By: Staff Writer
December 7, 2021
The TERN art gallery will showcase renowned artist John Beadle this coming Friday as it opens its arms to more Caribbean artists as a goal.
Lauren Holowesko-Perez, founding director of the TERN Gallery, New Providence, Bahamas, told Caribbean Magazine Plus that the gallery is not just for Bahamian artists but is built for collaboration with artists around the region.
She also said: “We’re actually currently working with two artists, Leasho Johnson who’s Jamaican, and Rodell Warner from Trinidad.
“We’ve just kind of met through different Caribbean connections, Caribbean art events and things like that. But that’s something that we definitely want to grow and cultivate. We have a core of 10 Bahamian artists that we’re representing exclusively, but we want to grow that.
“The conversations that we have, and it’s not just so Bahamian centric, is really important about what’s happening in the wider Caribbean, and we all have our similarities. We all have our differences, but it’s more to celebrate the similarities and the common ground there. So we hope to grow that kind of side of the business.”
All of this collaboration is in the run up to the TERN’s showing of the world renown John Beadle this coming Friday, where Beadle has signature pieces up for showcase. The dream of the TERN won’t stop at just the Bahamian gallery and shows, but Ms Holowesko-PErez has plans for a wider expansion. She explained: “The dream would be to have a second TERN Gallery in the US where we could compete on that level, whether it’s Miami or New York.
“The dream would be to expand the brand and be a base because I think a lot of our artists unfortunately feel like they had to move to the US to make it, so that is the reason why I wanted to start here and create a commercial support structure for arts here.”
She added: “But the goal is to be able to work with the multitude of artists within the region and obviously just from shipping and coordination, it’s just going to be much easier from the States than it is here. So I would love to be able to do that.”
TERN is a contemporary art gallery and art consultancy business with a focus on emerging and mid-career artists from The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean.
TERN celebrates and supports regional contributions to the visual arts while contributing to the international contemporary art market. The core mandates are to operate and maintain a public gallery to exhibit artworks from a global network of artists, to collaborate with the best minds and tastemakers in the industry, and to encourage the development of the local art market. As our name suggests, TERN encompasses a sense of local belonging with global access.
Ms Holowesko-Perez also said: “We opened up last December and John is one of our master artists, so I’m really honoured to be working with him. His reputation precedes him, so I am obviously excited to work with him.”
