LE CENTRE D’ART > About Us
Le Centre d’Art is a public interest institution founded in 1944. A cradle for Haitian art, it has helped several generations of renowned artists from Hector Hyppolite to Edouard Duval Carrié.
Historically,Le Centre d’Art has simultaneously been an educational center, gallery and reference institution for the promotion of Haitian art. The earthquake on January 12, 2010 severely affectedLe Centre d’Art. After the collapse of the building and the death of its director, the site remained closed for four years.
In November 2014, Le Centre d’Art reopened its doors for its 70th anniversary with a temporary layout. Since then, the institution has started to work once again with the public and artists. We are also working on enhancing the Center’s heritage (collection, archives) and developing a total reorganization project for the future.
Our Mission
Le Centre d’Art remains faithful to its original mission and continues to improve it in order to adapt to contemporary issues:
> Find, educate and mentor Haitian artists. Identify talent, enable creation and circulate it for the benefit of the entire art world.
> Document and display Haiti’s significant visual arts heritage. Offer quality access to Haitian art to both the public and professionals.
ACTU > CALL FOR APPLICATIONS | Haitian artist | Residency at Trinidad and Tobago
Le Centre d’Art in Port-au-Prince is an institution that works towards promoting artistic creations by Haitian practitioners on the basis of preserved heritage values.
Since its creation in 1944, this atypical space with multiple missions has been at the heart of societal and artistic evolutions. As the major protagonist in the reconfiguration of the fine arts realm in Haiti, Le Centre d’Art has been paving the way for several schools and artistic movements.
Over the years, well-known Haitian artists have been revealed internationally, including Philomé Obin, Hector Hyppolite, George Liautaud, Antonio Joseph, Rigaud Benoit, Robert St Brice, Jasmin Joseph, and Préfète Duffaut.
Le Centre d’Art was the starting point fora wealth of visual creativity– upholding a considerable legacy that is today part of private and public collections, in Haiti and abroad.
The establishment is apolitical, non-profit, and has gained public recognition since 1947. The governance is composed of a board of directors, an international scientific council and an executive team (www.lecentredart.org)
Despite the destruction of the infrastructure during the earthquake of 2010, le Centre d’Art managed to save more than 5000 works and 3000 archive files, which are today preserved and valued. Since the reopening in 2014, le Centre d’Art has once again become an essential part of Haitian culture.
Its mission is to support artists and their creations, and to conserve and disseminate Haitian visual arts. It is a resource space for artists, art students, art lovers, collectors and researchers alike.
RESIDENCIES SCOPE
Le Centre d’Art is setting up a synergy project for artistic creation and artistic analysis in the Caribbean, thanks in particular to UNESCO’s International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFDC).
Entitled Implementation of a Network for the Creation and Dissemination of Caribbean Art, the project aims to create a link between Haiti and Caribbean places of creation, and to promote the practices of Caribbean artists, especially women, to strengthen the Haitian cultural sector. For two years, artistic residencies will be set up, and will end with an exhibition and a widely distributed publication.
THEME
“The ability of humans to participate intelligently in the evolution of their own system is dependent on their ability to perceive the whole”
Immanuel Wallerstein
Toussaint L’Ouverture, Jean Price Mars, Aimé Césaire, Marcus Garvey, Frantz Fanon, Derek Walcott Long is the list of illustrious men who have shaped the Caribbean countries as we know them today. What about Caribbean women? University theses on the role of women are rising but they are not taken for the general public. Art has the power to make accessible fundamental values and principles, which are too often convoluted. This project aims at highlighting the role of women in the construction of the Caribbean.
ABOUT THE RESIDENCY
For this segment of the residency programme, Alice Yard will host one Haitian artist for one month in Trinidad and Tobago from April 15th – May 15th, 2020.
Alice Yard is at once a physical space, a collaborative network, and an ongoing conversation about contemporary art and creativity in the Caribbean.
