Howard Moo Young, Contributor

The old iron tub by Abrahams.

When June and Tony Wong conceived the Liguanea Festival of Fine Art & Photography four years ago, a tiny seed was planted, bringing reality to the well-known 14th century proverb 'Great oaks from little acorns grow'. We don't have mighty oak trees in Jamaica, but we do have great trees of our own - cotton, tamarind, guinep and giant guango, which grow from a tiny winged seed.

As a tiny seed, this festival of the visual arts has taken wings and found fertile ground. It was sponsored by Liguanea Drug & Garden Centre in association with The Gleaner Co. Ltd., along with First Global, Cari-Med Limited, Anbell Group, General Food Supermarket, The Bank of Nova Scotia Ja. Ltd., H.D. Hopwood & Company Ltd., and Mayberry Investments Limited, and has grown and matured significantly over the short period of time and is now a landmark on the cultural calendar, creating time and space for artists and art lovers.

On Sunday, April 29, Liguanea Plaza will again become the home of over 70 already confirmed top creative minds in Jamaican art, exposing their talents to the public. Drawn from various parishes, these enthusiastic individuals will personally meet, greet and share their work with a cross-section of visitors and buyers to the festival.

For the next few weeks, this column will be featuring a few of Jamaica's top painters, sculptors, ceramists, photographers and jewellers who will be exhibiting in this year's festival. This week we feature Heather Sutherland-Wade and daughter Rachael Wade, Ewan Peart, Ireko Baker, Hugh Wright, and Katrina Abrahams.

Heather Sutherland-Wade

This mother-and-daughter team comes together for the first time at the festival. Both of them look forward to the exhibition as they plan their exhibits carefully. Heather Sutherland-Wade as she is more widely known describes in her own words how she feels about her art.

"The desire to paint comes when I am in awe of the beauty that surrounds me. What the end product on the canvas will be? I am never sure! My 'gift of art' enhances my view and concepts of landscapes and horizons ... and with the absence of self-occupation, delight in God's creation. I feel His sensitivity in flowers ... in the array of colours and delicate petals, reflecting love and compassion ... sprays of joy.

I experience His refreshing grace as I gaze on bubbling brooks and laughing waters. I sense His peace as I am enraptured by a tropical sunrise, fishing boats at rest ... and the evening sun, lighting the hills, settling behind the mountains.

As a landscape artist, I am blessed with the ability and the opportunity to 'see abundantly', and to practise the discipline of simple thankfulness to the Creator for opening heaven's windows and allowing me to experience creation from a unique vantage point."

Heather was born in Mandeville, Manchester, Jamaica, and attended Manchester High School. She received her training at Alberta College of Art, Alberta, Canada.

She is also one of Jamaica's foremost graphic designers.

Sutherland-Wade has participated in several group and solo exhibitions in Jamaica, the Caribbean, The United States, Canada, Mexico and Italy.

Her paintings are in many private collections locally and internationally.

Rachel Wade

Rachel Wade was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and started illustrating and painting at an early age. She completed a first-class honours Bachelor of Arts degree in animation at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design, Surrey, England, in 2004 and returned to Jamaica to pursue her career as an illustrator, graphic designer , animator and painter. She has gone on to complete a Post Graduate Diploma in Arts and Cultural Enterprise Management.

Rachel's work ranges from pen illustrations to acrylic on canvas. She has exhibited in various exhibitions in Jamaica and across the Caribbean, and was awarded a gold medal and merit in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission Exhibition in 2006 for her original piece, 'Fire Flight'.

Ewan Peart

Ewan Peart hails from Wood Hall, in Clarendon, but now resides in Kingston, where he pursued his studies in art and art education. He is the principal lecturer (H.O.D.) in the Visual Arts Department at Mico University College and holds a B.A. (Hons) from the University of the West Indies/Edna Manley College.

Ewan has been exhibiting his paintings since 1978 in various group and solo shows, and in 1998 was the recipient of the Victoria Mutual Building Society Teachers Scholarship. He also received the Ministry of Education Scholarship for Teachers in 2006.

As an artist, lecturer, musician and landscaper, Ewan continues to share his talents with others as he pursues his career in the arts.

Ireko Baker

Ireko Baker (aka Baba Ireko) is a self-taught artist, graphic designer, photographer and educator. Born in Jamaica, and a Rastafarian for all his adult life, Baker expresses these influences as the main themes in all avenues of his work. Working with fabrics, particularly silks, is Baker's continued favourite medium. Many of his painted silks have been hung in the hotel chains of the north and south coasts and in many homes in Jamaica and abroad.

Hugh wright

Hugh Wright is a self-taught photographer for the last 20 years, with the last 12 as a professional. He is the winner of many club and National Festival awards. He has mounted two solo exhibitions and enjoys landscape and sports photography particularly motoring, cricket and football. Commercially, Wright has photographed for government, advertising agencies and industry. His work has also been published in the recent Jamaican pictorials Moods of Jamaica and Beautiful Jamaica.

Katrina Abrahams

Born of Jamaican parents in Alberta, Canada, Katrina is an artist whose travels have exposed here to many cultures and its influences on the arts.

Raised in Kingston, where she developed an appreciation for painting from an early age, she later spent a year in Barranquilla, Colombia, exploring and embracing the beauty of the land and its culture while honing her own artistic expression.

After studying design at Humber College, Etobicoke, Canada, Katrina returned to her first love, Jamaica, in 1997. She balanced a working career with further studies at Edna Manley college of the Visual & Performing Arts and continued to pursue her painting. Guided by her deep faith in Jesus Christ, Katrina's creativity is stimulated by the unique beauty of Jamaica and its character, especially children and the elderly. Her paintings capture uplifting imagery and bright colours to express joy and thanksgiving, focusing on the simple things in life.