Cayman Art Galleries | Arteccentrix Gallery Cayman Islands

Fine Art Services In The Cayman Islands

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Arteccentrix Fine Art Gallery Ltd offers a lot more than a commercial gallery space and a little look behind the scenes reveals a whole lot more to Nickola McCoy-Snell’s passion when it comes to her business.

As a well known artist herself, Nickola brings years of invaluable experience and insight into the local art scene and can help you with a host of services related to her knowledge of art in the Cayman Islands. Drawing on an unrivaled pool of contacts and her experience gained as a teacher and outreach officer during her time at the National Gallery, Nickola lives and breathes art, something reflected in her own award winning and extremely collectible work. This deeply ingrained passion and determination has made Arteccentrix the first port of call for those at the leading edge of the blossoming local art community and those looking for just that little bit extra.

Arteccentrix has worked on various projects with corporate and private buyers, consulted on government projects and can help you with your art project too, no matter how large or small. Representing many of Cayman’s leading artists, the gallery can help you source original works of art, whether existing or commissioned pieces, can assist you in deciding on the best fit for your space and budget, and consult with you every step of the way, whether you are looking for art for a lobby, conference or board room, or an entire office suite we can help you secure the art that suits your taste as well as your pocket.

If you are in the business of real estate and are seeking artwork for a project of any kind, we can help with that too. Contact us to see what options are available to you and how we can help you on anything from a single property to a condo development or similar.

Those seeking artwork for their own homes are welcome to call in at any time or contact us by telephone or email. If you would like help in selecting a Painting or sculpture that perfectly emphasizes a special space we can make a home visit and assist in finding the perfect piece.

We realize that original art represents a significant investment, particularly at the top end of the market, and we want to make sure that you are happy with your choice and to this end we will bring the artwork to your home and leave it with you so that you can be sure you can live with the art that you buy. We understand that sometimes, just seeing a beautiful painting hanging in a gallery does not always give you the same feeling as when you see it displayed in your own environment. If after seeing a painting in the comfort of your own home you decide it is not for you, we will collect it and try to help you find an alternative that you can be genuinely happy with. Nickola will do her best to ensure that you show any artwork in its very best light in terms of placement etc.

An additional and often unseen part of Arteccentrix’s services is the production of high quality fine art prints. Nickola’s husband has overall responsibility for the production of giclee prints on paper and canvas and works on every piece himself, from initial digital image production right through to stretching the final canvases. Every single print is hand made and finished to exacting standards – we do not use any outside services and all our prints are produced to order in-house.

If original artwork is outside of your budget, prints can be a much more affordable option for the home or for corporate and business projects and with a wide selection of artwork available as prints from top local artists there is no reason why you cannot enjoy beautiful paintings at a fraction of the cost of an original. Whatever your requirements, we aim to provide a quality product and service whether you are looking for a single print or a large number of paintings. Call us to find out how we can help you – we are always more than happy to work with you and help you beautify any area with local fine art.

What is more, we will deliver island wide at no cost to you, be it a large original painting or a print order, just let us know where you would like your art delivered and we will get it done for you. If you are visiting, we will ship worldwide or prepare any piece for travel if you prefer to take it home with you. Finding and owning your own piece of beautiful Cayman art has never been easier.

Latest Gallery News

The following video is a quick tour of the gallery during a recent re-hanging of the space and shows some beautiful never before seen original pieces from artists including Al Ebanks, Gordon Solomon, Renate Seffer, Mikael Seffer, Teresa Grimes, Randy Chollette, Robert McKendrick, Avril Ward, John Broad, Moyra Curtis, Suladda, Patrick Broderick and Steve Joscelyn.

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Jul 27, 2010 | Art Galleries, Art and Photography, Cayman Art News, Cayman Islands Art and Artists, Videos | Leave A Comment »

Cayman Islands Art | Social Networking

You may or may not have noticed on recent visits to the site that you are now able to register as a member and take advantage of our social networking tools.

We wanted to provide a community aspect to the site which would enable people in Cayman as well as those from overseas to interact with one another, make new friends and contacts and engage in social networking in a very focused environment.

If you check the right hand sidebar of the site you can find the relevant members only menu. All you need do is register and you will have the opportunity to add your profile details including your own website URL’s, choose your privacy settings, add friends and promote your new home at Arteccentrix using your unique members URL. For example:

http://arteccentrixgallery.com/Maurice

Just add your newly created username to the end of our address as shown. As a member you can then make status changes and talk to your friends, add new friends, and post information and updates for your network and friends.

