By Aiesha Scottland
A piece of wood rests on a plinth on the ground floor of the National Gallery, Castellani House with a second-place blue ribbon next to it. What makes this wood so special is the value added to it. Artist Irene Bacchus-Holder has managed to transform a piece of log into a prize-winning masterpiece. How did she do it? “To be honest, when I turned that bowl I didn’t know what I was going to do with it. I had in mind to do something grand but then as I looked at it I decided to do dancing figures using Guyana’s Petroglyphs. I wanted to do something different that nobody else thought about. I started burning jaguars, forest scenes and so on. I don’t plan what it is that I’m doing on a piece, it just comes,” she said.

 As Irene searched within herself she taught about her heritage, our heritage; the fact that our first people were the Indigenous Peoples and they chronicled their discovery of this beautiful country by etching petroglyphs on rock. Not knowing exactly what these images represent as an artist she made her own interpretation- more than just creating an aesthetically pleasing piece she aimed to represent history; more than just winning a prize she wants to bring awareness. awareness to our cultural diversity and to our rare and endemic wood species which she believes would be more profitable to Guyana once value is added.
Using pyrography; art burnt on wood, leather and sheepskin, Irene embellishes her wooden creations using unique designs. The interest in pyrography was sparked after seeing a neighbour who studied in Russia burning on boxes. Irene bought items and offered them as gifts to friends and family. She sent her brother a gift of something that her neighbour made and to her surprise, he promptly sent back burning equipment and said: do it. “Once you can draw, you can burn,” he said.

What started as a hobby soon grew into a business. After her Neighbour migrated, the man who supplied the boxes for burning encouraged Irene to go into business by supplying her work to Guyana stores. Eventually, he stopped supplying her boxes but the demand was there. Once again her brother intervened and aided her newfound passion by sending some beginners woodworking machines. Quickly her business expanded and she employed two trade schoolboys to work with her. Together they developed products where she created the designs, they would make the items and she added her embellishments.

Her workforce continued to grow from two to five then eight employees. However, the unreliability of the art market caused Irene to lay off her workers. She had to learn to do everything on her own. “You know the internet is a beautiful tool. Of course over the years I’ve developed a better technique, I’ve learnt how to burn deeper, I’ve invested in more expensive and more sophisticated equipment, and of course I have better pieces,” Irene said.  Yes! Irene is self-taught. With no formal training, she has truly demonstrated Guyana’s Ingenuity.

Amazon Authentics
In 2002 Irene registered her business, Amazon Authentics. Amazon Authentics creates decorative and functional items using a wide range of Guyana’s rare and endemic species of wood. Inspired by Guyana’s natural environment, an integral part of Irene’s work is sourcing her material locally. “The wood species that we have are some of the densest in the world,” she said.  She works with Purpleheart, Wamara, Simarupa and Itikiboraballi and other rare species found in Linden. “What keeps me going is seeing the joy and awe on people’s face when they see a piece created from a chunk of wood. The fact that the average Guyanese person does not understand what art is, my products are constantly compared to those made with CNC machines. Hand-done work takes time,” Irene explained. She talks about art with great enthusiasm and at the same time with frustration and disappointment. Yet she perseveres.

In 2008 Irene was nominated as one of the 10 finalists in the inaugural UNCTAD/ EMPRETEC International Women in Business Award in recognition of her creative work. In 2014 she received the second prize in the Guyana Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition (GVACE) Fine Craft category. A prize she has claimed yet again in this year’s competition. Irene also gained recognition by Caribbean Export Development Agency in 2015 when she was selected as one of 10 Creative Businesses in the region and was sponsored to be a part of the Design Caribbean program to display products in Birmingham, UK. In 2018 Irene received the Commissioner’s prize for the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission Art Competition.

For Irene, Art is freedom. She loves the freedom it gives her to express her individual creativity, imagination and to offer her interpretation to the world. “Art is something that comes from within. If you are a true artist or you have a creative mind it comes from within and that’s what I like; my ability to express what comes from within.”