In preparation for the eighth staging of the Liguanea Art Festival, organisers Tony and June Wong knew they had to up the ante. “In order to keep the festival relevant, exciting and an essential event for Jamaican art lovers, it was essential to add new faces and new talents to the roster,” says June Wong.

That roster, this year, includes annual favourites like Jeffrey Perry, who entertains visitors to the event with on-the-spot portraits; ceramists such as the Sinclairs and Phillip Supersad; photographers such as Franz Marzouca and Howard Moo-Young; and painters like Owen Beckford and Alphonso Blake. It also, however, includes a host of new talent who will be participating in the festival for the first time and are set to bring a renewed energy to the festival.

Samere Tansley may have been born and raised in the United Kingdom, but her more than 40 years living in Jamaica ensures that a true Jamaican sensibility is revealed through her work. An aesthetic richness speaks directly to her time in Jamaica, as she draws particularly from the vibrancy of Jamaica’s people and environment. Images of strong black women feature frequently in her work, with iconic images such as Lady in White and Nadine playing an important role in her repertoire. Tansley not only attributes her move to Jamaica as a great inspiration, but also the European masters, in particular the Dutch still-life painters of the 17th century. As a tribute to them, her still-life pieces come to life through the manipulation of light and shadows and attention to detail.

Jamaican artist Garfield Morgan is set to be an important new addition to Jamaica’s visual culture. Having recently returned to Jamaica after receiving his Master’s in fine art at Stephen F Austin State University in Texas, Morgan took up a position at Sanaa Studios where he leads expressive drawing workshops. He also represented Jamaica at the Beijing Biennial in China with his piece called Consumer Bird. “My work is about transformation,” Morgan says. “It is partly about how I investigate traditional and non-traditional materials associated with drawing and painting. The often mundane and alternative objects I use are an invitation to the viewer to journey into a world of ideas that get us thinking and discovering.”

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Amy Laskin moved to Jamaica in 1986 and decided to make it her home. Surrounded and inspired by the island’s stunning beauty, she creates pieces that speak to her passion for floral and natural scapes, emitting an intricate and delicate vivacity that seems to leap off the canvas. She has called her style “imaginary realism”, a technique so detailed that while the pieces are products of her creative imagination, the images at once seem to embody the delicate beauty of Jamaica’s hills, lush vegetation and colourful flowers. According to Laskin, these natural attractions gave rise to inspiration that she had searched for in her years in the United States.

These painters represent a very small selection of the approximately 60 artists who will exhibit at the festival on Sunday April 17. The perfect family day out, there will also be origami demonstrations, live music, and a wide selection of food available at the Liguanea Art Festival.

— Leisha Chen Young