First Things First…

What better way to announce that you’re in love than getting dolled up in a fiery red dress for a photo-op with your beau? This was the scene recently as Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry took to Instagram to share pics of her and musician Van Hunt. For the love fest, Berry reached into the Sammy B archives for a stunning mesh, floor-grazer.

Sammy B Designs is helmed by Rock-blooded fashion designer Samantha Black. This is the second time in as many weeks that Berry has been spotted in Sammy B’s archived designs.

Then…

The garden continues to be a recurring motif throughout Jamaican-born visual artist Ebony G Patterson’s work.

For her latest exhibition, titled “…when the cuts erupt…the garden rings…and the warning is a wailing…”, Patterson juxtaposes two new works: An immersive installation at the fore, and a monumental, multilayered paper collage that extends from the museum’s 60-foot-long Project Wall. The project represents her expansion into a new phase with the garden serving as a “postcolonial” symbol of a past that is never fully buried and barely visible.

Ebony G Patterson’s …when the cuts erupt…the garden rings…and the warning is a wailing… is organised for the Contemporary Art Museum St Louis by Wassan Al-Khudhairi, chief curator, and is available for viewing by appointment at The Institute of Contemporary Art San José (March 20, 2021 – September 5, 2021).

The exhibition was recently featured by Datebook, the San Francisco Chronicle’s guide to arts and entertainment in the Bay Area.

Also…

Recent high school graduate and fledgling artist Jessica Munroe says COVID-19 played a part in moving her art forward. The young Jamaican, now based in Grande Prairie, Canada, shared her thoughts with freelance photojournalist Randy Vanderveen for the Daily Herald Tribune. Munroe prefers drawing — though she also paints — and people are her favourite subject. She does have plans to try her hand at some other subjects in the future.

Additionally…

Here on the Rock, we’ve always known that south coast hotspot Pelican Bar is probably one of the coolest bars in the world. And our bragging rights are about to soar, as award-winning quarterly lifestyle magazine Artful Living has declared the popular watering hole one of five of the world’s most extraordinary bars. Presenting the most extraordinary watering holes in the world, editor-in-chief Frank Roffers pitched the rustic spot as a bar accessible only by boat, whose interior “boasts an array of memorabilia from around the world, and the floor looks like a guest book as patrons are encouraged to carve their names into the dock boards”. “Most bar-goers wade into the turquoise waters with a drink in hand, socialising with strangers and making new friends. The Pelican operates a tiny kitchen serving lunch and dinner, including a daily seafood catch, jerk chicken, and coconut garlic lobster,” he noted.

Plus…

Kristina Newman-Scott, president of the Brooklyn arts and media non-profit BRIC, has landed on City & State New York’s The 2021 Telecommunications Power 50 list. Raised in Kingston, Jamaica, Newman-Scott studied visual arts and appeared on several television programmes before moving to Connecticut and working as a curator and arts administrator. BRIC appointed her president in 2018. She is the first immigrant and first woman of colour to serve in this position.

Finally…

No arguments here. Award-winning actress and producer Viola Davis and her stylist Elizabeth Stewart know how to execute bold awards show looks! Following on the heels of her blue show-stopper for the Critics Choice Awards, Davis donned a yellow ruffled Greta Constantine gown to accept the African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) Icon award. The virtual awards show took place on Wednesday, April 7.

CREDITS

Dress by: Greta Constantine

Earrings by: Monies

Heels by: Louboutin World

Styled by: Elizabeth Stewart

MUA: Autumn Moultrie

Hair by: Jamika Wilson

Photo by: Elizabeth Stewart

Etc…

Musical artiste Topaz Jones dons pieces from the Wales Bonner Spring/Summer ’21 collection for L’Officiel US. The predominantly menswear brand is helmed by British-born, Rock-blooded designer Grace Wales Bonner.

CREDITS

Story by: David Aaron Brake

Hair: Nigella Miller

Production: Mella Re

Set Design: Madison Lee Hatch

Stylist assistant: Jasmine Burgos

Artiste: Topaz Jones