News of The Abacos
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The Bahamas' Artist In Residence
Green Turtle Cay's ALTON R. LOWE - A National TreasureThere is a hidden magic in brush, canvas, and oil paints. Thirty years ago those elements in the hands of a young seventh generation Abaconian opened a new era in Bahamian art. Each year for three decades now that man, Alton R. Lowe, has created a magical world of people, landscapes and seascapes, flowers, birds, shells, sailing ships, sunrises full of promise and sunsets filled with nostalgia. Almost inevitably, he has become the artistic poet laureate of The Bahamas. Blacks, whites, young and old all have found a place in his art and that art has found a place in homes and corporate institutions, with member of the British Royal Family, prime ministers of several countries, and with art lovers the world over.
Mr. Lowe's paintings are filled with light and colour, turquoise blue seas, orange-red poincianas, gold, lavender and pink bougainvilleas, wite-washed cottages and ornate, decaying mansions, austere churches, quiet island lanes, wind-filled sails, wise old faces and young innocent ones. His eye and talent have captured on canvas the wonders of an entire people and the beauties of a ceaselessly changing country. His work is truly the testament of a man in love with the world around him.
Born on Green Turtle Cay, educated in art in Miami and New York City, Mr. Lowe continues to maintain his principle residence at his birthplace. His interest in his home island prompted him to found the Albert Lowe Museum at New Plymouth in 1976. This was followed several years later by the Loyalist Memorial Sculpture Garden. Other on-going cultural projects over the years include lectures, concerts and theatre performances at his Garden Theatre adjacent to his home. Open house exhibits during June and December at his gallery next to his home also attract hundreds of patrons.
While not everyone can own an Alton Lowe painting, his work is not only seen annually in Nassau by friends, patrons, and art lovers, but every day thousands of people see copies of his paintings on what now numbers some fifty different Bahamian postage stamps. ------ Alton Lowe: A Beacon On Our Cultural Landscape David Cote
This article was derived from a phone conversation that took place nearly a year ago. I was trying to catch up with Mr. Alton Lowe to do an interview that would forecast and help promote his annual art show in Green Turtle Cay. I had been trying to reach him by phone but (as I later found out) he had been busy promoting his work in Nassau. When, after all the aggravation of many failed attempts, I finally did catch up to him, all the effort somehow seemed worth it.
When I began questioning locals about Mr. Lowe, the depth and breadth of his contribution to Bahamian art was gradually unveiled. But after our long and interesting phone conversation it was made abundantly clear that in spite of his international recognition, his life and his work were as inseparable as were his inspiration and commitment to the cultural life of the Bahamas and his childhood stomping grounds of Green Turtle Cay. He admits that his artistic leanings came from his father who was a master model boat builder. To honour his legacy, he named the Albert Lowe museum after him. Alton's brother, Vertrum, followed in his father's footsteps and continues to keep the model boat tradition alive.
Alton, on the other hand was given the opportunity to further develop his natural talent and was sent to the prestigious Frank Reilly School of Art in New York City where he enrolled in courses in classical drawing and painting, graduating from the four year programme in three years. Despite the rigorous eight hour schedule five days a week, Alton recalls fondly the adventure and excitement of going to school right across the street from Carnegie Hall and the famous Russian Tea Room where a lot of movie stars used to hang out. During this time he made lasting friends among both fellow students and professors, many of whom have had illustrious careers in the arts themselves. Following graduation, Alton spent six weeks first in England painting and then six weeks in Canada sketching and painting. Some of the paintings were presented to the public in his first Nassau show that year.
Mr. Lowe's talent for capturing vivid impressions of our local seascape has made him highly sought after. And although he is in demand everywhere, over the years he has managed to contract his time into a sort of success triangle which slices his annual calendar between Miami, Nassau, and Green Turtle Cay. Speaking with Mr. Lowe, one gets the immediate impression that for all his accomplishments, he is still rooted in the deeper realities of daily life and his commitment to remember where he comes from.