At present the membership is small but we hope that the thriving art community in the Cayman Islands as well as overseas visitors and local residents will join in and make the Arteccentrix community a great place to be. We know that people from the island are extremely active on major social networks such as Facebook and hope that this facility will be a popular extension of their online social networking.

If you have any questions at all please feel free to contact us using the contact form on the site. We look forward to meeting all new members and hope that you will take full advantage of this communication aspect of Arteccentrix Fine Art Gallery Ltd.

Start meeting new people, connect with existing friends and colleagues and enjoy yourselves.

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Jul 15, 2010 | Cayman Art News, Cayman Islands Art and Artists | Leave A Comment »

“10″ Fine Art Group Exhibition and Sale : July 1st 2010

Cayman Artists Score a Perfect 10

George Town, Grand Cayman.

A cross section of established and emerging artists are all exhibiting at Arteccentrix Fine Art Gallery’s latest group exhibition entitled: “10″: Love, Hope and the Pursuit of Happiness”.

The exhibition, which runs from 1^st to 23^rd July, features artwork specifically in a 10” x 10” format and all of the works depict the theme of the show as interpreted by the artists.

Cayman artists Avril Ward, Randy Chollette, Gordon Solomon, Moyra Curtis, Theresa Grimes, Sue Howe, Renate Seffer, Mikael Seffer, Nickola McCoy, Robert ‘Bob’ McKendrick, Patrick Broderick, Steven Joscelyn, Alta Solomon, Suladda, John Broad, Dora Williams, Joseph ‘Gumba’ Betty, Sandra Salangana, Carole ‘Caz’ Mayer, Al Ebanks, Maureen Lazarus and Peggy Leshikar are all exhibiting their works.

Arteccentrix owner Nickola McCoy-Snell says the idea for the show came about as she and her husband Maurice decided it would be great to incorporate some new and up and coming artists in addition to well-known established artists in the show, to give them the opportunity to become part of the thriving fine art community in Cayman.

The Arteccentrix Fine Art Gallery is situated in Governors Square and opening hours are from 10am until 6pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 4pm on Saturday, so don’t miss the chance to see this eclectic mix of all that Cayman’s art community has to offer – concentrated in some beautiful artwork measuring just 10″ x 10″.

This is a great opportunity for collectors seeking new names to add to their fine art collections as well as first time buyers taking their first steps into purchasing original fine art from local artists in Cayman as all pieces are priced extremely affordably with no one work costing in excess of $1000 CI and most priced at considerably lower than that imposed ceiling.

You can view many of the pieces that will be included in the show below – click on any image for a larger picture of each. If you cannot make it to the opening night which will begin at 6pm on July 1st, and are interested in acquiring any particular piece, you can contact the gallery by email or telephone or call in to see us in person at Governors Square during normal opening hours.

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Jun 28, 2010 | Art Galleries, Art and Photography, Cayman Art News, Cayman Islands Art and Artists | Leave A Comment »

New Artists, New Friends And A New Beginning At Arteccentrix Gallery

The gallery in Governor’s Square has now been open for a week and it has definitely been an exciting six days.

We have met with several of our new artists and for the most part we have some fine examples of their work on display. So, here is a quick summary of some of our week’s news and highlights.

Just prior to opening we had a visit from Bendel Hydes which was my husband’s first chance to meet with one of Cayman’s most famous artisans. Bendel had come to visit the gallery and gave us his candid assessment of how things were looking. Unfortunately we do not have any of Bendel’s work to share with you, but please visit his website if you are unfamiliar with his work. We entrusted into his care my Painting, “Father’s Eyes”, which is due to be auctioned for charity at the Art For The Heart gala event this month.

We mentioned one of our new partners in a previous post – Greg Lipton. We are currently offering four monochrome works by Greg and they are all quite stunning and interest in his paintings has been high. Judging by some of the complimentary feedback it will not be long before he makes his first sale with us. You can view some of Greg’s paintings at his own website through the above link but if you would like to admire them first hand, please call in to see us soon.

We also had the pleasure of meeting with Leigh Pawling a wonderful artist from Kingston PA in the United States and are currently preparing a beautiful nine feet by seven feet abstract work for showing. Leigh is a well established artist in her own right and works in a wide variety of styles. Her work also includes many murals in her homeland and she has recently been selected as one of several artists who will be working on the city of Philadelphia’s murals project which is going to be a huge and exciting venture. Leigh has an excellent website where you can view a good selection of her work and follow her on her blog. Be sure to look out for the impressive piece she has consigned to the gallery in the weeks ahead.

