Blank Canvas

John Cox and Averia Wright from The Current Baha Mar join us to recap the highlights of FUZE Art Fair and preview what's coming at SCOPE Art Show Miami.

Artist and designer Ryan Lewis speaks about his vision of a futuristic Junkanoo in his generative AI collage series in NELEVEN .

FUZE Art Fair artists and gallerists speak about the artist's journey and how art fairs have the power to connect the region.

A conversation with Reagan Kemp, NAGB’s inaugural artist-in-residence, on her residency experience, current projects, and what’s next.

BNYC Director Dexter Fernander joins Maddie in the first of a series of conversations centered around Bahamian independence and cultural impact.

John Cox and Averia Wright join Maddie to talk about the exhibition "Urban Light" by Cardo Knowles, on view at The Current. Ty B also pops in to talk about his recent project "While You Were Out".

NAGB's Associate Curator Letitia Pratt discusses a recent professional development trip to Kingston, Jamaica, to be a part of the PREE Writing Studio 2024.

The education team takes over Blank Canvas to talk about all things summer camp. In addition to camp, we also have exciting opportunities for camp counselors, teachers, and a mural artist.

Christina Wong, Jordon Ritchie & Selena Munroe discuss upcoming exhibitions at Hillside House and CAB Gallery & Studio.

Host Amard Rolle and team member Germaine Knowles talk about current and upcoming NAGB exhibitions, events, and opportunities.

NAGB team members Zearier Munroe Wilkinson, Nowé Harris-Smith, and Richardo Barrett join host Amard Rolle to discuss Thirty: Island Life Perspectives , now on view at The Star Plaza in Georgetown, Exuma. They explore what it means to bring art directly into communities, current trends shaping educational practice at the Gallery, and why creating accessible cultural spaces matters for Bahamian identity. A conversation about reaching beyond Nassau and rethinking who art is for.

Tonight on Blank Canvas , Amard Rolle talks with NAGB’s education team about upcoming initiatives, including the travelling exhibition Thirty: Island Life Perspectives and Easter ARTernoon.

This week on Blank Canvas, Amard Rolle talks with Nyasha Warren and Douglas Barkey about the upcoming MAC Conference, The Power of Museums: Relevancy, Advocacy, Transformation , happening in Nassau 1–5 March.

TERN Gallery’s Jodi Minnis joins guest host Katrina Cartwright to discuss the upcoming exhibition, In this house is a home… , featuring works by artist Heino Schmid. Minnis shares thoughts and insights on Schmid’s practice, particularly the body of work he created for this exhibition, and gives a sneak peak into TERN’s upcoming presentation at EXPO CHICAGO where Schmid will represent the gallery alongside Jamaican artist Leasho Johnson.

Guest host Amard "Maddie" Rolle, NAGB’s Executive Assistant, is joined by Reagan Kemp and Marknesha Bastian, two emerging multimedia artists working with I.C.E. (Incubator for Collaborative Expression). The conversation focuses on the need to push boundaries, create community, and touches on the dynamic programming happening at the space. We also discuss the much anticipated upcoming exhibitions associated with ICE Founder, Antonius Roberts: Antonius Roberts: Art, Ecology and Sacred Space , opening at NAGB on Thursday, 2 February 2023.

Gio Swaby is a Bahamian artist who left The Bahamas several years ago to pursue studies in Canada, where she completed a BA in Fine Arts at Emily Carr University. Now embarking on her MA in Toronto, Gio has already signed to a major New York gallery, Claire Oliver in Harlem, and just completed her first major solo exhibition for which she received critical acclaim, a mention in The New York Times, and a growing interest in her work. Gio joins us to tell us about her past, present, and extremely bright future.

This episode features art critic and writer Seph Rodney, PhD. Born in Jamaica and raised in the Bronx, Seph is a staff writer and editor at Hyperallergic , where he focuses on contemporary art and the cultural conversations that surround it. His work has also appeared in outlets including CNN, American Craft Magazine, and NBC, and he has contributed essays to artist catalogues and museum publications. Seph visited The Bahamas to experience the ninth National Exhibition and get to know the local art community, as well as to deliver a public lecture at NAGB on the role of art criticism. He also co-hosts the podcast The American Age , and his book, The Personalization of the Museum Visit , will be published by Routledge.

This week on Blank Canvas we return to looking at the ninth National Exhibition NE9: The Fruit and the Seed , with two artists, Anina Major and Natascha Vazquez, whose work speak to our ties to the land and how important it is to care and cherish the environment. Major is a transplanted Bahamian currently living and working in the US, and her works alludes to the experience of transplantation—literally and metaphorically—through her wonderful sculptural piece, which incorporates a live "dilly" (sapodilla) seedling. The piece is a collaborative work with her writer sister, A.L. Major, but also her extended family (her mother’s voice is captured in the sound element and her father sourced the plant material), and speaks to the experience of leaving home, returning and nurturing ourselves and our relationships. Vazquez is a Bahamian who has returned home, having studied at SCAD, and her piece also speaks to the land and our care for it and for ourselves. On a walk she came across uprooted mangroves—cleared for a development—that had been cast aside to die and she decided she had to memorialise them in beautiful cyanotypes. The artist explains this process and how thinking about The Fruit and the Seed led her to experiment more in her own practice.

Curator, producer, and cultural connector Sasha Dees joins Blank Canvas to talk about building networks across the Caribbean and beyond. Based in the Netherlands, Sasha has spent decades producing interdisciplinary arts projects around the world, working closely with artists, festivals, and cultural organisations to encourage collaboration and new ways of working. Her long-standing engagement with the Dutch Caribbean led her to expand her research through the wider region. In this episode, she reflects on her year-long journey across the Anglophone, Francophone, and Spanish Caribbean, what she’s been learning in The Bahamas, and how movement, exchange, and listening shape her approach to cultural work.

On tonight's episode, Amanda Coulson welcomes back Blank Canvas's original host, John Cox (Creative Art Director at Baha Mar) and his colleague at The Current, Natascha Vasquez (Creative Arts Programme Manager) to speak about the arts programme being developed at the new resort on Cable Beach. With studio spaces, a very visible commercial art gallery, educational assistance, and commercial and branding opportunities, The Current is bringing another professional art team onstream for the benefit of local artists. The team joins us to share their vision for Baha Mar's The Current, to talk about the bimonthly, open forum artist critiques and to speak about the public Meet and Greet taking place this Friday from 6–8 p.m.