CELEBRATIONS to mark Amerindian Heritage Month 2011 are progressing nicely with the exhibition that was organised to showcase food and craft made by the indigenous people. The exposition, at Sophia Complex, Greater Georgetown, will conclude tomorrow evening. The Chronicle yesterday spoke with some of the exhibitors who were well-pleased to be given an opportunity to display and market their items.

Meet Roland Taylor from St. Cuthbert’s Mission, located off the Soesdyke/Linden Highway. He displayed excellent craft work made by himself, a trade he has been practicing for a good 22 years now. Taylor never went to an art school but credits his abilities to what he received from his fore parents. “It’s just in my blood,” he tells the Chronicle yesterday. Taylor depends on exhibitions like these to make money, as well as from tourists who visit his village from time to time.

Kenneth Nelson, a member of the Guyana Arts and Craft Producers Association, has worked with a group of artists to come up with these lovely and unique looking items. He has been in this field of work for the past 20 years, producing leather, slippers, male and female accessories, etc. He had represented Guyana at the Inter Guyana Craft Show in Suriname. Nelson is seen here holding up a well-designed necklace that is made of local lucky seeds, also known as horse eyes and sandbox.

Donrad Correia of Kabakaburi Village in Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) is the teacher of a group in the village called Bamboo Weavers. This is the first Amerindian Village to be producing bamboo weaving and furniture. Much of it is accomplished with aid from the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce. In this photo, Correia poses with some of the handmade items from Kabakaburi.