In 1978, after leaving St Mary’s College in the rural community of Above Rocks, Mortimer McPherson had his sights set on art school, but his mother would have none of it.

It’s not that Edith McPherson did not want the best for her son, but Miss Clare, as she was better known to her community, had a teaching career planned for her 16-year-old son; just like his brothers before.

“My mother was not averse to [me] doing art,” McPherson said clearing the air. She was averse to me going to an institution to study art, and part of the reason why she was opposed to that is that, in those days, a lot of artists were seen as men with tear-up jeans and sandals and ‘Rasta’ head, and she would have none of that,” he explained.

Determined to attend art school, in 1984 McPherson got his sister-in-law to pay the tuition for his first term at the Cultural Training Centre (now Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts).

Juggling art school and teachers’ college at the same time was the start of a rewarding journey that has evolved into a 30-odd year career creating interventions and opportunities for displaced youth and art educators.

A sought-after art educator, fine craft woodworker, trophy designer, and painter, McPherson has done projects for the Inter-American Development Bank, Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, National Council on Technical & Vocational Education and Training, among others.

Recalling the “tremendous impact” of Hope Wheeler and others at the Cultural Training Centre, he declared: “No matter how yuh mind small or you think you not capable, when you step into a space with Hope Wheeler, that woman transformed your thinking.”

The painting major credits Allison West Martin for his clinical approach and takes lessons from even the moments of frustration, like the day he walked out of class, tears welling up his eyes.

“‘Mortimer, are you going to control it, or are you going to let it control you?'” Samere Tansley, who had witnessed what had happened that day, asked.

“Now I can stay from here and fling the oil paint on the canvas with my eyes closed. Wherever I put it, it’s going to stay there,” McPherson, who mounted his first solo exhibition in 1997, said followed by a laugh.

McPherson loves the “resilience” of oil, even as he admits it can be difficult to work with compared to other media.

Committed to carrying out friend and mentor, renown Jamaican artist Barrington Watson’s last wishes to “take on some artists” to combat a “waning” art, Mortimer continues to tutor from his home studio.

Now putting the final touches to his latest collection for his Full Moon exhibition at Studio Mortimer at 5 Linstar Close, Havendale, on November 27, McPherson would only say the show will be a “revealing one”. The week-long exhibition, which is open to art students and their teachers, will include art conversations, poetry readings, and music on opening night.