the baton and with grit,
determination and a flash of speed, flew past the last remaining frontrunner
to take Gold in the relay...
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
Not many emerging artists at The College of The Bahamas get a chance to spend their summers just focusing on developing their work in a dynamic community of practicing contemporary artists, but this past summer at Popopstudios International Center for the Visual Arts four student artists flourished.
Veronica Dorsett, Yutavia George and Steven Schmid were the 2012 recipients of the Popop Junior Residency Prizes sponsored by Popopstudios ICVA and The D'Aguilar Art Foundation. Meanwhile, Christina Darville was selected for the 2012 Antonius Roberts Award.
Now in its third year, the awards not only recognize the great potential displayed by the four emerging artists in their work, but also gives the students a space at Popopstudios ICVA for the summer months to strengthen their artistic practice.
In addition to developing their practice, the residents are exposed to the larger Popopstudios community of practicing artists, workshops and other projects in the space to fully immerse themselves in Bahamian contemporary art.
Add to that a trip to Schooner Bay, Abaco where they worked on an installation with Antonius Roberts and a 10-day excursion of museums and creative spaces in New York City - which gave the residents fresh perspectives on their artistic practices - and the program becomes a turning point in their artistic careers.
Now coming to a close, the four junior residents take a look back at how they have grown during the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and prepare for an upcoming feature at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas early next year.
Veronica Dorsett
With a very process-oriented approach to her own work, Veronica Dorsett aimed to think through her ideas fully before committing them to paper.
Her work over the summer centered on the repetition of a single object: a casket - the remnants of a traumatic loss earlier in her life. It began as a jarring body-sized representation, but has diminished in scale through the summer as she worked through its significance.
"I wanted to use this experience as a self-healing process and that's why I think I had trouble producing work sometimes," she says. "Because it's not just about me making work; it's about making it through this and a battle of representing it properly. It was a personal battle."
Through the trips to Schooner Bay - where process made up most of the final simple installation piece there - and New York City - where she discovered the value of streamlining process - Dorsett came to terms with her artistic practice.
"When we see artists doing work that show us the simplicity of process, it allows us to step back fifteen steps and ask if all of the steps are necessary," she says. "There was a sense of freedom and possibility in that, and of pushing the envelope and it helped me to stop limiting my mind."
Through this as well as through feedback and encouragement from a community of artists in these spaces and especially at Popopstudios, Dorsett feels ready to push through her last classes this semester at The College of The Bahamas for her associate's degree in art and to plan for study abroad in 2013.
"I've been able to work out my process better and I've grown more as an artist, especially to have more confidence in my ideas and decision-making," she says.
"I was hesitant at first. But now starting this school semester I have a lot for confidence and I'm able to stand by my work and commit to it and be responsible for it. So I've grown a lot personally."
Steven Schmid
Steven Schmid came into the residency thinking and working big - yet over the summer, he's developed an appreciation for scaling back.
Though he has continued to explore in his work the balance between beauty and grotesque through intricate mixed-media pieces, he challenged himself to make smaller pieces for a variety of exhibitions and projects over the summer - especially as the two trips abroad refocused his process.
"A lot of us came into the residency with ideas of what we wanted to accomplish but our time in Schooner Bay and New York made us rethink that," he says.
"Schooner showed us that the idea is just as important as the finished piece - the idea of thinking more before you do work. Schooner Bay was mostly talking and collaborating, and the conversation became 90 percent of the work."
Indeed, the value of slowing down and editing the artistic process became even more apparent for Schmid in New York City, where he was blown away by the quality of finished work in the museums they visited including the Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Guggenheim and Dia Beacon.
"New York showed me how to be confident in my materials and decision-making," he says. "As young artists I think we try everything and work on and abandon different projects instead of really immersing ourselves in one thing completely to problem-solve it."
"So that realization helped me commit to my practice and not let anything go and completely explore it," he continues. "New York also showed us the idea of clarity - that we have to make 100 pieces and present only one to choose what works in your practice and space and context for a clean show."
Only completing two final classes before receiving his associate's degree in art, Schmid is excited to continue to prepare for studies abroad while taking part in various art exhibition opportunities that Popop has exposed him to in Nassau.
