Friday, September 15, 2006

Bonaire’s Artists To Be Honored At Kas di Arte in November

Kas di Arte, a non-profit organization to support the presentation of Bonaire’s arts to the public, will be presenting the juried exhibition “Hommage aan de Bonairiaanse kunstenaar” (Homage to the Bonairean Artist) in November.

The official evening opening will be November 8th and the exhibition will continue through the end of the month. It is hoped that Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands will preside over the opening herself.

A total of 67 works representing 48 artists have been selected for this exhibition. All local artists were invited to submit up to 3 works each for the jurying process and in August 2006, 56 artists submitted a total of 141 works for the jury’s consideration. The actual pieces of art were dropped off at the Kas di Arte building north of Kralendijk so that the jury could get the full impact of all the works to make their eventual choices. An evening open house for the public was also held so that the general public could view all submitted artworks and vote by ballot for their favorite works.

The official jury for this Kas di Arte exhibition was the board of directors of Kas di Arte, including Jackie Bernabela, Elvio Cecila, and Wilna Groenenboom, plus two guest jury members: Frans Booi and Merieke Roozenburg-Postema.

Some artwork shown at the November exhibit will also be available for purchase and a portion of the purchase price will be donated to the Kas di Arte Foundation.

In related news, the Kas di Arte Foundation announced it had received a donation of Naf. 2400,- as a result of a fundraising event at the end of August aboard the Freewinds cruise ship, where artist Carl W. Röhrig exhibited his works, and three local bands - Kaña Brabu, Foyan Boys, and Glen I su Gang - performed. The money will be used to repaint and restore the Kas di Arte building in advance of the November exhibit.

Kas di Arte, the Artistic and Cultural Foundation of Bonaire, is located north of downtown Kralendijk on the water at Kaya J.N.E. Craane 34. (Sources: Kas di Arte Release, BonaireArt.org, The Richter Scale Blog)