Based in the backyard of the house at 80 Roberts Street, Woodbrook, Port of Spain, Alice Yard has been a venue for creative experiment since opening in September 2006. We draw on the long tradition of communal “yard” spaces in urban Trinidad, places of improvisation and exchange.
Since 2008, Alice Yard has run a residency programme hosting artists, curators, and other creative practitioners wishing to visit and work in our space and with our network of collaborators, or to research and experience the contemporary art scene in Port of Spain.
More information: http://aliceyard.blogspot.com
Le Centre d’Art will fully bear the costs of residencies in Trinidad and Tobago. The artist will be provided with a workspace, tools and supplies and housing. In addition, the artist will receive per diem to cover all food and transportation expenses throughout the residency. The ticket and the visa will also be covered by Le Centre d’Art.
TERMS OF APPLICATION – Residency in Trinidad and Tobago, April 15th – May 15th, 2020
This call for applications to attend a residency at Alice Yard is open to any woman artist who is a national of Haiti or its diaspora.
The call concerns exclusively the field of visual arts (plastic or digital). The artist may practice multiple forms of artistic production.
The submitted file must include the following documents in a single PDF:
– The completed application form;
– The Artist’s Curriculum Vitae, including elements describing the artist’s training, her professional career, her experiences, the history of her public exhibitions and shows in galleries (2 pages maximum);
– The artistic statement (presentation of the artist’s practice – 2 pages maximum);
– The residency project related to the theme (2 pages maximum)
– A selection of visuals of the artist’s works (10 works visuals maximum). The visuals must be in color and captioned to legibly specify the dimensions, materials and technique used. For videographers, a page with links to videos accompanied by a brief summary for each one.
Electronic files and any other request should be sent by email to contact@lecentredart.org and Cc judithmichel@lecentredart.org before October 1st, 2019 midnight (GMT)
SELECTION COMMITTEE
The decision is to be made by a selection committee composed with a member of the Board of Le Centre d’Art, a member of the executive team and a representative of Alice Yard.
Selection Criteria:
Special attention will be paid to:
– mastery of the techniques used and the quality of execution
– the aesthetic and technical interest of the artist’s practice
– the coherence of the artist’s proposal with the theme as well as
– the depth of the readings and interpretations of concepts
– the originality of the works
CLASSES & ACTIVITIES > Monotype Workshop with KILLY
The monotype is a printing process that eschews engraving and etching techniques and only produces one single copy. It is done by painting typographic ink onto a non-porous material like glass, metal or Plexiglas. These three-hour workshops take place over the course of one month.
Saturday, october 24 and 31, november 7 and 14, 2015 from 9 am to 12 pm
Patrick Ganthier, aka, KILLY
Artist and sculptor, Killy worked intensely on engraving when he was living in Montreal. He represented Haiti in the Venice Biennial and regularly exhibits abroad. Upon his return to Haiti, we are delighted that he has chosen to share his experiences and expertise at the Center.
Ages 14 years and older
Maximum number of spots: 25 people
Material entirely provided for by the Center
HTG 500 for annual registration to the Center
HTG 4,000 for the total duration of the workshop (4 classes)
THE HAITIAN ART GATEWAY > PAUL Damien
Damien PAUL was born in 1941 in Drouillard in the Cul de Sac valley. A self-taught artist, he enteredLe Centre d’Art in 1969. A sculptor of iron as well as a painter, Paul was fascinated with scenes of Haitian life and voodoo. Emigrated to the United States in the 1980s, Damien PAUL currently resides in Florida.
His works have been included in many exhibits in Haiti, the United States, France, Jamaica as well as Mexico, in places such as the Brooklyn Museum, the Davenport Museum and the Tennessee Botanical Art Garden. Paul’s oeuvres are also included in the permanent collections at the Waterloo Museum, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Figge Art Museum and Le Centre d’Art in Port-au-Prince.
