Arts: Art and Soul Radiant sunlight and abundant scenery draw painters and sculptors to tiny Bermuda, a huge destination for studios, galleries, museums and markets.
By Nicholas Lusher, Antiques and Fine Art Dealer
Bermuda's land area may be small, but its appreciation for the arts is immense. Over the past 20 years, this tiny island outpost has enjoyed a cultural renaissance of truly monumental proportion.
The Masterworks Foundation, Bermuda National Gallery and other leading art venues have plunged their roots deep into this community. Corporations such as ACE Ltd. and Colonial Insurance host shows and exhibitions. Masters such as sculptor Desmond Fountain have gained international renown. Outstanding art galleries and workshops have been springing up all over the islands.
With its balmy weather, radiant sunlight and abundant scenery, Bermuda long has been a haven for painters and other artists. Brush in hand, Winslow Homer arrived at the dawn of the 20th century. In the 1930s, Georgia O'Keefe turned to these islands to rejuvenate her body, mind and spirit, and ultimately to produce magnificent works featured today in the Masterworks Collection.
This year, as the islands commemorate the 400 years since British colonisation, Bermudians have much to celebrate: splendid beaches, charming communities, vibrant business and a burgeoning arts scene.
What's on the agenda for art lovers here? Begin your exploration with a visit to some of the world-class museums and arts centres.
Masterworks
The Masterworks Foundation and Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art are amongst the finest of the flowers thriving at the botanical gardens in Paget.
The foundation holds an impressive collection of historic works, mostly paintings, by artists who found inspiration in Bermuda. Besides Homer and O'Keefe, visitors have included Marsden Hartley, Albert Gleizes and Charles Demuth, whose works are amongst the 1,200 in the museum's growing collection.
As Elsie Outerbridge, the museum's assistant director, says, artists often praise the quality of Bermuda's sunlight as it plays with the islands' distinctive architecture. "There is a kind of natural palette of colour in Bermuda not so readily available elsewhere."
The museum houses three galleries: the Butterfield Family Gallery, the Bank of Bermuda Mezzanine and the Rick Faries Gallery, named for a former Masterworks chairman, which showcases mostly works of local artists. Visitors may purchase artworks at as many as 20 shows per year.
In addition, the Masterworks Artist in Residence Programme spotlights works of visiting artists at exhibitions and selling shows. (236-2950, www.bermudamasterworks.com)
Bermuda National Gallery At Hamilton City Hall, the Bermuda National Gallery is the cornerstone of Bermuda's cultural renaissance. Hereward Watlington placed that cornerstone 17 years ago with a collection of European paintings that included an exquisite piece by Cranach the Elder.
Today, BNG's Ondaatje wing displays a growing collection of fine and decorative arts relating to Bermuda, including expertly made cabinets, portraits, maps and photographs that document the islands' social and economic history. BNG's goal is to sharpen its focus on Bermudian photography as it builds the superb collection by Richard Saunders.
This year and next, the museum exhibits historic Bermuda-related paintings from the collection of a former BNG chairman. BNG and the Bermuda National Trust are unveiling an exhibition of the trust's historical resources.
In addition, the museum frequently exhibits its permanent collection of African art with a film that explains how the pieces relate to African culture. (295-9428, www.bng.bm)
Bermuda Maritime Museum
On six acres within The Keep — the old fortress at Royal Naval Dockyard — the Bermuda Maritime Museum encompasses seven bastions and eight historic exhibition buildings, including the Commissioner's House.
On a hill overlooking Grassy Bay, the Commissioner's House is one of the best examples of masonry work on the islands. Bermuda limestone was used to build the house and all other Dockyard buildings. Here lived and worked the civilian commissioner of Dockyard, which dates from the early 19th century and once was Great Britain's largest naval outpost.
Now, after 20 years of restoration, the museum features maritime art, including works by Steven Card and Deryck Foster, plus exhibitions on slavery, Bermuda's connections to the West Indies and the Azores, rare maps, the history of Bermuda tourism, the islands' strategic defences, and its currency through the years.
