Global Black Voices: News from around the World
- Dominic Telfer left art for a 40-year telecommunications career, then returned to Trinidad to paint disappearing everyday scenes.
- Dominic Telfer paints en plein air using gouache, valuing its immediacy and opacity favored by illustrators.
- Justyna Burkowska, a Polish national, embraced bright Caribbean colours, moving from earthy tones with no turning back.
- Justyna Burkowska is a TOEFL teacher and self-taught studio painter who works in oil, inspired by Caribbean fauna and flora.
- The joint exhibition opens February 5, runs through February 23 at Studio Joli, 21 Henry Pierre Street, St James.
Newsday Reporter
This February, Studio Joli will host the second joint exhibition for Justyna Burkowska and Dominic Telfer. Cool, lush gouache paintings will be juxtaposed with warm, vibrant oils, all focused on the sights and scenes of the season.
Back in the 1970s in Oxford, Telfer had abandoned the idea of art as a vocation. This led to a 40-year career in telecommunications. But his artistic leanings were always simmering under the surface. In Telfer’s own words, “After 40 years, minding machines and databases, it has been a joy to return to Trinidad and paint the local everyday scenes… which are fast disappearing.” This joy is reflected in the paintings themselves and helps form a strong connection with the viewer,said a media release.
Since then, Telfer has become a familiar sight to those who frequent the Queen’s Park Savannah and environs. Many a day, (or night), he can be found painting, striving to capture the moment with his paintbrush. Telfer’s medium of choice is gouache, a water-based paint which is more opaque than watercolour, and thus favoured by illustrators. As a plein air artist, he enjoys its immediacy and versatility.
In moving to the Caribbean, Polish national Burkowska discovered the beauty of bright, vibrant colour, which she now often uses in her paintings. She used to paint in earthy tones, but now, she says, there is no going back.
Although she is a TOEFL English teacher by profession, art has always been important to her. She is a self-taught, mainly studio painter, whose medium is oil on canvas, the release said.
Burkowska’s inspirations are the fauna and flora of the Caribbean. In her own words, “The most positive aspect of painting for me is the opportunity for endless creativity.”
The joint exhibition opens on February 5 from 5 pm-8 pm and runs until February 23 from 10 am-6 pm Monday to Friday and 10 am- pm on Saturdays at the studio, 21 Henry Pierre Street, St James.
For further info call 705-7907 or 705-7909, or e-mail studiojoli.tt@gmail.com or visit Facebook and Instagram, or www.studiojoli.net
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