Cayman artist Joseph Betty has also signed with Arteccentrix and at present we have two of his pieces on display, adding a burst of his signature bold and bright colours to the current exhibition. When we make the next website updates we will have several examples of Joe’s work on display on these pages, but again, in the meantime, we invite you to drop by the gallery and enjoy his paintings first hand.

Cayman artist Luelan Bodden has not only consigned several pieces to us, he also did some amazing restoration work on an antique half table for us as an opening gift – thank you Luelan, it looks amazing!

Luelan’s abstract piece entitled “The Sting” is already attracting a lot of attention and is in stark contrast to his very original depiction of an old Caymanian Home entitled “Wattle and Daub” which we guarantee is an original piece the like of which you will never have seen before, painted directly onto a “canvas” which is a work of art in its own right, fabricated from course natural coconut palm. We also have two signature free standing lamps, that Lue has created lovingly from recycled natural materials, recovered from Cayman’s shoreline. The lamp stands are beautifully finished sturdy bamboo with a tactile high gloss finish and the shades have been painstakingly forged from coral and sponges. Again, the description does not do the intricate craftsmanship justice.

Cayman artist Chris Christian was a surprise visitor early in the week and we are pleased to say we now have a single piece of his work – it is one of his own personal favorites and we know that parting with it was not an easy decision for him but his offering adds yet another dimension to the quality and diversity on display. It is a rare chance for collectors to acquire a beautiful piece of work from another of Cayman’s Native Sons artists and, although we say so ourselves, at a very keen market price. We don’t think it will be gracing our walls for too long. A semi abstract piece that depicts a typical fishing scene from Cayman and evokes a feeling of peace, maybe a little nostalgia, it is a warm and relaxing offering in one of Chris’s signature styles of golden hues and warm earth tones. We are delighted to have been given the chance to share his work.

The close of our first day of business was marked by a surprise visit from artist Christel Ibsen and her husband Bob who very kindly brought in a bottle of champagne to celebrate – a lovely surprise and a great way to end our first day in business. Thanks Bob and Christel!

galleryopening

The gallery was featured in the Cayman Compass at the end of the week and brought visitors from as far afield as the UK – we actually met some people staying on the island who were from the small fishing village in Cornwall where my mother and father-in-law lived for almost 25 years and knew of us through a mutual friend! It turned out that their daughter has lived and worked in Cayman for as a teacher for the past five years. A small world indeed and it was a great chance for my husband to reminisce and talk about home for a while.

Pepper Patch Cayman Islands Pepper Jelly We also had the pleasure of meeting Carol Hay the owner of Pepper Patch in Grand Cayman. For those who don’t know Carol or are unfamiliar with her Pepper Patch brand of pepper jellies you can get the lowdown in the article from the Cayman Compass in the above link. We were delighted that Carol was interested enough in the gallery to offer some sponsorship in the form of providing for our guests at future shows and events – a great combination of Cayman art and delicious Cayman produced pepper jellies promises to be a “tasty” prospect .

Don’t worry though, if your taste buds can’t wait for a gallery show you can find Pepper Patch at a wide range of outlets across the island and it is well worth seeking out. Carol has already converted two more people to her delicious product! A smart marketer and entrepreneur as well as a manufacturer of a fabulous traditional local product and a wonderful lady. So, big thanks to Carol, we can’t wait to spread the Pepper Patch experience to many more people in the months ahead. If you want to know more you can contact Carol on 526-6932 0r email her at chay(at)BrittHay(dot)com

As you can tell, we have met some amazing new people in the past six days and look forward to meeting many more. The response to the gallery space and the work on display has been very positive and encouraging and we thank everyone who came by to see us in our first week. We welcome anyone who wants to just come and browse – as a commercial gallery we are in business to connect artists with buyers but the art is there to be enjoyed by everyone who visits.

Some people may feel that a fine art gallery can be as intimidating as, let’s say, a gymnasium in some ways but rest assured you will receive a warm welcome and we love to see visitors studying and enjoying the paintings and sculptures. Rather than pressure, we hope and aim to offer a relaxing environment that anyone can enjoy and if looking is all you have in mind, do not let that stop you from coming into the gallery to see us. Art for sale is art to be appreciated too.

We should add that we may be able to provide a quality fine art print of the work you most admire, a much more affordable option if you’re budget for art is of a more modest nature. If you see something you like, please ask us if you are interested in a reproduction and, depending on the work in question, we may be able to offer you a more affordable way to own the painting you fall in love with. Our giclee prints are virtually indistinguishable from the original and can be produced in a range of sizes, both smaller and larger than the original work. If you would like to see an example, we will be happy to show you the results that can be achieved, to help you decide if a giclee is the right choice for you.

