Afreekan Southwell

Afreekan Southwell: Master Sculptor, Drummer, Painter, and Teaching Art Educator Artist.

The discovery of the arts is an inborn concept, fostered from a very young age, the curiosities of how images formed and how to manifest shapes. The experience as a wood carver started at Greenbay Primary School, where I was first introduced to tools of carving. As the years grew, applying the discipline became the passport to an independent liberation in the arts.

I consider myself a self-taught painter, which I feel attracted to as an oil painter because of the smell of the oil paints. Migrated from Antigua to St Croix, USVI, that was the introduction to a newfound modality of the arts. 1987 a change of environment to St Thomas unfolded more hidden discoveries, realizing I was a musician (percussionist mostly drumming), in this discipline, it morphed into voice improvisation and the theatrical arts as an actor, stage designer, and manager. As an artist, the journey continues as a radio host for a reggae talk program for the last 30+ years on the oldest radio station in St. Thomas, 1340 WST Am, and online broadcasting. President of an annual woodworkers expo organization that showcases some of the Virgin Islands’ finest woodworkers.

I proposed to pass it on to a younger generation, so that being an artist is not frowned upon but making growth in their day-to-day journey of survival, not as a hobby but a full-fledged career development.