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Another special person that makes Frederiksted his home is artist Larry Safady. I recently caught up with him and wanted to share with you a little about his amazing artist!
Larry Safady, a native Californian, discovered the beauty of the Virgin Islands about nine years ago, when he spent some extended time in St John with a friend. He fell in love with the people, the flora and fauna, and the luscious waters of the Caribbean. He was seeking a more “livable” and affordable place in the Virgin Islands, and someone turned him on to St Croix; he has been coming here regularly for the last six years and staying in Frederiksted… home of “the best beaches in the world!” Larry loves the water and spends a lot of time in it!! No better place to do that than in St Croix!
When on-island, Larry has accomplished many things, including being a featured as the “Artist in Residence” at the Caribbean Museum for the Arts, where he enjoyed teaching various mediums to both adults and children (including watercolor, sculpture, clay), as well as getting to indulge in his passion for painting, sculpture and art made from “found objects.”
I first saw Larry’s work when it was on exhibition at balter, one of St Croix’s most beautiful and sumptuous restaurants. I was mesmerized by the emotion captured in his art. The paintings on display included a lot of slavery motifs. There was real pain expressed in those paintings. When I asked him about the theme for this body of work, he said that after coming to the islands, he developed an emotional response to the horrors of slavery (which are less obvious in the states) that tend to stare you in the face here: ruins, sugar mills, even dungeons. They say some people wear their feelings on their sleeves. Larry wears his on his canvases! What Larry produces will stir feelings in you, I imagine. They certainly touched me, and others who were with me that evening.
If you’d like to see more of Larry’s work, friend him on Facebook or give him a call. He will be in St Croix soon, hopefully for a while, and if you are on-island then, maybe you too, can see and be touched by his work.
