Initiatives for The Arts
Our mission is to encourage young, undiscovered Bahamian artists to develop their talents, and to pursue their passion.
Our Platform
The Deltec Initiative for the Arts was founded in 2013 to nurture young emerging Bahamian artists and pushed them into the public arena. It is undeniable that there’s an enormous amount of talent throughout the islands here in the Bahamas. We hope to unlock potential and to unleash ambition!
Pictured Right: Resident Artist 2020 - Preston Hanna
"Water Me"
Preston is known for his vibrant colour palette and great sense of combining various mediums. His portrait works depict different social issues and express diverse emotions.
Featured Artists
PHOTOGRAPHER
Delton Barret
Delton’s preoccupation with creating digitally enhanced, innovative photographic stories has become the catalyst for the experimentation in his work. Delton’s stages scenes within the environment in surreal, fantastic ways, intending to investigate the way his body blends with the space he inhabits. His exploration for new avenues of photography fosters his creativity to a never-ending search for ways he can improve.
MIXED MEDIA ARTIST
Kachelle Knowles
Kachelle is a contemporary artist who explores the ideas of gender identity, cultural preservation and social relations within the black Caribbean community. She commonly depicts her themes through portraiture using a combination of mediums, such as graphite, inks, gouache, and decorative paper. Kachelle received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, Canada.
PAINTER
June Collie
June is renowned for her unapologetically sensual female figures. Raised by hard-working creative parents, June always knew she wanted to create art. She has allowed her inspirations to come from her surroundings, her comic family and her personal dealings with life. She celebrates the beauty of her subjects with art. With fresh, bold eye and playful spirit, June has created artworks that are luscious in subject and traditional in technique.
PAINTER
Armand Lunn
Armand is an emerging artist whose passion for creating art, including mosaics assembly, string twisting and acrylic painting has been evident since he was very young. A self-taught and reserved artist from Nassau, Armand has been influenced by the fast-moving world of technology of his generation. In his debut exhibition, Armand examines and incorporates the way human and AI are interpreted and connected.
SCULPTOR
Edrin Symonette
A native of Eleuthera Island, Edrin is a passionate sculptor, mixed media artist and painter. Moving away from the traditional two-dimensional picture plane in recent years, he now focuses on life casting and sculpture. Through the exploration of natural material and concept; juxtaposition of natural and unnatural, traditional and non-traditional that he believes his interpretation of identity and beauty in the world is satisfied.
CERAMIST
Genaye Sherman
Genaye started experimenting with ceramic sculpting at The University of the Bahamas. The Bahamian blues, turquoises and grays of the ocean intertwining with the organic shapes of its hundreds of islands and cays, along with the brilliant reds and yellows from the flowers of summer and spring served as her inspiration of each unique bowl she creates. She embraced the notion of ceramic pieces as artworks meant to be seen and also used.
PAINTER
Chris d'Albenas
At 18, Chris left Nassau to pursue Art Studies at Savannah College of Art and Design. After graduation, due to life’s circumstances, he had to put his passion aside and take up other jobs back in The Bahamas. But Chris took every opportunity he could to continue his love for the craft. Finally, Deltec Initiatives Foundation gave Chris the encouragement he needed to focus on getting back to his art, and presenting his debut solo exhibition.
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Francesca Curry
Francesca graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Communication Design. She specializes in branding, textile design, experiential design and advertising with additional skills in print and illustration. She likes vibrant colours, textures and quirky flat illustrations. Francesca’s collection of tablecloths designed for Deltec’s Conference was inspired by the myth that sand dollars are said to be the lost coins of Mermaids.
PAINTER
Kirk Deal
An emerging young talent, Kirk’s inspiration stemmed from The Bahamas’ rich heritage routed in Junkanoo. He fused this cultural phenomenon with a combination of the Polynesian’s intricate attention to detail in their symbolic tribal designs, along with the structured African human-like silhouette drawings. Collectively, these inspiring cultures have allowed Kirk to manipulate realistic figures into abstract artwork.
PAINTER
Delton Barret
Art is a passion for Anaard. An exceptional young man, Anaard won the Central Bank of the Bahamas Art Competition at age 14, with his abstract painting “New Woman Sleeping”, and again at age 16, with another abstract piece “Unknown Thoughts”. A self-taught artist, Anaard is inspired by the beauty of love in life. His goal is for each piece of his work to be filled with colors and happiness that can only bring joy and smiles.
