Sharon Wilson exhibition: 'Neighbourhoods'

The Encyclopaedic World Dictionary defines 'neighbourhood' as "a district of locality, often with reference to its character or inhabitants". Well-known Bermudian professional artist Sharon Wilson takes it further.

"The life's blood of a country resides in its people," she says. "Neighbourhoods are where people live and breathe. It is where hopes of having a home of one's own begin; where we struggle to get along with our neighbour who plays his music too loud; where we struggle to keep our yards free of our neighbour's dog, who always seems to prefer to dump in our yard and not his own.

"Neighourhoods are the places we either feel safe in, or wish we had the money to move away from. They are the place where we hear someone being beaten late at night, or a cry from the newest resident. The place where old ways meet new ways, where the native meets or never meets the guest worker – and on and on."

In fact, Miss Wilson finds the theme so compelling that she could paint about it for the rest of her life and never grow weary.

Meanwhile, the private art teacher has challenged her adult students to consider what gives a painting a feeling of authenticity, and to think before they paint. Citing neighbourhood congestion as one example, she admits it is not an easy subject to capture.

"Often the task feels overwhelming," she says. "My students and I are consciously struggling now to ask questions before we paint, while we paint, and at the end of the painting. We are critiquing how close we have come to our original intent, and are attempting to find the essence of neighbourhoods past and present.

"How one feels about one's neighbourhood is food enough for an exhibition on its own."

So can viewers expect to see comments on the social fabric of Bermudian society in this exhibition?

Miss Wilson, whose memories of neighbourhoods include those which were segregated, and others where neighbours worked together to help each other, assures that they can, both subtly and overtly.

"There are the difficult dialogues involving race and gender, aging and lawlessness. There is much to be said on many fronts. I don't believe the answers are easy, but I believe that I have a responsibility as an artist to weigh in on any and all issues which affect the quality of life at home and globally.

"You will see the evidence in the inclusion of both races within my paintings.

"It's not 'and everyone will live happily ever after', but it is an attempt to come to terms with societal issues in ways which are as honest as I can be, but I do this through sticking to what I consider universal images."

The latter she defines as reflecting the world in which she lives.

"I paint my personal story, which is also, in part, the universal story. I paint of my life as a woman, as a Bermudian, as a black woman, as a black Bermudian woman I produce fine art which speaks to things that all people do, but my models and my images are mostly of black people."

But don't call her work 'black art' a term she truly resents.

"There is no such thing," she says. "There is only 'art', which is produced by people around the globe. I seek to celebrate the humanity of black Bermudians by painting positive images of them." Even so, viewers will now see the inclusion of white people in her paintings and this, Miss Wilson says, is because she lives and interacts with them as well, "sometimes with ease, sometimes with resentment or pain", and she does not wish to perpetuate myths. Instead, she is looking at issues which confront us in our everyday lives. Participating in the 'Neighbourhoods' exhibition with Miss Wilson are some of her adult students: Fransisca Ward, Frank Dublin, Frances Furbert, April Branco, Andrea Peets, Pauline Monteith, Monica (Smith) Jones, Sharon Nannini, with whom she has shown before, and newcomers Linda Fowle and Karen McPhee. For prospective buyers, the good news is that the artists have all produced smaller, more affordable paintings which they hope will prove more appealing in today's economic climate.

The professional artist and art teacher concludes: "I really hope everybody will find the exhibition interesting, and that many people who have never visited an art gallery before will be so curious that they will come out and take a look. I would love to receive feedback via my website (www.sharonwilsonart.com) from any and everyone who can find (time) to visit the Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard."

The opening reception for 'Neighbourhoods' is on Sunday at 5.30 p.m. The exhibition continues through October 30. The gallery is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.