It also features carvings created by soldiers imprisoned in Bermuda during the Boer War in South Africa and both World Wars. Visitors find examples of Bermudian watercraft, including a unique fitted dinghy, and an exhibition on the advent of electricity in Bermuda.
Plans include an exhibition on the British Navy when it operated in Bermuda. Also, local artist Graham Foster, who marks his third year of painting a mural in the Pillared Hall to commemorate the 500 years since humans first visited Bermuda, will continue his work.
The Bermuda Maritime Museum produces an annual journal, supports archaeological projects on land and under the sea, and maintains a conservation lab and two libraries — one for research and the other for rare books and Bermudiana. (234-1333, www.bmm.bm)
Bermuda Society Of Arts Bright, airy and large, the Bermuda Society of Arts offers perhaps the best exhibition space for contemporary arts in Bermuda. More than 1,000 artists, from novices to professionals, display works in various mediums: photography, three-dimensional pieces, pastels, oils, acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal drawings, and weaving.
Shows rotate approximately every three weeks in four galleries: the Onions Gallery, the Edinburgh Gallery, and Onions Studios A and B. Look for notices about the shows in local newspapers, or ask your hotel concierge.
Beyond the visual arts, the society introduces other arts activities that you might not expect from a gallery. For instance, The Blues Brothers fundraiser recently combined visual arts with music. More than 600 people attended the event, which ran for two nights. Similar activities are planned each quarter. The society hopes to collaborate with dramatic artists and put on a "jewellery as art" show.
The society matches artists to potential buyers who have expressed interest in certain styles or techniques. It is, in that sense, the people's art gallery. (292-3824, www.bsoa.bm)
Bermuda Arts Centre
A nonprofit charity founded in 1984, the Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard offers visitors an opportunity to watch artists working on paintings, sculptures, jewellery and pottery.
Four studios accommodate resident artists Lynn Morrell, Chesley Trott, Jonah Jones, Julie Hastings-Smith, Angela Gentleman and Suzie Lowe. In the main gallery, artists exhibit work for sale in juried exhibitions. The Astwood room, a smaller gallery, also features exhibitions and works for sale. In addition, visitors may purchase posters, prints, cards and calendars in the centre's gift shop.
Drinks and hors d'oeuvres are served at rotating shows, which typically run for five or six weeks. Nine shows are scheduled for this year. (234-2809, www.artbermuda.bm)
Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation
Since it opened in 2007, Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation, an appealing community arts centre, has supported and encouraged artists in a variety of ways. The centre features three classrooms, classes for adults and children ages 2 and older, a print studio, four artist studios, and the Elliot Gallery, which presents shows from artists of all backgrounds and levels of artistic ability.
The core of the foundation is community education, says Fiona Rodriguez-Roberts, the centre's director. Children, for example, may attend classes to nurture or discover a talent, or to develop artistic coping skills for dealing with social or behavioural difficulties. (236-5963, www.kaf.bm)
Bermuda Historical Society
The ambience of a less-complicated time draws visitors to a haven in the heart of bustling Hamilton. Dating from 1814, gracious Par-la-Ville was the home of William B. Perot, Bermuda's first postmaster. Today it houses a wealth of exhibitions maintained by the Bermuda Historical Society.
The society showcases a superb collection of Bermuda-made silver, furniture and paintings, as well as fine china and other treasures brought in by merchant mariners. Also on hand are Sir George Somers' sea chest and lodestone, a copy of the original hand-drawn map of the Bermuda islands, and wonderful portraits of the founding father and his lovely Lady Somers.
Don't miss the collection of Bermudian currency, including the original "hogge money," cedar furniture dating from the 1600s and china made for the coronation of Edward VIII, cancelled when he gave up the British throne to marry commoner Wallis Simpson.
