For as long as she could remember, 18-year-old artist and pupil Deanna Beepath has always harboured an unwavering passion for the world of art.
Growing up in Clearwater, Rio Claro, Beepath would fill her empty moments with paintings and drawings of the world around her to pass the time.
When she passed for the Rio Claro West Secondary School on completing the Secondary Entrance Exam (SEA) years ago, she said she was thrilled to have the chance to immerse herself in the field.
For the past five years she has used the medium as a means of relieving the stress of being a pupil.
And after years of chasing this passion, the young woman was yesterday honoured among the region’s top performers for excelling in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Visual Arts 3-D subject.
Beepath, a Lower Six science pupil, is one of three pupils from the school who were named in the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) merit lists earlier this week—the other two, Bindi Bhagaloo and Rishon J Lakhan—earning spots in the Performing Arts Unit 2 (Music) category.
Speaking to the Express yesterday, Beepath encouraged young artists to keep pushing towards their goals.
“…I have always enjoyed creating art and have done it consistently. I think students should not give up and just keep trying no matter how hard the journey is, just keep trying,” she said.
Beepath said her final pieces were inspired by a connection to the environment, and were intended to represent the evolution of the planet.
“My final exam piece was a ceramic piece based on the topic of ‘lead man/woman’. It was a woman’s face with leaves and flowers. I read the topics and this one spoke to me the most. I wanted to showcase my connection to the environment. My final 2D piece was a mixed media painting which was a woman on both sides showing the earth before and after pollution,” she said.
A Ministry of Education media release yesterday noted Beepath’s rank as being the ‘Most Outstanding Performance’ within the field and offered congratulations on behalf of ministers Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly and Lisa Morris-Julian.
Hard work and dedication
Rio Claro West Secondary Art educator and Head of Department, 52-year-old Ursilla Orosco-Parris, yesterday attributed the school’s success to the hard work and dedication of both pupils and teachers.
Orosco-Parris, who has been teaching in the field for the past 32 years, told the Express that Beepath, who is currently pursuing Art & Design as a CAPE subject at the Lower Six level, has always been a well-organised and diligent pupil.
“She is a very quiet student. She would come to the art room, sit, take in the lesson, work assiduously and always was diligent with handing her work on time. She takes part in all the competitions we would have had at the school, internally and externally and she places in those as well. She is a student that is well organised and manages her time well,” she said.
Art remains an important means of self-expression for pupils who were at times overwhelmed by the pressures of academia, she added.
“The arts lend themselves to many things. It is self-expression for the child. It relaxes them. She is a science student. Sometimes they come in stressed about other classes and it is something for them to relieve that stress. It allows the child to express themselves in a non-verbal way. There is an open market now for entrepreneurs and it lends itself to the development of students,” she said.
She called on parents to allow their children to enter the field, as there was a growing market for creativity.
“I hope that more students can see the benefit of art in the students’ lives. Sometimes when they come into Form Four, some may tell their children not to do art even though their children love the field and can contribute to society. There is a market and people can learn and grow through it,” she said.