No doubt we have forgotten to mention several people and stories from our first week but as you can tell it has been a whirlwind of activity from start to finish and left us all exhausted and exhilarated. It is wonderful to know that we have brought a commercial fine art gallery back to Grand Cayman, for its artists, people, and art lovers from all walks of life.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Nickola & Maurice

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Feb 14, 2010 | Art Galleries, Cayman Art News, Cayman Islands Art and Artists | Leave A Comment »

Fine Art Gallery Arteccentrix Coming To Governor’s Square

Arteccentrix is excited to announce the upcoming opening of Cayman’s newest and only fine art gallery in Governor’s Square.

The past few weeks have been a flurry of frantic activity and meetings with Mr Bobby Bodden, the owner of the Governor’s Square complex on Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman. Mr Bodden and his staff have worked miracles to ensure that the long held dream of artist and Arteccentrix owner Nickola McCoy-Snell, a fine art gallery for Cayman, will soon be opening its doors to the public.

Since the closure of the Morgan Gallery in Galleria Plaza last year, art lovers on the island have been deprived of a place to view beautiful artwork by the island’s top artisans and the artists themselves lost the invaluable asset of a commercial venue to display their artwork.

With the opening of the Arteccentrix Gallery, a commercial venue for the viewing and buying public and a showcase for the leading artists in Cayman will once again a part of the local art scene.

At present, the gallery space is being fitted out by a great crew who have been working non-stop to create a wonderful environment for customers and artists alike. The opening date is still unconfirmed, but initial plans will see the gallery open from Monday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm.

Arteccentrix - A Gallery In Progress!

We will of course announce full details as soon as they are known, along with an official grand opening at a time and date to be specified. We don’t want to give too much away regarding the artists and the work that will be on display when the gallery opens – we hope that residents and visitors alike will call in to see us and rest assured, there is going to be some breathtaking work to view.

It is our hope that whether you come to buy or just to browse and connect with us, that any visit to the gallery will be a memorable one. We will continue to offer fine art giclee prints all made on the island, as well as original paintings, carvings and sculptures, aiming as we always have to make fine art accessible and affordable for everyone.

Arteccentrix will be the venue for solo exhibitions by a diverse range of local artists throughout the year and has already confirmed that it will host the annual Native Sons exhibition in 2010.

For notification of all Arteccentrix updates become a Facebook fan, subscribe to our newsletter or RSS Feed or add us to your Google toolbar – whichever suits you best! Watch this space for all the latest news news on the opening of Cayman’s newest fine art gallery and updates regarding all events and shows.

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Jan 19, 2010 | Art Galleries, Cayman Art News, Cayman Islands Art and Artists | Leave A Comment »

Giclee Printing On Canvas : A Guide For Consumers

The term fine art giclee is very loosely applied and overused nowadays. There are a lot of misconceptions, misunderstandings and straight untruths spread around on the internet which can make it very difficult for people to understand and judge the quality of the printed work they are buying, whether as a retail customer or an artist getting into prints for the first time.

A lot of people will be familiar with photography stores and printing shops that offer prints of photographs transferred to canvas but what most do not understand is that this does not necessarily qualify as a giclee print. In fact in all probability it is not even close.

Specialist giclee printing requires a good deal of equipment and time if a quality reproduction of an original Painting is going to be produced. This is why we recommend that artists seek out a specialist when ordering prints of their own work.

The printing process requires that the print maker is familiar with colour profiling and has both the hardware and software, along with the knowledge of how to get the best out of them, to ensure that the finished print will match the original as closely in tone and colour as possible. Working with digital images requires knowledge and experience as well as costly programs if the job is going to be done right. Of course it also requires a wide format giclee printer utilizing specific inks/pigments to ensure the longevity of the finished work.

Here at Arteccentrix we only produce giclee prints for artists. Unlike the photography/print store in town or the local industrial park, we are not a mass production facility, we are a husband and wife team, and each and every giclee we produce is carefully prepared, printed and finished by the same person. We do not print flyers and business cards and everything in between – our printing business is geared solely to producing quality art prints.

For canvas giclee prints, after the image has been satisfactorily edited for best/most accurate reproduction we normally produce an in house proof just to ensure that there are no issues with tones and colours before printing the full size work. Once this is done, the print is allowed to dry for at least 48 hours.

After this waiting period the canvas is cut and trimmed and then sealed with a UV protectant, sometimes sprayed, sometimes applied by hand. Although the canvas used is waterproof and acid free, this sealing process is very important and is what you should expect from any giclee printing service working with canvas. Once the sealant has been applied the print is left to “cure” for at least another 24 hours.

