PRESIDENT David Granger has not only affirmed his commitment to the development of the arts here, but also proven his support for the arts is unwavering.
Speaking briefly at the Castellani House before declaring open the 2017 edition of the Guyana Visual Arts Exhibition on Thursday, President Granger started off by making known his intention of establishing an art gallery in each of the country’s ten administrative regions, as having one alone, and in the city to boot, just wasn’t good enough.

His reason for so doing, he said, is two-fold; the first of which is his cognisance that artists often get their inspiration from being in areas with different features, as evidenced by a piece by veteran artist, Stanley Greaves called ‘Mazaruni Black Ants and Diamond’.
His other reason is to afford children countrywide the opportunity of learning about our country and its culture through the arts, thereby fostering in them an appreciation for the subject.
Said he: “I do hope that more Guyanese children will get a chance to see exhibitions like this… There is no reason why every region should not have a capital town, and every capital town should not have an art gallery.”

The President said he’s so into the arts, he even practises what he calls ‘Art Diplomacy’, whereby he presents artistic mementos to diplomats and other heads of state.
“When I went to Barbados’ 50th Anniversary of Independence,” he said, “I presented a huge painting of the Canje Pheasant and a wooden carving by Winslow Craig…
“I have been selling Guyana’s art abroad… When I went to the Bahamas earlier this year, I presented a painting of the jaguar, our National Animal.
“I don’t make any bones about my patriotism and my support for the arts. If a diplomat comes to see me, he is going to get a little pottery. So I try to practise art diplomacy by putting Guyanese art into the diplomatic field.”

The Guyana Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition is a biennial event, and the next round will be held in 2019.
The 214 entries drawn from six categories (painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, fine craft and photography) in this year’s competition were judged, and are all on display at the National Gallery of Art, Castellani House.
As patron of the competition and exhibition, President Granger presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to seasoned Guyanese artist, Jorge Bowen-Forbes.
The President also presented all first-place prizes for each category.

The winners were: Stanley Greaves for his painting titled, ‘Rupununi Agates’; Compton Babb for his drawing titled, ‘An Orphan’s Dream’; Oswald Hussein for his sculpture titled ‘Silence’; Vandyke David for his ceramic creation titled ‘The Egyptian Pot’; Michael Khan for his fine craft creation titled ‘Rumination III- Green Initiative’ and Nikhil Ramkarran for his photo titled ‘Porknickers Picking’.
The exhibition, which opened on June 29 will run until August 19. According to Chairman of the Guyana Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition, Alim Hosein, entries from this year’s competition came from as far as Port Kaituma and the Corentyne from artists aged 17 to those in their 80s.