"Being here I was working constantly and I think that's going to carry over because we have between all of us three exhibitions to be a part of through to the end of the year," he says. "The opportunity here is great."
Yutavia George
For Yutavia George, working at Popopstudios has given time to focus on what ideas truly speak to her in what media, as she shifts from installation work to mixed-media work.
Her paper stencil silhouettes have allowed George to explore value in a new medium and show her the importance of editing - not just through the input from others, but also through developing her own eye.
"Being here forced me to be more responsible for my work," she says. "There are people you could talk to here at Popop, but it's more about listening to an internal conversation - about asking yourself is this important? Should I edit this?"
"I think each one of us went through that process of trying to define our work. My work has evolved even just in the way I think about it - through concept and composition. "
Meeting and speaking with artists on their trips to Schooner Bay and New York City, says George, also showed her the value of collaboration in the artistic community as they spoke extensively with a New York City artist about their struggle as a community and also created an installation at Schooner Bay with input from
"After the trips, collaboration has also put on a pedestal," she says. "It's more important to share ideas than to keep them to yourself because when you share ideas, you can find more to add on to your idea or even change the way you think about it."
The process of idea-sharing is important to George who will go on to complete her bachelor's in education at The College of The Bahamas and then teach, which she looks forward to doing. But her time at Popopstudios has given her invaluable feedback that she will continue to use to explore her artistic process.
"Popop has been so different from working in school because we have been able to get direct feedback on our work from established artists we admire," she says.
"They would provide us with examples or things to research that allowed us to develop our work creatively instead of opinions from our peers at the college where it would be very concrete or less constructive. It's such a creative environment."
Christina Darville
Darville started her residency as the recipient of the Antonius Roberts Award with the ability to make beautiful intricate designs on paper, but the summer has allowed her to think about how to use the designs on different objects in order to transform them.
From transforming bottles, paper bags and more into pieces of 3D art with her pen work, Darville found a passion for repurposing old and found materials, like the shipping pallet she made into a beautiful shelf.
"I was interested in using found objects and materials and having my mentor as Mr. (Antonius) Roberts inspired me and helped me realize that I could use different materials," she says.
"I'm gravitating more to installation work because of that. I love to do graphic work and I want to tie it into what I do with my designs now."
Like the junior residents, Darville found an appreciation for streamlining her process into less complicated ideas during the two trips to Schooner Bay and New York City.
"I had to narrow the ideas down," she says. "I had to say, ok, this is an important idea but you need to do this and not that. Having the residency made it more of an open-ended process instead of having deadlines you panic about in school."
But more than that, Darville found the courage to pursue her true passion in life - art - rather than in education, which she had committed to in her studies at The College of The Bahamas years before. Now, she looks forward to finishing her associate's degree in art and then pursuing art, especially graphic design, at an institution abroad.
"Being at the Dia Beacon in New York influenced me a lot," she says. "When I was looking at work by Sol LeWitt, I knew at that moment I didn't want to do teaching anymore. That was a problem I had been facing the whole summer, and to see artists using lines like I was, it inspired me to realize I didn't need teaching anymore, because this is what I want to do. I'll make it work."
"If you don't have that ambition, you aren't saying anything in your work," she continues. "You have to have that drive to wake up in the morning and say this is what I want to do; this is the art I want to make. I feel like I've changed so much. Winning this residency puts into perspective what you want to do in life."
The future of art
With summer break fast approaching, students are getting ready to take summer courses, summer jobs, vacations or breaks. Yet four emerging artists at The College of The Bahamas are preparing to embark on what may become pivotal moments in their lives - a summer-long residency at Popopstudios International Center for the Visual Arts.
Veronica Dorsett, Yutavia George, and Steven Schmid are the latest recipients of the Popop Junior Residency Prizes sponsored by Popopstudios ICVA and The D'Aguilar Art Foundation. Meanwhile, Christina Darville has been selected for the 2012 Antonius Roberts Award.
Now in its third year, the awards not only recognize the great potential displayed by the four emerging artists in their work but also gives the students a space at Popopstudios ICVA for the summer months to strengthen their artistic practice.
