Painter and pioneer of Art Education in Grenada
John Benjamin was born in Paraclete, St. Andrews, Grenada in 1934, and began painting from a young age, winning the Grenada Arts Festival silver cup from 1958 to 1961. In 1961-62 Benjamin was the first Grenadian to be awarded a Commonwealth scholarship bursary by the Ministry of Education to study art education at Brighton College of Art, becoming the first qualified art teacher in the Windward Isles. He was one of 200 teachers from twenty countries in the Commonwealth awarded a bursary.
While in Sussex, he hosted a one man exhibition at Hove Museum of paintings he had made previously and brought over with him, depicting life in Grenada in the West Indies and including ‘By the Light of the Tropical Moon’, ‘The Wonders of West Indian Evening’, ‘Unity is Strength on Santeurs Day’, ‘The Wonders of Light on Bathway Beach’, ‘They Dream Their Lives Away’, ‘That Golden Look on Marlie Hills’, ‘High Street in the Quaint Town of Santeurs’ and ‘Pageantry and Colour of a Market Day’ (Argus, 22 September 1961).
Benjamin returned to Grenada in 1962 where he taught art for many years in elementary and secondary schools. Benjamin also served as Supervisor of Art in the Ministry of Education. Internationally collected, Benjamin worked in both oil and watercolour. Also a poet and historian, Benjamin, won a BBC Prize in its First Caribbean Poetry Contest in 1980, and authored the 1991 book Short History of Grenada: New Dimensions. In 1992 Benjamin received an MBE (Member of the British Empire) for his contribution to the development of the visual arts in Grenada. After his passing in 2010, an eight-foot tall steel sculpture by Maria McClafferty titled Celebrating John Benjamin was installed at Grenada’s Maurice Bishop International Airport in 2014.
Further Reading
Eric Johnn, “Heeding the Mermaid’s Instructions,” Calabash: a Journal of Caribbean Arts and Letters 3, no. 2 (Fall-Winter 2005), https://doi.org/10.33682/ebj3-tzge
G.B.T.V. CultureShare ARCHIVES 1986: JOHN BENJAMIN M.B.E. “Documentary” – see the two part film below