On the evening of Thursday, November 9th, the San Pedro House of Culture (SPHC) debuted a new art exhibit, featuring the work of talented island resident Bernadette Damper. The art collection includes a variety of paintings depicting nature, the island and its many aspects of life. Damper warmly welcomed guests, mingling and pleased to share words about her work. She maintains that she will continue painting and donate the originals to San Pedro’s fundraising events as her contribution to her beloved island people.
Damper moved to San Pedro Town a little over a year ago from the United States of America. After nine years of visiting the island, she had fallen in love with the place. A registered nurse by profession, Damper was diagnosed with colon cancer, which has now spread to her brain and bones. The deadly disease actually led to the discovery of her artistic instincts. She recalls that before the cancer spread to her brain, she had no artistic ability, but it was until she moved to San Pedro that she discovered she could paint.
At the exhibit, she told The San Pedro Sun about the semicolon punctuation that was hidden in many of her paintings and what it meant. “In some of my paintings you may find a hidden semicolon,” she said “A semicolon is a reminder that the story is not over yet.”
The self-taught artist uses watercolours and acrylics, and her inspiration relies mostly on what comes to her mind every morning. “When you wake up in the morning and all of a sudden you look around and think or imagine something, that’s the time when I bring it to life through my paintings,” she said. “If you have a beautiful thought don’t let it go away.”
Everyone is invited to the exhibit at the House of Culture from 8AM to 5PM Monday to Friday. Damper’s art will be on exhibit through Thursday, November 23rd at the SPHC on Angel Coral Street.
