(CMR) The Cayman National Cultural Foundation (CNCF) has announced a major donation by a family with close ties to the Cayman Islands.
The donated artworks are two mixed media images by Miss Gladwyn K. “Lassie” Bush and a watercolor painting by US artist and long-time visitor Mrs. Betty Wood. The Miss Lassie paintings were gifts by the South Sound artist to Mrs. Wood, then later regifted to her daughter Mrs. Sarah Louise Wood Ham.
That is My Beloved Son, Hear Ye Him, and A Little Child Shall Lead Them by Miss Lassie, and Cayman Cottage by the US artist are actually a part of the National Collection, held in trust by each CNCF and the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands.
Minister for Youth, Sports, Culture & Heritage, Hon. Bernie Bush attended a recent reception for the artwork and said: “This generous donation by the Wood family now makes five Miss Lassie paintings which have ‘come home’ within the last 12 months. To see great art return to the place it was created may be very gratifying.”
“Each artists’ paintings reflect their interests and lived experience on Grand Cayman, and knowing they were also friends, makes it much more special,” he noted.
CNCF’s Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Natalie Urquhart, said: “We’re extremely grateful to Sarah Wood Ham and her family for her generous donation of the Miss Lassie’s paintings, which recently arrived from her home in Recent Orleans.”
“It was essential to the family that these paintings be returned to the Island for the Cayman community, and we’re honored to have helped repatriate them,”
“We’re also delighted to partner with the National Gallery to showcase each works, together with a phenomenal watercolor by artist Betty Wood. All three artworks are actually on display within the National Gallery’s upper exhibition hall,” Urquhart added.
Mrs. Wood Ham, in explaining the donation, said: “It’s where they must be and where they’ll be most appreciated and enjoyed for years to come back.”
Miss Lassie was a self-taught visionary artist who only began painting in her early sixties. The National Collection houses probably the most Miss Lassie paintings on this planet.
Mrs. Wood lives in Recent Orleans and still paints. The 81-year-old’s artworks were a part of several Visual Arts Society shows on island. Her paintings were hung and sold on the Old Holiday Inn and likewise displayed within the Villas of the Galleon condominiums.