In years past, having a space at Popopstudios helped Junior Residency winners make leaps and bounds creatively and emotionally, for besides the physical and emotional space outside of academia to really experiment with their work, the winners also have access to the community of artists with their own studios on the Popop grounds for feedback and mentorship.
Not only that, but the winners will have the opportunity to take learning trips abroad - in years past, Junior Residency winners have immersed themselves in creative culture in New York City and completed an art projects at Schooner Bay, Abaco. The trips proved to be defining moments for Junior Residents, giving them inspiration and fresh perspectives to take back to their artistic practices at home.
Though the residency officially runs from June to August, now that the Spring Semester is over at The College of The Bahamas the Junior Residents are getting ahead start by setting up in their spaces early. They're excited to see what the future holds for them. Based on the work these four emerging artists have produced just over the past year, the summer - and the future of Bahamian art - looks very promising
Veronica Dorsett
An art major at The College of The Bahamas, Veronica Dorsett explores mixed media in her work and engages in lengthy and involved processes to get to her final piece, usually utilizing scale and interactive qualities to confront her viewers.
"Over this past semester I've had to learn how to let go - I cannot control my work. It will be what it want to be," she said. "I'm very into installation work and forcing the viewer to feel because most of my work involves pulling the viewer physically into the work through interaction."
"I hope at Popop I can explore more of these large 3D works and also explore painting in a different context," she continued. "I resist painting a little bit, so I'd like to come up with a concept or process that works for me so I can work through it."
Having already been inspired by taking the learning trip to New York City with the 2011 Junior Residency Prize winners, Dorsett looks forward to the ways it will again inspire and challenge her work - especially without the constraints of academia.
"In school we get caught up in grades instead of being allowed to fail," she said. "Being removed from the barrier of school and forced assignments and time constraints and being put into our own actual space - because we don't have our own space just for our art - and giving us time for trial and error I think is extremely important."
With one semester left of her studies at COB, Dorsett hopes to continue her studies abroad in 2013 by pursuing Sculpture.
Steven Schmid
For Steven Schmid, wrapping up his art studies at The College of The Bahamas with a summer residency will be the perfect opportunity to push his work to the next level.
Already putting a little bit of everything into each of his pieces - dualities of 2D and 3D, painting and drawing, reality and fantasy, the beautiful and the grotesque - Schmid looks forward to advancing his work further this summer.
"Lately I've been getting into installation work because I like the feeling of the viewer coming out to confront pieces," he said. "I prefer painting and drawing mixed media, and I'm going to push that much further during the residency."
"I'm also into videography and I'd like to think about ways to utilize the two together," he continued. "I wanted to do that this semester in school, but time got away from me, so this residency will give me a chance to do that."
He also looks forward to the experience the residency will give him in the Popop environment, such as prepping and maintaining the gallery space and assisting local and international residential artists, and most of all, the learning trips.
"The trip for me is pivotal because it's a different experience to see something up close and to see it in pictures," he said. "You get to see all of the little things and it adds another level to the experience, so going away and seeing in person some of these pieces I admire, I can't wait."
Having only some summer classes to complete his arts studies, Schmid looks forward to studying abroad in the Fall - already he's been accepted into art programs at the University of Creative Arts, London, and the University of Dundee, Scotland.
Yutavia George
While studying Art Education at The College of The Bahamas, Yutavia George has also been garnering praise for her own artistic practice. For her, concept is everything - having experience in a wide range of media gives her the chance to fully explore what lies at the core of her intention.
"I'm experimenting with different media and bringing out the concept," she said. "That's my favorite thing about everything I do - the concept. If the media justifies the concept more, I'll use it."
"I hope in Popop I can use everything at my disposal to make my work," she continued. "I'm ready to start and I'm confident in everyone who was chosen. This group is so strong - you have people who are ready to work with anything. Everyone has their strength and we feed off each other. I'm ready for that experience."
Indeed she's excited to be sharing the experience with her fellow peers, all of whom share similar fondness for mixed media and utilizing material in innovative ways. For George, starting as early as now means she'll get a head start on developing an important narrative in her work, one which she knows will expand with the learning trips.