An exhibition commemorating the South African Boer War features cedar items carved by some of the more than 4,000 prisoners brought to Bermuda in 1901, as well as the medals of Fred Dolan, the only black Bermudian to have served in the conflict. Note the cedar carvings of some of the 58 German prisoners of war held in Bermuda during World War I and a display of souvenirs made for Bermudian Anna Maria Outerbridge, who formed a relief committee to oversee prisoners' needs.
Even items from the Napoleonic wars are on display, along with Bermuda police memorabilia; a crystal owned by Vincent Astor, a son of wealthy S.S. Titanic victim John Jacob Astor IV; and souvenirs made by descendants of HMS Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian.
Do not overlook the house itself, advises Andrew Bermingham, BHS president. Par-la-Ville, he says, is a prized Bermuda landmark, replete with old gardens and a rubber tree planted as a sapling in 1847. (295-2487, apbermingham@logic.bm)
Bermuda National Trust
Art lovers will appreciate the exhibits and furnishings in three historic properties maintained by the Bermuda National Trust: the Globe Hotel and Tucker House, in St. George's, and the Georgian-style Verdmont, in Smith's Parish.
Built of stone by Gov. Samuel Day in 1699, the Globe is notable for its double-span cedar and Flemish gables. The Historical Monuments Trust purchased the Globe in 1951 to house the Confederate Museum. In 1996, the Bermuda National Trust restored the building and installed a new exhibition, "Rogues & Runners: Bermuda and the American Civil War," which explains the boost given to Bermuda's economy by blockade runners during the U.S. conflict and later by Bermudian rum runners.
Family furniture and other heirlooms fill Tucker House, the first property acquired by the trust in 1939. The building is a typical merchant's house, with cellars and upstairs living quarters. It has a steeply pitched hip roof on the south side, with a double-flue chimney at the west end and lateral steps leading to a simple porch. Two enclosed courtyard gardens nurture herbs and other plants found in Bermuda in the 18th century.
Tucker House is filled with family furniture, silver and paintings, including portraits by Joseph Blackburne. Some of the china bears the Tucker family crest, and there are two handsome chandeliers.
The newest addition to the collection is a fine portrait of Bermuda Gov. George James Bruere. In the basement is an interesting display of items unearthed during BNT-supported archaeological digs.
Verdmont is a grand home built at the turn of the 18th century by John and Elizabeth Dickinson on 93 acres stretching from South Shore to Flatts. It is rumored that the Dickinsons paid for the house with booty from a pirate raid in the Indian Ocean. Since 1957, the elegant old home has operated as a museum.
The furniture displayed here is the best created in Bermuda from 1700 to 1800, and other Verdmont treasures are equally impressive. They include the works of John Green, whose portraits of Thomas Smith and his daughters grace the house in which the artist once lived.
The old kitchen, thought to have been slave quarters, is part of the African Diaspora Heritage Trail. (236-6483, www.bnt.bm)
Bookish Bermuda
Perhaps Mark Twain said it best: "You can go to heaven if you want to. I'd rather go to Bermuda."
In the late 19th century Twain was a frequent visitor to the island chain and did much to boost Bermuda's early tourism efforts by writing about the destination in magazines and books.
But Twain was by no means the only literary icon to fall in love with Bermuda. Other writers captivated by Bermuda's classic beauty include Rudyard Kipling, C.S. Forester, Edna Ferber and E.B. White.
In the 1920s, playwright Eugene O'Neill lived in Warwick Parish, where he worked on The Great God Brown, Lazarus Laughed and Strange Interlude at Spithead, the one-time home of Hezekiah Frith.
The infamous privateer is said to haunt the house, but that did not stop Noel Coward from taking up residence there some three decades later. The world-famous playwright stayed in Bermuda for two years, working on a ballet and the musical Sail Away.
But perhaps it was Katherine Anne Porter who loved Bermuda best. During her long, turbulent life, she lived all over the world, but it was in Bermuda that she said she felt most at home.
