#jackson burnside

Maxwell Taylor(C) Ain't I a Mother, 2002

Discovered as a schoolboy, Maxwell Taylor (born 1939, Nassau, The Bahamas) was first taught art by Don Russell. Later, he was apprenticed in 1959 to the fabled Chelsea Pottery as a ceramic designer alongside Brent Malone, Eddie Minnis and Kendal Hanna. He moved to New York, studying at the Art Students League of New York from 1968 to 1972, then taking further studies in photo silkscreen at The Pratt Graphic Center in 1972 and printmaking at Bob Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop from 1969 to 1977.

Strongly influenced by black power artists, he showed an uncompromising commitment to social realism through his woodcuts, etchings and stark canvases. Taylor admired the works of Daumier, Braque and Picasso and tried to emulate what he saw. He became a versatile and accomplished technician and a master of a variety of media. After twenty years in New York, during which he combined art with labor on construction sites, he traveled south to the Carolinas and then to Europe observing the social, economic, and political dynamics of many cultures but never forgetting his roots in The Bahamas.

His work was exhibited at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico, at The International Printmaking Exhibit, 1971 in Santiago, Chile and in 1977 as part of the exhibition “Bahamian Art Today” at Brent Malone’s Matinee Gallery. He held a one-man show in 1979 in Nassau and in 1983 was part of the group of ten artists selected to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Bahamian independence. In 1991, he founded B.-C.A.U.S.E. (Bahamian Creative Artists United for Serious Expression), with Brent Malone, Antonius Roberts, Stan Burnside, Jackson Burnside and John Beadle.

Taylor believes that the technique should fit the theme and uses many creative combinations to achieve his vision. He is renowned for his ceramics and paintings, but it is in printmaking that he really excels. He created the “Immigration Series” using the ancient technique of “cutting wood” but in a challenging large format. Throughout his career, he has explored themes of universality and despair, celebration and atrocity.

He has participated in numerous solo exhibitions and his work is among the collections of the late Nat King Cole and Sir Harold Christie. Taylor has also received many scholarships and awards such as the Southern Arts Federation Fellowship award for works on paper by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Jackson Burnside (C) Mhudda II, 1982

Jackson Burnside (born 1949, Nassau, The Bahamas) is a noted Bahamian painter and architect who grew up in The Bahamas of the 1950s. He was educated at Lincoln University PA, and the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts. While at UPENN he received the prestigious Arthur Spayd Medal for Excellence in Architectural Design. He holds two Masters Degrees in Architecture from the Professional Degree program, and the Design Studio of Louis I. Kahn. Burnside is a professional architect and practiced for many years overseas in England, Bangladesh, Iran, and Israel. He became the first Bahamian Senior Architect, is a visiting university lecturer, designer and also a talk show host.

While growing up, he absorbed the idea that the only culture of merit “came from books that came from England.” His struggle to overcome conditioning and recognize the stories of his ancestors is a theme that runs throughout his work as both architect and artist. He often tells students to look at their own architectural heritage for its “common sense” and favors design that arises naturally from its surroundings. Another theme that Burnside instigated is the plight of the Haitian people who regularly cross the Atlantic in flimsy boats to escape conditions in their country. Many of them die in the perilous crossings. Burnside’s work “Many Rivers to Cross” explores slavery and the Haitian boat people. He was one of the first artists whose work provoked reflection on their desperation.

In the 1970s, he founded the innovative Doongalik Studios to establish The Bahamas as an international center of creativity. Actively involved in community and cultural affairs, he joined the newly formed One Family Junkanoo and Community Organization Group in 1993 as Designer, later becoming its Chairman Emeritus. His ability to move from Junkanoo art shack to lecture hall has won him numerous awards and honors as a cultural advocate, including The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Citizens Award for the Creative and Performing Arts.

