The Christmas season is upon us and JCE has some interesting specialty tours for you, your friends and family visiting for the holidays. And guess what? We also have some great discounted prices too!

So take a day trip with us, you’re certain to end up somewhere interesting.

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To make a booking for any of the events listed, please call us at 876 540 8570 or email us at info@jaculture.com.


Saturday, December 1 – Day Trip to Richmond Estate for the Jamaica Epicurean Escape

This food festival will feature:

  • Traditional and exotic, local and international food, guaranteed to tantalise your taste buds
  • Signature dishes from celebrated local and international chefs
  • Sidewalk cafés  and lounges
  • Food Art displays
  • Culinary displays


We will purchase your tickets and take you there and back, comfortably and safely.

Saturday, December 15 – Kingston Art Trek, the Holiday Edition

We’ll together

  • See new exhibitions
  • Meet with new artists
  • Eat great food
  • Make new friends
  • Have a fantastic day

Thursday, December 20 – Story of Jamaican Music

Tour will feature

  • Music Studio visits
  • The opportunity to “cut a tune”
  • Journey to the root of Reggae music in Trench Town
  • Great food
  • Reasoning on our current musical output – good or bad?


To read the entire list of events, click on Read More below.

 
 
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Church in Session #1 by Leasho Johnson (mixed media on canvas)
Have you voted?

The Super Plus Artist of the Year Competition showcases the work of artists who are under 40 years old. The prize? A solo exhibition at the Mutual Gallery which is the organising gallery. The fun part about this competition, in addition to being able to take stock of young Jamaican creativity, is that the public gets to vote. In addition to a jury prize there is also a public prize decided upon by the votes of visitors to the exhibition. 

This year's young artists, who were selected from a larger group, are Marvin Bartley, Leasho Johnson, Berette McCaulay, Olivia McGilchrist. For more on their work visit the Mutual Gallery's Facebook Profile

There is not much time left to choose as voting ends on Saturday, November 17 at 3 pm. The winners will be announced on Monday, November 19 and there will be a chance to discuss with the artists their works.  (And there'll probably be wine  and finger food as well.)

For more information, call 876 929 4302 or email mutualgallery@cwjamaica.com. The Mutual Gallery is located at 2 Oxford Road, Kingston 5.

To find out more about the Jamaica Cultural Enterprises Kingston Art Trek which visits galleries and the homes of Jamaican artists, feel free to email us at info@jaculture.com or call 876 540 8570.
 
 
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Mango Tree Dare Devils (2011), acrylic on linen
Stafford Schliefer is one of Jamaica's gifted sons. His work hangs in the National Gallery of Jamaica and has been exhibited in various commercial galleries in Jamaica. Recently, Real Life published a profile on Mr. Schliefer. Below is an excerpt.


Introspective Jamaican artist, Stafford Schliefer, paints a life of colour, motion and meaning

Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1939, self-taught artist Stafford Schliefer’s gentle smile is somewhat at odds with the intense nature of a lifetime spent exploring the vagaries of the Caribbean condition conjured up in exuberant colour, translucence, movement and gesture from his hilltop Wayside Studio in St. Andrew, Jamaica. Likening the compulsion toward artistic expression to the need to draw breath, he cuts a figure of quite some repute on regional and international art scenes as he has for near-on four decades. A solitary artist, he stands, encircled by paints and canvases and a passion for communicating the warts-and-all truth of the universal experience: a visual storyteller, depicting lively vignettes of modern-day Jamaican life infused with the complex cultural history of his heartland.

Yet, once upon a time, Schliefer touted his wares in the tourist street markets of Kingston and Montego Bay. Inspired by artist and friend, Lester Gunter, at twenty-eight, he underwent “a conversion,” turning what his parents considered his indulgence into life as a professional artist. Travelling the globe as a seaman on tourist liners in his formative years, he keenly observed the nuances of the black diaspora and the socio-political climates in which people co-existed. Translating his perceptions into emotionally-charged works that explored recurring themes such as slavery, violence, celebration and tradition, he created lasting connections with viewers, using the language of art as a vehicle to convey messages of compassion and truth. He muses, “In many ways, my works are motivated by the intensity of suffering in our society – the accumulated need; to overcome this, motivates me most of all….”

For full article, click here.
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Stafford Schliefer
 
 
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YardEdge's Karin Wilson-Edmonds recently went on a JCE tour. This is what she had to say.

This past Saturday, I ventured out with a group of art enthusiasts on the inaugural Kingston Art Trek- our mission, to visit a cross-section of Kingston’s galleries. The creation of Jamaica Cultural Enterprises (JCE), a new tour company specializing in cultural tours of Jamaica, the Kingston Art Trek is designed to expose participants to a wide range of local art and artists. It also turned out to be an education on the history and landmarks of Kingston, as well as a great opportunity to meet fellow art aficionados!

JCE’s Karen Hutchinson was an excellent tour guide, highly knowledgeable on local art and on Kingston’s history and highlights. She expertly guided us around the various galleries, while simultaneously trying to keep us on schedule- not an easy task with so much to see!

We visited a total of six galleries, three downtown and three uptown, including Emancipation Park in New Kingston, Revolution Gallery, the National Gallery of Jamaica, Studio 174, Roktowa Gallery, Heather Sutherland Wade’s gallery and Grosvenor Galleries. A comfortable bus kept us from worrying about traffic and parking and allowed us to focus on the sights and sounds around us.

We began the day at 10 am sharp with coffee at Emancipation Park, where we viewed Laura Facey-Cooper’s Redemption Song, which although we’re all quite used to now caused quite a stir when it was originally unveiled.


Read full article here.