"I was never so happy, never so straight in my mind, never so hopeful," she wrote to a friend shortly after arriving on the island. "I had never dreamed of so much."
DID YOU KNOW? Bermuda's earliest artists were itinerant British painters and military topographers.
DID YOU KNOW? Winslow Homer painted 19 watercolours in Bermuda between 1899 and 1901.
DID YOU KNOW? John Lennon was so inspired by the "Double Fantasy" freesias he saw at Bermuda's Botanical Gardens that he named his classic album after them.
DID YOU KNOW? Georgia O'Keefe produced 12 known works in Bermuda in 1934, including a pencil-and-ink sketch titled "The Banyan Tree," valued today at more than $75,000.
Plan to visit to Bermuda now by checking availability and booking online. It's fast and easy — click here.
Get more information about Bermuda's art galleries and artists using the link at the top of the page.
The Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard
Royal Naval Dockyard
Tel: 234-2809
Website: www.artbermuda.bm
Voted Best of Bermuda's Best Art Gallery 2006, the Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard is one of the island's premium galleries, featuring both traditional and contemporary art, all created by local artists. On location are four studios where you can meet the artists and see them at work, including an oil painter, a cedar-wood sculptor, a jeweller, and textile and ceramic artists. The gallery, open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., also has a large selection of prints and locally crafted gifts, ensuring that no one need leave empty-handed.
The Birdsey Studio
5 Stowe Hill, Paget
Tel: 236-6658
E-mail: linberg@northrock.bm
The Birdsey Studio began almost 50 years ago as a convenient venue for visitors from Hamilton to refresh themselves after walking or cycling up steep Stowe Hill (previously Strawberry Hill) in Paget. Here painter Alfred Birdsey once displayed his works by hanging them from a clothesline on the verandah. Now Birdsey's colourful, unusual works are known around the world. In 1968 Birdsey relocated his studio to the Bermudian garden of his family home, Rosecote. Birdsey's daughter, Jo, has carried on his artistic legacy since her father's death in 1996. Her style celebrates her father's memory but establishes her own artistic niche. Her paintings reflect her love of life and Bermuda. She has exhibited locally and in New York. Selected pieces have been reproduced in private editions, and her work is collected in Britain, Europe and Scandinavia. Studio hours are 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. weekdays. Appointments are recommended.
Come and visit Lisa-Anne Rego's new gallery to see award-winning images of Bermuda's buildings, people and waterscapes using soft pastels and oils. The artist is on site regularly to explain and sign her work. Her gallery opens seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from April 1 to Dec. 31 — later on Monday during Destination Dockyard — and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Jan. 1 to March 31.
Nicholas Lusher Antiques & Fine Art
Tel: 236-2773 (by appointment)
Cell: 747-8747
Fax: 232-3454
Website: www.nicholaslusher.com
E-mail: nicholas@nicholaslusher.com
Nicholas Lusher has a wealth of expertise in antiques and fine art, specialising in historical Bermuda-related items, and has traded in art for almost 30 years. Trained at Sotheby's Institute, Lusher is a former trustee of the Bermuda National Gallery and the Bermuda Society of Arts. Previously owner of two public commercial-art galleries in Bermuda, he now sells by appointment. Private appointments for viewing at his residence are made by telephoning first. He offers to collect visitors from their hotels and return them by car after an appointment. Lusher is located on the Paget-Warwick border, just a five-minute ferry ride or a seven-minute car ride from Hamilton.
Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art
Botanical Gardens, 183 South Shore Road, Paget
Tel: 236-2950
Website: www.bermudamasterworks.com
Set in the Botanical Gardens at Paget, Bermuda's first-ever purpose-built museum houses a collection of over 1,000 pieces of Bermuda-inspired art. Renowned artists such as Georgia O'Keefe, Winslow Homer and Albert Gleizes can be found on display, as well as a continuously evolving show of local artists in the Rick Faries Gallery. Local art and a selection of museum merchandise are for sale, with a gift shop and café planned for the spring of 2009. Handicapped accessible with a ramp and an elevator, Masterworks opens Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed on public holidays. General admission is $5; free for members and children under 12.
