Nov. 8, 2001 – Artwork by a member of the University of the Virgin Islands family is hanging through the end of the month in the Reichhold Center Gallery on the UVI St. Thomas campus.
"Images in Charcoal" is the title of the exhibition, which showcases the artistic talent of Hilda Lewis Joyce, associate professor and director of academic administration at the university.
The collection of portraits "exude personality with a full range of graphite texture," a release states.
Joyce's interest in art dates back to her school days at the Charlotte Amalie High School Annex in what is now the Legislature Building. She is a graduate of Morgan State University and Michigan State University and has been an associate professor and administrator at UVI for the last 30 years.
Hurricane Marilyn destroyed much of her personal art, including a mural of Christ on a wall in her home and many of her early paintings and drawings. A couple of years ago, inspired by a photograph of a recent UVI graduate, she took up charcoal pencils to create a Madonna-like image. Exploring books and Internet resources on the techniques and materials of working in the charcoal and graphite mediums, she set about on a course of self-instruction.
She was guided by the counsel of an artist friend: "You don't need to take art classes. Just practice, practice and keep practicing."
The Reichhold exhibition is the result of two years of practicing. Her most recent portrait is of UVI President Orville Kean.
"I have discovered a love and, though self-teaching, a talent for the capturing of faces — faces especially of my people of color," Joyce says. Her faces, she adds, reflect "a history transparent in a gaze, in expressions that cry out for equality, and in a medium that lends itself incredibly well to the wonderful shades of blackness."
Joyce is a Premier Portfolio Artist, represented by absolutearts.com. Her work, under the title "Framed Faces," can be found on the absolutearts web site.
The show is open to public viewing during Reichhold Center office hours — Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. — and during intermission on evenings when there are performances on the Reichhold stage. For further information, call 693-1550.