"Starting early is good practice, and it's good to get a feel for what I'd like to accomplish," she said. "I feel that before going on the trip I'd like to complete some work because I know once I go on the trip I will get a ton of new ideas and new perception after being very exposed and inspired."
Though she has about a year and half left in her studies at COB, she looks forward to teaching while maintaining her artistic practice and then perhaps delving into a fine arts program abroad.
Christina Darville
Though Christina Darville is an Art Education major at the College of The Bahamas, her own artistic practice has earned her the 2012 Antonius Roberts Award. Her work is a deeply emotional experience translated through graphic design elements and innovative presentation.
"I found that passion when I took Commercial Arts," she said. "That's when I feel I started to develop where I wanted to go with my work and inspired me to put graphic design elements into my work with my drawing style I've recently developed."
"With the residency I just want to exhaust what I can do, no matter what it is," she continues. "I just want to do everything I can do."
Like her fellow Residency Prize Winners, she feels honored for the recognition and belief in her work and looks forward to opening herself up to the great learning experience that lies ahead of her at the Popopstudios ICVA community.
"I think learning is the key word - when you go to New York or Schooner Bay, you're going to learn, you're going to see things, going to experience things," she said.
"When you go to Popop, you're going to learn too. I feel like I'm going to learn from Steven and Veronica and Yutavia in a whole new way, and the people we meet there and in the places we go will influence our work and the things we do."
After her final year and a half of studies at The College of The Bahamas, Darville is excited to develop her love for teaching while also exploring a long-distance degree to develop her newfound love for graphic design.
Documentary to inspire Bahamian start-ups
A success story from the Self-Starter Program is launching a documentary profiling the rise of his small business, and is hopeful that other Bahamian entrepreneurs can follow the blueprint.
The documentary is called "The Bahamian Dream", and takes a look at Bahamas Striping - a company that primarily focuses on the striping of roads, parking lots and other areas that require markers. Jerome Sawyer is the producer of the documentary and conducts a round of interviews with Bahamas Striping employees and clients that have contracted the small business.
President of Bahamas Striping Atario Mitchell is the focus of the documentary, and he shared his struggles after receiving a $5,000 grant from the Self-Starter program. He had to build a reputation from the ground up while competing against offshore firms.
Mitchell also explained the difficulties he faced in landing any work on the New Providence Road Improvement Project, but managed to secure a contract. His company has also been involved with the $409.5 million Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) redevelopment project.
Other contracts landed by the humble start-up include work for Solomon's Fresh Market at the Old Fort Bay Town Centre and 1.5 miles of roadway in Eleuthera.
The company has eight full-time employees and four that work part time.
Mitchell said that government should find ways to "nurture" small Bahamian businesses and provide some sort of an initial plan that involves networking until they are able to operate on their own. Failure to do so, according to Mitchell, will prevent any growth that small business want to achieve and local job opportunities will be lost due to foreign firms landing all the contracts.
Bahamas Striping was founded in 2010, and to date it has invested $200,000 in equipment. The company recently purchased a thermoplastic trailer in February valued at $80,000, which will allow it to take on larger projects at a more productive pace. The most recent contract the self-starter business was trying to land was the Lyford Cay Road project, estimated to be worth around $65,000.
Mitchell is also lobbying the government about the need to implement a maintenance program, where roads are held up to international standards. In addition to striping, pothole services are also offered by the firm.
The 30-minute documentary is set to air on all of the local channels, including Cable 12.
Kristie Farah crowned Miss Grand Bahama 2012!
Freeport,
Bahamas - The Miss Grand Bahama Beauty Pageant came to a close on May
20th, 2012 after a busy weekend of activities. Saturday, May 19th the
contestants were involved in a car parade from the YMCA leading to the
Port Lucaya Marina for the National Costume Completion. After little
rest, the contestants had to be fresh and ready for the big finale night
on Sunday, May 20th.
The pre-show at the Hilton Outten
Convention Center started with a slide show of Miss Grand Bahama 2011
Keriann Stuart's busy year and the 2012 Miss Grand Bahama contestant's
activities leading up to the main event...
Ads
| 
| 