Serendipity Strikes
I picked up these two pieces of art at a thrift store in Illinois recently, and was intrigued by them. These works are not reproduced prints, but instead water colored (or washed) over a penned drawing. The style seemed old and the design struck me as either southern or Caribbean, though an internet search for “Walker and 1960” did not reveal anything. (I was not able to read the first name on the works). I loved them anyway, and put them up in my home, framed as they were in 1980s peach!
Three months later, on another thrift store outing, I came across a picture that was very similar in style but done at a later date. As it did not appeal to me I didn’t buy it, but on the back of the frame there was a write up about the artist. Bingo! Now I was able to research the artist and boy what a lovely journey I’ve taken, all while sitting at my home in chilly Illinois!
Jill Walker is much beloved in the Caribbean, both for her art and for the art community she created. Much of her work depicts buildings and scenes of life in Barbados that have been lost. After her death in 2021, her family continued her work at the Best of Barbados (https://best-of-barbados.com/) and maintain an archive of her art (viewable at https://jillwalkerart.com/).
I began an email correspondence with her daughter, and she was excited to see such well-preserved works of her mother’s. In the archives, she discovered versions of the same artwork. She explained her mother would draw a scene, then make a few prints of the inked design (unclear how these prints were reproduced in 1960). Then Walker would watercolor the scene, which meant each one was unique. There are differences between our two versions, and it is fun to review them to spot these changes. Her daughter was unable to determine which set is the original “drawing” and which was the inked and water colored printed one. The ones in the archives had hung in the family’s Barbados home for years and are rather damaged. Those I have were framed in the 1980s in Florida and are in very good condition.
Fascinating how two pieces of art made in Barbados in the 1960s, framed in Florida in likely the 1980s ended up in Illinois in the 2020s. I feel like I could make up that story but I will leave it to everyone’s imagination!