Holy Name Convent students display art excellence with ‘Island Pulse’ Exhibition

By Klysha Best

Photos courtesy Holy Name Convent Photography Club

In a world that often tells teenage girls to be seen and not heard, the art students at Holy Name Convent are making themselves impossible to ignore.

The school’s Marian Hall recently transformed into a vibrant gallery for this year’s annual art exhibition, ‘Island Pulse’. For art teacher Marie Elena Joseph, what’s on display isn’t just student work, it’s the heartbeat of a generation.

“Holy Name has been doing this for well over 40 years,” Joseph shared. “I’m a past pupil, so I actually went through this process as well, exhibiting my work. When you think Holy Name Convent, you think art programme.”

Joseph studied at the school under the legendary Irene Kozier before earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts.

She said getting into Holy Name’s art programme isn’t for the faint of heart and describes a “gruelling process” that begins in Form 1 and intensifies by Form 3, when students must be vetted before being allowed to pursue art at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level.

“We go through the work, we go through the discipline of the student, and then we single it down to about 20 to 25,” she explained. “So, you know you’re getting students who are very dedicated and very passionate.”

She continued, “For context, Form 5 CXC students have six SBAs each, and Form 6 students each have about four to six as well. Multiply that by about 40 students, and it becomes over 300 pieces,” she said. “It’s very hard to showcase all, but we showcase most of each student’s work.”

Form 5 students displayed paintings and drawings, while the Form 6 students dove into sculptures, each representing months of creative labour.

The name ‘Island Pulse’ served as an umbrella for diverse work rooted in foundational techniques like colour theory and gesture drawing.

“We kind of give them leeway to get it done, which is why we call it ‘Island Pulse’,” Joseph said. “It has to be a general name because there are so many students with different personal themes. The creatives of this generation and the future generation is the island pulse. It’s the pulse of our island.”

Among the featured artists was Upper 6 student Raejeneé Lessie, whose piece Granny’s House captured something deeply personal and culturally urgent.

“I wanted to do something that kids will be able to recognise,” Lessie explained. “In the Caribbean, we have toys, but nothing that we’re actually used to. We’re becoming more globalised, losing our history and traditions.”

Her solution: a Caribbean-themed dollhouse. The interior featured a bedroom with books from her primary school days, a bathroom with tile reminiscent of her grandparents’ house, and a living room with patterned sofas and a ‘big-back’ TV. The kitchen included a fruit mat, a dish rack, and a Ramco gas tank.

The exterior boasted of a galvanised roof and louvres, which rooted the piece firmly in Trinidadian memory.

“I wanted to give that traditional vibe, not looking too modernised,” she said. “Children these days are growing up in a world where they wouldn’t even recognise this. I wanted to use this piece to bring back the tradition we have in the Caribbean.”

For Joseph, watching her students like Lessie discover their creative voices never gets old. “They surprise themselves,” she said. “There’s no greater joy than watching a student realise, ‘I made that. That came from me.'”

‘Island Pulse’ ran from March 16 to 22.