FASHION DESIGNER
Linnea Chisholm
Linnea started cutting, sewing, and designing her own clothes as a teenager. Driven and dedicated, Linnea went on to study fashion design. In 2016, the Deltec Initiative for the Arts Foundation sponsored Linnea’s debut fashion show, where she single-handedly designed and produced an entire collection. Following the showcase, Linnea created Livi Resort Wear, a LVC fashion line featuring beautiful reversible swimwear.
FASHION DESIGNER
Diara Ferguson
A fashion stylist by day, and artist by night, Diara lives and breathes fashion. Growing up with a Junkanoo artist father, Diara spent most of her time painting and creating textile designs. Diara designed her fabric, and created an entire collection, dedicated to the Bahamian woman’s vibrant, and often colourful personality. The “Tri-Bull’ collection was showcased to an international audience at Deltec Annual Conference in 2016.
INTAGLIO ARTIST
Lia Ritchie
A trained painter, Lia attained her Bachelor of Arts from Wellesley College in Boston and developed a specialization in printmaking. Lia often uses her art as a safe space in which to deal with the many personal struggles; from being told as an adolescent that she was not good enough to be an artist to family struggles and deaths. For Lia, the Deltec exhibition has given her the opportunity to hone her skills and explore the unlimited potential in her craft.
PAINTER
Nastassia Pratt
A self-taught artist, Nastassia has always been fascinated by the Bahamian homes found in the more historic neighbourhoods in Nassau, commonly referred to as ‘Over-the-hill’. These homes have lived generations of Bahamians and are some of the last examples of traditional vernacular architecture. Her successful sold-out exhibition at Deltec Bank has enable Nastassia to fund her last year of architectural studies.
STEEL-PAN MUSICIAN
Donavan Rolle
His musical journey started with playing the steel pan drum at the Uriah McPhee Primary School. In 2013, Donavan entered the Church of God Teen Talent International Music Competition in Cleveland, Tennessee and won a full scholarship to attend the Lee University College. Unfortunately, circumstances of life didn’t allow him to take up the scholarship. Today, Donavan serves as a Correctional Officer and his ambition is to not only create a steel pan orchestra in The Bahamas, but to create a better relationship, friendship and new opportunities for idle hands to become a part of something positive.
DANCER
Christa Russell
Christa is a professionally trained dancer from New Providence. Since 2013, she was selected to be a member of the competition team at Just Dance Bahamas and travelled to dance competitions all over the United States returning with many awards. Christa has a passion for all forms of art and finds great pleasure in expressing herself through movement. She is currently pursuing a career in dance and plans to continue expanding her horizons in the years to come. She has also started modeling and acting, and hopes to build her as a well-rounded artist that she hopes to be.
SINGER
Leoneisha Johnson
Leoneisha has been exposed to and trained in the musical art form for most of her life, beginning with singing and classical piano training. She graduated from The University of The Bahamas with an Associate of Arts in Music, and intends to continue her university education and training in the musical field. Although Leoneisha’s love and knowledge of music allows her to be a diverse performing artist and entertainer of various genres, this new Bahamian artist has a love relationship with the local genre of rake and scrape. She is currently a lead singer for Ambasah band.
MUSIC ENSEMBLE
Muin 242
This group of 5 students from the University of The Bahamas came together in the Fall of 2013. Their passion for music and their love for their culture brought them together to explore the world of Bahamian composers. Muin 242 aimed to record a CD, to showcase the diversity of Bahamian music and composers, and encourages younger Bahamians to appreciate the beauty and complexity of this music. This goal caught the attention of Deltec Initiative for the Arts Foundation, and resulted in the sponsorship of Muin 242’s first CD production.
BARITONE SINGER
Ty Cox
Ty is an exceptionally versatile musician, with an affinity for singing baritone opera. Though born with congenital amputation, he never stopped working hard to achieve his dream. His biggest hurdle, along with limited exposure, has been the lack of financial resources accessible to classical music in The Bahamas. Thanks to the generous contribution from members of the Deltec board and friends, Ty received the complementary funding needed to complete his graduate studies in Vocal Performance at the University of New Mexico.
Pianist/Producer
Chavez Parker
Our Other Pillars
Deltec Cares
