CoralGables-June2018

Jacqueline Gopie
Ideas on Art: “Having come to art late, I had a long time to
think and observe. There’s not a lot of imagery of young, black
children simply playing that doesn’t disclose their socio-economic
environment. It’s often about kids in the ghetto. And the
majority of ways that black people are portrayed in the media are
negative.
“My background in the Army was nursing, so I have some
understanding of physiology. The way your visual cortex works is
to simplify information, to process it quickly to survive. So, when
you see repeated negative images of black people, your response
to black people becomes negative.
“With my art, I’m creating a different image, a counter to the
negative. I’m keying into a time in everyone’s life that is pure and
innocent – childhood, seaside. What could be more delightful! I
want to change the narrative.”
Pictured with Jamaica Day at Port Royal, 72 inches by 36
inches, acrylic on canvas, $8,000: “I went with my sister to Port
Royal on Jamaica Day, and all these schoolkids were there, dressed
up in shorts and T-shirts in Jamaican flag colors. There had to be
20 busloads of kids running around. This one little group of boys
was off to the side of the fort. I usually take photographs of kids
from a distance, and I try to get a group, so I can move the images
around and paint them later. This group was chasing each other
around a tree, and the way the light was hitting them, it looked
like they were glowing. What I wanted to capture was the light in
their movement. I added a mineral called pearl mica in the paint,
which helps create the illusion of light shimmering.”
BORN: Kingston, Jamaica in 1960.
EDUCATION/TEACHING: University of
Miami, BFA in 2005 and MFA in 2012.
Mentored by late professor Walter Darby
Bannard. Has taught at UM.
KNOWN FOR: Painting, often using color in
broad strokes and portraying black children
playing seaside.
WEBSITE: www.jacquelinegopie.com
IN CORAL GABLES: Since 2002. In the US
since 1972. In U.S. Army for 21 years.
LAST EXHIBIT: Pleasure and Play solo
show, Wirtz Gallery, South Miami, 2018.
Top Left: Foot Race, 78x93 inches. 2018
Top Right: Girl in White, 9x3 inches. 2018
Page 49: Into the Big Blue, 40x28 inches. 2018
I’m keying into
a time in everyone’s
life that is
pure and innocent
– childhood,
seaside...
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thecoralgablesmagazine.com