Trinidad and Tobago artist wants to create international platforms for local artists

Patrice Matthews may still be considered a baby in the TT art world, but her work was recently shown on an international platform – in Manhattan, New York.

The self-taught artist told WMN, during the covid19 pandemic in 2020, she needed an outlet for all the time she had on her hands and she began dabbling in up-cycling art.

“So I started off sort of doing cut-out art using cardboard and up-cycling materials. Most of my work is using up-cycled materials, which would be gift wrapping paper, magazines, packaging from things, invitations; anything that has a nice texture and look about it that makes for beautiful collages.

“And it kind of morphed from the cut-up into more complex collages.

“And I also do some abstract, a lot of it is sort of realism, and I love working with hummingbirds.”

As a former member of Women in Arts and a member of the Art Society of TT, her work was shown at exhibits in TT hosted by those organisations, as well as at the Thinkartworktt studio in Port of Spain, Horizons Art Gallery on Mucurapo Road, and at the Rotunda Gallery in the Red House. From December 9-13, two of her mixed media collages, Untainted and Violated, were on exhibit at the Paintings in the Garden 6 fundraiser, at the TT Consulate General in New York, curated by New York-based artist Alicia Aberdeen. Matthews flew to New York for the December 6 launch.

Aberdeen told WMN, “Patrice introduced herself to me online through my sister, Vanessa, in 2023 and I really liked what she showed me.

“I finally met her in person at my sister’s house in June, 2024. She reached out to me in August, but I already had my chosen artists. However, because her pieces weren’t big and they were so beautiful and poignant, I decided to include her at the very last minute. She was a wonderful add.”

Matthews said although she was disappointed that attendance at the launch was not at full capacity, “
It was amazing. I’m not sure if it was because of the weather or because it was Christmas time, but New Yorkers missed out on a treat.

“I loved the Caribbean flair and I was very impressed with the support that was given by the consulate in terms of hosting and just how gracious they were in terms of the art.

“So I think it’s an amazing initiative, and I just feel it should get bigger support than it does. I’m very grateful that she (Aberdeen) allowed me to have that exposure.”

Although she has no formal training in art, Matthews said she has always like drawing and painting.

“As a child I would have done art in school, but I don’t even think I ever took an art class.

“I did do like a little six-week painting course where you learned the colour palettes and how to do lights and shadows and so on, but I’ve never had any proper formal training.

“I’ve always been creative, so I’ve sewn things and I do consider myself a creative although I’ve always been more of a business professional.”

Matthews left TT with her family when she was a little over a year old. Her father worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was sent to London on an accounting scholarship.

“So the whole family went and I think we came back for a year…

“Then he was assigned again back to London, so he was at the High Commission in London where we stayed another, I don’t know, six or seven years.”

He was then sent to the High Commission in Ottawa, Canada until he retired on the grounds of ill health.

“
So as a youngest, I had to come home.

“My brother and sister were mid-university and I was really supposed to go back to get into Canadian university, but I happened to apply to the UWI…

“So I’ve been here (in TT) like ever since I was 17.”

At the UWI she did her degree in management studies and she said for most of her career she worked at the Telecommunication Services of TT (TSTT).

“I spent 15 years at TSTT where I went in as a graduate-in-training,” and left as the head of Mobile Marketing.

“After I left there, I freelanced with some international telecommunications consultant.”

She later worked full-time with other companies until she decided to do freelance work because she likes flexibility.

“
I’m freelancing and semi-retired very much sort of, you know, doing things on my own terms and in my own timing.

“I worked at Arthur Lok Jack on a freelance basis for about five years and I’ve also worked with the Bocas Lit Festival as executive assistant to the managing director Marina Salandy-Brown. I still do project support and executive assistance for Bocas, but again, on a freelance basis.”

And although she recently went back to work full-time doing front-office management with dermatologist Dr Naomi Dolly, going forward she doesn’t really see herself working full-time for anyone in her future.

“So I’m still on the fence if I really want to continue with full-time work because I love my flexibility. 
I love to travel and, you know, when you have to sort of ask a boss if you can get time off and all of that, it’s just kind of put a damper on it.”

“But being semi-retired has given me the time and the capacity to morph into different things,” among them being a more active artist.

Although she has received commissions including paintings of pets, she has her eyes set on a much bigger picture.

“
So I’m thinking, as I sit on the eve of 2025, that one of my New Year resolutions should be to have my first solo exhibition in 2025.

“I’m going to start making some calls and inquiries as to which gallery could accommodate me, and then once I get a date to start working towards creating a collection so that I can do that.”

Also, she said, like Aberdeen, she would like to be an advocate and maybe even a participant in creating more platforms internationally for TT artists.

“Because we have a lot of artists and there is just not enough people to consume all of the art and talent that’s in this tiny island.

“So I think with the fact that we have embassies and consulates outside of Trinidad and Tobago, that could be a starting point.

“And then, you know, just connecting with other galleries who might be interested in working with Caribbean artists and putting the logistics in place – the packaging, the shipping and the payments and so on.”

She said she understands the time and effort a project of this magnitude will take, but she is ready and willing to try to get government support or even do it privately, “where I can create another outlet for other artists like myself who would like to have exposure outside of just Trinidad and Tobago.”

Until then, though, the Petit Valley mother of two adults finds content in creating art and seeing her granddaughter on a regular basis.

 

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