As a solo artist, his paintings have been exhibited in The Bahamas, United States, London and Barbados. In 1991 he was a founding member of B-C.A.U.S.E. (Bahamian Creative Artists United for Serious Expression), a group formed to promote and support Bahamian artists. He is part of the Burnside-Beadle-Burnside collaboration with fellow artists, his brother Stan Burnside and friend John Beadle

Stanley Burnside (C) Last Supper Club, 1992

Stanley Burnside (born 1947, Nassau, The Bahamas) received his BGA and MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. In the 1970s he worked in the United States painting and designing album covers for notable R&B artists. After returning to The Bahamas, he distinguished himself as an art teacher at The College of The Bahamas, as a cartoonist with his daily Sideburns commentary, as a principle designer for the Saxon Superstars and later the One Family Junkanoo Groups, and as a founder and co-creator of the artist collective Jammin’.

In 1991, after reconsidering his role as an artist, Burnside made the decision to organize the prominent artists in the Bahamas and establish the country as a hub for talented and world-class visual artists. The result of his efforts was known as B-C.A.U.S.E. (Bahamian Creative Artists United for Serious Expression) opened the doors for the artists to participate in a number of international shows. Burnside is also known for his collaborative work with the trio Burnside-Beadle-Burnside, along with his brother, Jackson Burnside, and friend John Beadle. Burnside’s artwork is distinguishable from that of others by what he describes as his “use of elemental and mystical symbolism rooted in his African heritage.” His paintings often deal with culturally related subjects; more specifically, the role of the matriarch in the Bahamas.

In addition to his yearly shows in The Bahamas, Burnside has exhibited widely in venues such as Paris and Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, Ecuador, Bermuda, Buca, Washington DC, Venezuela and The Dominican Republic. His work can be found in collections such as the Museum of the Americas in Washington, DC and the Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo.

John A Beadle (C) Conjure Woman, 1990

John Beadle (born 1964, Nassau, The Bahamas) is one of the major Bahamian artists of the post-Independence generation. Born on the Island of New Providence in 1964, one of his earliest memories is of watching one of his grandfather’s landscape paintings, waiting for someone to walk into view. He went to the College of the Bahamas and studied under Stan Burnside, going on to the Rhode Island School of Design where he obtained a BFA in Painting. He studied in Rome, Italy and received his MFA from The Tyler School of Art, Temple University. In 1991 he was named Emerging Artist of Latin America and the Caribbean in Nagoya, Japan.

His work is in many private and corporate collections, including the National Collection of The Bahamas. Several of his series are about the despair of the illegal migrants who arrive by boat from Haiti, and he shows great dexterity in his use of different materials such as incorporating oars and machetes into his work. As well as exhibitions in the Bahamas, Beadle’s work has been shown in the United States, Germany, France, the Santo Domingo Biennale of Painting, the Sao Paolo Biennale in Brazil, and New Zealand. In 2003, his work was chosen for the Inauguration of The National Art Gallery of the Bahamas and at every annual exhibition since then. Beadle took part in the Big River 3 International Artists’ Workshop, Aripo, Trinidad, 2006 and the 5th Insaka International Artists Workshop, Livingston, Zambia, 2010.

Beadle collaborates with brothers Jackson and Stan Burnside on many projects such as ‘Jammin.’ He was a founding member of The Bahamas most prominent artist collectives, OPUS-5 and B-C.A.U.S.E. (Bahamian Creative Artists United for Serious Expression). He is also a member of the art group B.B.B and principle designer and sculptor in the ‘One Family’ Junkanoo festival group.

Jackson Burnside, a Bahamian cultural icon known for his significant contributions to the development of Junkanoo, the architectural sector and the visual arts, died in a Florida hospital [May 11].

He was 62.

Burnside suffered an aneur-ysm last month and was airlifted to Florida for treatment the next day where he eventually slipped into a coma.

The Nassau Guardian und-erstands his family was at his side at the time of his death.

Burnside was an extremely popular Junkanoo enthusiast.