Make your Bermuda trip even more memorable with dolphins! Dolphin Quest offers fun, interactive dolphin encounter programs for all. Book your adventure today!
Have a fun-filled vacation with a cycle from Oleander. If you can ride a bicycle, you can easily ride an Oleander scooter. See all of Bermuda...reserve one today!
Relax, enjoy, save and see Bermuda by bus. A blue or pink pole indicates bus stops. If the pole is topped with blue, the bus travels from Hamilton; if the pole is topped pink, the route is toward Hamilton.
ExperienceBermuda.com The official web site of the
Bermuda Hotel Association. Copyright 2003/09, HCP/Aboard Publishing, a division of Aboard Publishing, Inc., and subsidiary of The McClatchy Company.
Bermuda's land area may be small, but its appreciation for the arts is immense. Over the past 20 years, this tiny island outpost has enjoyed a cultural renaissance of truly monumental proportion.
The foundation holds an impressive collection of historic works, mostly paintings, by artists who found inspiration in Bermuda. Besides Homer and O'Keefe, visitors have included Marsden Hartley, Albert Gleizes and Charles Demuth, whose works are amongst the 1,200 in the museum's growing collection. 
At Hamilton City Hall, the Bermuda National Gallery is the cornerstone of Bermuda's cultural renaissance. Hereward Watlington placed that cornerstone 17 years ago with a collection of European paintings that included an exquisite piece by Cranach the Elder. 
Now, after 20 years of restoration, the museum features maritime art, including works by Steven Card and Deryck Foster, plus exhibitions on slavery, Bermuda's connections to the West Indies and the Azores, rare maps, the history of Bermuda tourism, the islands' strategic defences, and its currency through the years.
Bright, airy and large, the Bermuda Society of Arts offers perhaps the best exhibition space for contemporary arts in Bermuda. More than 1,000 artists, from novices to professionals, display works in various mediums: photography, three-dimensional pieces, pastels, oils, acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal drawings, and weaving.
Drinks and hors d'oeuvres are served at rotating shows, which typically run for five or six weeks. Nine shows are scheduled for this year. (234-2809, www.artbermuda.bm)
Don't miss the collection of Bermudian currency, including the original "hogge money," cedar furniture dating from the 1600s and china made for the coronation of Edward VIII, cancelled when he gave up the British throne to marry commoner Wallis Simpson.
Built of stone by Gov. Samuel Day in 1699, the Globe is notable for its double-span cedar and Flemish gables. The Historical Monuments Trust purchased the Globe in 1951 to house the Confederate Museum. In 1996, the Bermuda National Trust restored the building and installed a new exhibition, "Rogues & Runners: Bermuda and the American Civil War," which explains the boost given to Bermuda's economy by blockade runners during the U.S. conflict and later by Bermudian rum runners.
The furniture displayed here is the best created in Bermuda from 1700 to 1800, and other Verdmont treasures are equally impressive. They include the works of John Green, whose portraits of Thomas Smith and his daughters grace the house in which the artist once lived. 
In the 1920s, playwright Eugene O'Neill lived in Warwick Parish, where he worked on The Great God Brown, Lazarus Laughed and Strange Interlude at Spithead, the one-time home of Hezekiah Frith. 
DID YOU KNOW? Bermuda's earliest artists were itinerant British painters and military topographers.
Make your Bermuda trip even more memorable with dolphins! Dolphin Quest offers fun, interactive dolphin encounter programs for all. Book your adventure today!
Have a fun-filled vacation with a cycle from Oleander. If you can ride a bicycle, you can easily ride an Oleander scooter. See all of Bermuda...reserve one today! 
Relax, enjoy, save and see Bermuda by bus. A blue or pink pole indicates bus stops. If the pole is topped with blue, the bus travels from Hamilton; if the pole is topped pink, the route is toward Hamilton.
