– art opens up worthwhile opportunities for local artist

LOCAL artist Alyce Cameron can still remember the day she felt unusually upset and worthless. Nowhere to turn, she picked up a canvas and started painting whatever came to mind. She couldn’t even see the colours that she was mixing with the tears flowing down. But wouldn’t you know, she ended up displaying this piece at an event at the Conference Centre and won the admiration of many.

In fact, it was the piece that got the most attention, the 34-year-old who was born in Bartica told Pepperpot Magazine a few days ago. To her, art means everything, and Alyce wishes that more opportunities would be opened to artists here in Guyana.

To be in this field means that more often than not, your income would not be stable; it would be a gig here and there, and Alyce, like most persons, would prefer to have a more regular income.
So things didn’t start exactly great for her especially as she had to listen to the naysayers tell her that there’s no money in art. “Think about something else to do,” is what she’d constantly hear, but what else would she choose over the thing that she’s most passionate about?

And so, it was a struggle to decide where she really wanted to go in life. And her school life made it no easier. At the time, there were no art teachers at North Ruimveldt Multilateral where she attended, so when it was time to pick a stream, she had to settle for the general one. Even so, though, she’d always be the student in class drawing something, and when it was time to draw diagrams, she’d be the first to finish. Her classmates would even ask for her help to draw their diagrams!

Career Day was the worst for Alyce. There would be every single profession displayed except for one in art. So she was a bit lost as to what to do with her talent; the one that even her teachers recognised in her.

Leaving school, she decided that she’d forget all the negative things she heard and just go with what she knew her strong point was. So she signed up with Burrowes School of Arts to become a professional artist and did the certificate programme for three years. Eventually, she went back for one more year to obtain her diploma.

Having trained herself, there were still hardly any opportunities available to her, so imagine Alyce’s delight when the art school said they wanted to hire her as a teacher. It was just the steady job that she needed to care for herself while at the same time getting a chance to do what she loved every day.

“I continued in the field because I knew this was my talent and what I was born to do,” she expressed, as she related her experience mentioned at the outset as to what art really does for her. “This was my dream job because I love art. I feel free. It’s a way of expression of what I am thinking, feeling; it’s therapeutic.”

Alyce can do portraits, landscapes and pieces in any subjectAlyce, who grew up watching her mom and grandmother do craft in their free time, can do portraits, landscapes, and anything under the sun. And so perhaps this was what sparked her interest at a very tender age. “So growing up, I was always that child in the corner just drawing quietly and minding my own business.”

As someone who is quite reserved and who doesn’t like to talk a lot, Alyce said she is most able to express herself through her art. “I allow my hands to do the talking. It’s an easy way for me to express myself.”

Improvement
Alyce definitely feels that more can be done for those in the country’s creative industry. In fact, she feels that they can be included in just about every sector if only people would recognise their value and what a meaningful contribution that they can make.

“I see that they started to do a lot of competitions which is very good. They can include artists in other careers like making movies, playing a bigger role in helping the police to sketch evidence, criminals, and other things; in literature regarding diagrams and pictures; we can be included in every field of life,” she posited.

Another observation she made was that people cannot comprehend the amount of work that an artist puts into a piece of art.

She would love to have her own art school someday and share the same therapy that works for her.