Once the print is fully dry it is then stretched onto stretcher bars – all our prints are gallery wrapped so that they can be hung without framing if preferred. A gallery wrap ensures that the image wraps around the stretcher bars so that no bare canvas is visible. You will see many sites online offering “gallery wrap” on canvas prints advising that you will lose an inch or more of the image by choosing this option! Rest assured that we know how to produce a proper gallery wrap and will prepare the image correctly prior to printing so that none of the original painting is lost. (Services that suggest you have to sacrifice any part of your original painting are doing you a disservice. The reasons and excuses for this could be numerous but laziness, incompetence or “rush jobs” are the most common).

After a very careful final inspection the finished canvas is then sealed carefully in a protective clear bag and labeled ready for sale/delivery.

Cayman Heaven

As you can see, the time and work involved in producing a fine art giclee on canvas is quite considerable. You can now also appreciate that anyone who claims they can produce a canvas giclee in a morning while you do your grocery shopping, or “while you wait” is being a little economical with the truth. Prints on canvas vary hugely in quality so you should never assume that canvas automatically translates to high caliber giclee fine art print.

It is not uncommon to see prints labeled as “giclee” that are, in actual fact, lithographs printed on very poor quality paper. There is nothing wrong with lithographic prints of course, but we have often seen blatantly poor quality “cheap” prints touted as something they are not. This adds even further to the misunderstandings surrounding reproductions and the pricing/quality/value equation.

As with quality, pricing varies enormously but in general you will get what you pay for. there are plenty of sites online that allow customers to calculate the cost of a giclee print on various substrates and in various sizes, framed, unframed etc etc. If you spend time comparing like for like products on a number of sites you will probably be very surprised at the range of prices you are quoted.

Our own research has proved that there are people out there who are ripping customers off pure and simple, others are cheap but not offering true quality and those who are charging a fair price for their labours. Some can offer a complete service from scanning the image right through to framing and others offer less comprehensive services. Whatever your needs, shop around to get the best deal you can for your needs and remember that in the world of giclee printing, the caveat of “buyer beware” should always be kept in the back of your mind. As an artist, If you can get the work done locally we would recommend you do so. This will enable you to be far more closely involved and less likely to end up with something you are not happy with.

We have not yet published our retail price list on the internet for a variety of reasons and promise to do so soon but judging by what we have seen elsewhere we do consider our work extremely reasonable. We have deliberately tried to keep our prints affordable with a high value for money quotient and without compromising quality in any way. As a small family operation we keep our overheads to a minimum and try to pass on our cost savings to our customers.

As a guideline, at the time of writing, a stretched, unframed canvas giclee measuring 24″ x 18″ normally retails at CI$135.00 (that is approximately US$165.00) Bear in mind too that these reproductions are all of original works by well established and widely collected artists. Don’t take our word for it though, shop around for the same item online and see what others are charging.

East End Beach - Sue Widmer

If you are an artist having prints of your own work made that you intend to resell you have to consider your own profit margins too and how much you can command for prints of your work. So, as an artist you should really be looking to work with someone who will offer you a wholesale deal if at all possible.

Arteccentrix is currently the only service of its kind in the Cayman Islands. We are here to serve artists, retailers and direct customers, negating the need for work to be shipped overseas as has always been the case in the past. We only use the finest quality acid free archival papers and canvas – we do not do cheap alternatives.

(Due to our close working relationships with the artists at Arteccentrix, we sometimes produce signed limited editions as well as hand finished prints on occasion or if specifically required. All signed limited editions would be numbered, hand signed by the artist and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity also signed by the artist).

Further note for artists:

In order to produce a truly high quality print, a high resolution digital scan or photograph is essential if a printer is to do your work justice. If you do not have a high res image for us to work from we can produce one from your original work for a small one off fee. If you prefer to provide the digital images for us, digital photographs should preferably be in RAW format – this will mean large file sizes but it makes the process of preparation far simpler for us and will produce the best results. If you have a quality DSLR camera and tripod and a reasonable understanding of lighting there is no reason you cannot produce these yourself. The ideal is to produce three photographs, one correctly exposed and one on either side, one stop up and one stop down. A lot of DSLR cameras have this bracketing facility built in and it can be very useful when preparing a final image for print. The other alternative is to ask a professional to take the photographs for you. If you have access to a high resolution scanner it is another option you may consider although much will depend on the physical dimensions of the original work!

If you have any questions at all, please contact us and we will do our very best to help.

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