Dr. Lea Haynes speaks with Jonathan Guy-Gladding, a Massachusetts-born artist, who has spent several years visiting the island of St. Lucia. Originally journeying to the region on a Peace Corps mission, Guy-Gladding formed an attachment to St. Lucia and it became his muse, reinvigorating his desire to paint. His book, Caribbean on Canvas, is a collection of the artist’s works, the focus of which is explored in this interview. Read the conversation here, exclusively for ARC.
Jonathan Guy-Gladding was born in Massachusetts in 1969 and grew up on the peninsula of Cape Cod. As a child, Guy-Gladding drew all of the time, focusing mostly on airplanes, spacecraft and WWII battle scenes. For him, drawing provided the level of entertainment children today get from computer games. Guy-Gladding studied Fine Art at University of Massachusetts. In 1994, he moved to New York where he worked as a computer artist for Sesame Street. In 1999, Guy-Gladding went to St. Lucia as part of the Peace Corps effort and it is here where he developed his own artistic style, the outcome of which is a collection called Caribbean on Canvas. Guy-Gladding has exhibited his works in parts of the Caribbean and US.
Leanne Haynes: Jonathan, please can you tell the readers what prompted you to apply to work in the Peace Corps, which led you to move to St. Lucia in July 1999?
Jonathan Guy-Gladding: I wanted to broaden my horizons a little and make a contribution that would be challenging and require a little sacrifice. Growing up, I admired the people who served in WWII and other wars and wanted some type of character-building experience in my life. I remembered the Peace Corps commercials from when I was a kid – “The toughest job you’ll ever love.” The two-year commitment sounded a little daunting, but eventually I went through with my application because I didn’t want to think about it years later, wishing I had done it.
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