Calm and poised and exceedingly articulate, he ran on with an irrepressible commentary on local history and customs the like of which I'd never heard before. He was like a live wire, verbally orchestrating a wealth of information with a distilled and lively deep sense of insight and appreciation. He expounded, with authority, on the rich and varied history of Green Turtle Cay, from its National prominence at the turn of the century, thriving with lumber, pineapple, sisal, shark and green turtle fishing, to the calamity of the Hurricane in 1932 and the effect it had on everyone, including his own family. Much to my shock, he recounted stories of the days when people from Miami would come to Green Turtle to shop, because it was the only destination for a New York shipping line, and how the dismantling of homes and the nautical migration to Key West sprung from the thought that the Florida Cays were part of the Bahamas. He has personally helped foster the annual "twin cities" celebrations. He seemed to rattle off one surprising revelation after another. To be sure, this all underscores a connection where civil pride spills over into artistic expression.
In recognition of another accomplished resident of Green Turtle Cay, he has collaborated with ZNS to make a documentary movie on Green Turtle's late William Curry, who had become the richest man in Florida. He also collaborated with another artist in Miami to create a musical play called "The Lucayans". Needless to say, this is all in addition to his great accomplishments of capturing life on canvas.
Although his compositions vary in theme from boats, houses, flowers, animals and people, they all portray one of the many unique features of the multi-faceted mosaic of the Bahamas. I was impressed when he told me that he just completed a still life of a Bahamian rose and went on to inform me that this particular species is almost extinct. He said that there were only 6 bushes left in the Bahamas and he would be happy to offer me a cutting. Although, I'm not the gardening sort, I did appreciate the offer.
Mr. Lowe has gained special recognition for the wide number of paintings which have been made into postage stamps. More than 50 paintings with themes such as the Lucayan stamp, which was made for the Quincentenary and a Loyalist stamp for the 200 year anniversary of the Loyalist landing, which are now in circulation. Others include the lighthouse, indigenous orchids, conch shells and the Regatta series. More recently, the Post Master has issued an environmental protection series to help enhance public awareness.
He has put on an annual exhibition of his work in Nassau for the past 30 years, the last 26 shows have been at the Nassau Beach Hotel. The show runs throughout the month of March. It has only been in the last five years that he has shown his work from his own Gallery on Green Turtle Cay. It is located on two acres where Mr. Lowe has created some of the most beautiful and varied gardens in the Bahamas. Flowering trees and tropical plants from dozens of tropical and sub-tropical countries make this an unexpectedly rich and delightful experience. The art gallery itself is situated at the top of a hill overlooking Black Sound on one side and the Bay of Abaco on the other. In addition, to his own work, the Gallery exhibits the creative works of Miami sculptor, James Mastin (famous for the sculpture gardens in New Plymouth) and the fine craftsmanship of his model boat building brother, Vertrum. This year, Mr. Lowe has some two dozen paintings on display. In one large room, one can tour the Abacos from Hope Town to Great Guana Cay to Cherokee Sound to Treasure Cay and of course, Green Turtle Cay itself. Included among the collection this year will be some beautiful orchids and hibiscus and some character studies of black and white Abaconians captured for all time by the master's artistic eye.
One painting, entitled "Junkanoo Princess" radiates the extraordinary colour and excitement of Junkanoo parades. Another shows an elderly lady at an old water pump. This humbling appreciation of our mortality is entitled "Water is Life."
As a man both grateful and proud of his accomplishments, Mr. Lowe assures us that "a tour of the gardens is a pleasure not to be missed, a visit to the gallery is a joy that will remain with its visitors for a long time to come and will remind Abaconians just how wonderfully blessed we are." During the months of May & June, the Gallery will be open during the hours of 10:00 am to 1:00 pm daily. An additional feature this year will be two one-act plays to be performed in the Gallery on the evenings of May 7th and 8th. Visitors can come directly to the Gallery on Black Sound either by boat or ferry or by a short ten-minute walk from New Plymouth.
