Bridges 2026: Artists at the Top of their Form

M.A. Dworkin

St. Croix - There is something ultra-exciting about walking into an art exhibit and finding yourself immediately surrounded by works of art that makes your head spin with delight, makes your heart pump with excitement, and makes your senses tingle with a new found sense of discovery. This is the feeling that will likely come over you when you visit the new art exhibition Bridges 2026 that recently opened at Cane Roots Art Gallery in Christiansted.

This annual exhibition brings together a diverse collection of master artists whose work reflects the richness of Virgin Islands  culture, identity, heritage and shared human experience.

There is always so much great art on the walls of Sonia Nahar Deane’s artist’s bastion on Company Street, that it is difficult to say anything else about the current collective  exhibit, but that it reaches those same heights of greatness. 

Yemaya Jones’ Sankofa Now, mixed media Vintage Mahogany Wood Divider and Fabric, is the welcoming door into the exhibit. This magnificent 4-panel screen sings out warmly to all who enter, filtering light from outside as it illuminates the entire exhibit, passing through one of Yemaya’s hallmark fabric designs. Enter Ye, All Who Love The Arts! We Welcome You To Our Home!

Jeff Condit’s Musicians I Love, mixed media, once again displays the mastery of this brilliant manipulator of images that formulate his jaw-dropping collages. Here is an artist at the top of his game. He knows every inch of his territory on the canvas. He knows how to excite the senses, how to titillate with a colorful explosion of snapshot images. He mixes splashes of color and short reels of reality in a wild fashion that leaves the viewer twisting and turning their heads, craning to catch up with where this is all going. And art patrons are more than satisfied with the bits and pieces of love this man puts into his work.

Victor Cepeda’s Paradise 212, acrylic and paint marker, simply blows us away with his conception and execution of this fantasy that surrounds a volcanic island. This is a work that is so unique, so fanciful that it immediately excites us in ways that are completely unexpected. Ottoman style buildings painted in pastel Caribbean colors, perched on the side of a volcano, some floating in mid-air, waterfalls cascading into the sea, one and all creating a fantasy island like none ever before. It all screams: Take me! Take me! Where do I sign up for your fantasy island? Where life is so beautiful and grand! Where dreams can come true! But alas, you can jump onboard, but know this, it is here that the artist’s imagination is the grandest fantasy of all!

Therese Trudeau’s Happiness Is, acrylic and paint marker. This work first appears as if it is a great mystery. A forensic blueprint that leads us to some unknown place of wonderful exploding colors. We follow it off the canvas to a world of wonder, to a cheerful place, where one fire burns low, another burns cool. It somehow reminds us of good times, of strong ties between two hearts, of a happy destiny that makes life worth living. 

John Obafemi Jones West Gyul Magic, acrylic, is so St. Croix, so Crucian, it could appear on a postage stamp for the Territory. Two female mates hanging out in colorful wear, watchful eyes, digging the scene, confident in their approach to life. They are aware they may not have all the answers, but they certainly know most of the questions to ask. And they will not be fooled. No, no. They see how things are and how they should be. They may or may not be silently plotting change. But they are the future.

Opening night of Bridges 2026 was packed with patrons who came to see art that would lift their spirits, magically transport them to a better world - at least for one night. And there was indeed a crackle of excitement in the air for the collective of artists who performed such a magical feat.      

“The show evolved in my mind from Mike Walsh’s Untitled Cacophony, Metal Works, Glass Table and Base,” said Ms. Deane on the show’s opening night. “Everything that you see on the walls developed from his piece.” 

And that statement right there, when you look at and understand Mr. Walsh’s simple but undeniably strong iron work figures, clearly displays the frolicking imagination and artistic intuitiveness of Sonia Nahar Deane who has curated show after show of innovative works of art at Cane Roots. Ms. Deane has presented exhibition after exhibition that continues to push the artistic envelope outward for an appreciative and growing constituency that finds art, although under appreciated by many in today’s high tech, social media oriented world, is most likely our savior, our anchor to hold onto during all times, our bridge that continually leads us into a world of wonder, discovery and hopefully into a place of worldwide peace. 

Kudos, Sonia Nahar Deane! Kudos Grand Lady of the Arts!

Bridges 2026, closes October 17th. At Cane Roots Art Gallery, 24 Company Street, Christiansted, 340-718-4929