Basil Watson, OJ CD (born 1958), [1] is a Jamaican sculptor.
He is the son of painter Barrington Watson, [2] and the brother of sculptor Raymond Watson. [3] He was honoured with the Order of Distinction, Commander Class, in 2016, in recognition of his artistic accomplishments. [4]
Watson completed a sculpture entitled "Balance" in November 2006, which was installed at Doctor's Cave Bathing Club in Montego Bay in honor of the club's centennial. [2] Meant to depict the harmony between man and woman, the sculpture is of a standing nude man with one arm outstretched over his head and an inverted nude woman balancing on one hand, with her hand supported by the man's upraised hand. [2] In total, it is 15 feet tall. [2]
In December of that same year, he completed a statue of sprinter Merlene Ottey, which was installed at Jamaica's National Stadium. [5] The bronze sculpture, which is eight feet tall and weighs seven hundred pounds, depicts a running Ottey reaching for the sky with her right hand. [5] Prime Minister P. J. Patterson presided over the statue's dedication. [5]
Another work of Watson's was added to National Stadium in November 2009, when Prime Minister Bruce Golding unveiled his sculpture of sprinter Herb McKenley. [6] Watson described the task as an "honour" and a "privilege", citing the esteem in which he held McKenley. [6] He said that when designing the work, he drew from multiple images of McKenley created at different times to bridge the gap between McKenley's youthful accomplishments and his popular renown in his old age. [6]
Works by both Basil Watson and his son Kai, a painter, were exhibited in New York at the fifth annual "Art Off the Main" exposition in October 2008, sponsored by the Savacou Gallery. [7]
That December, Watson was added to the list of artists invited to provide works for the National Gallery of Jamaica's National Biennial exhibition. [8]
He was chosen from four finalists to create the United Kingdom's National Windrush Monument, which was unveiled at London Waterloo Station in June 2022. [9] [10]
Marius Jean Antonin Mercié, was a French sculptor, medallist and painter.
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Floella Karen Yunies Benjamin, Baroness Benjamin, is a Trinidadian-British actress, singer, presenter, author and politician. She is known as presenter of children's programmes such as Play School, Play Away, Jamboree and Fast Forward. On 28 June 2010, Lady Benjamin was introduced to the House of Lords as a life peer nominated by the Liberal Democrats. In 2024, she was honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship award for her services to television.
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Charles Henry Niehaus was an American sculptor.
The Order of Merit is part of the Jamaican honours system, and it is the fourth-highest honour awarded by the nation of Jamaica. The Order of Merit is conferred upon Jamaicans or distinguished citizens of other countries who have achieved international distinction in the field of science, the arts, literature or any other endeavour. The award can be held by no more than 15 living persons. It is not given to more than two people in any one year.
Basil Barrington Watson CD was a Jamaican painter.
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Alexander "Sandy" Stoddart is a Scottish sculptor, who, since 2008, has been the Queen's Sculptor in Ordinary in Scotland and is now the King's Sculptor in Ordinary. He works primarily on figurative sculpture in clay within the neoclassical tradition. Stoddart is best known for his civic monuments, including 10-foot (3.0 m) bronze statues of David Hume and Adam Smith, philosophers during the Scottish Enlightenment, on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, and others of James Clerk Maxwell, William Henry Playfair and John Witherspoon. Stoddart says of his own motivation, "My great ambition is to do sculpture for Scotland", primarily through large civic monuments to figures from the country's past.
Ante Dabro is a Croatian-born Australian artist/sculptor and art teacher who has lived and worked in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory since the late 1960s.
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The Musgrave Medal is an annual award by the Institute of Jamaica in recognition of achievement in art, science, and literature. Originally conceived in 1889 and named in memory of Sir Anthony Musgrave, the founder of the Institute and the former Governor of Jamaica who had died the previous year, the medal was the first to be awarded in the Western Hemisphere.
Alvin Tolman Marriott was a Jamaican sculptor. He worked in Europe, North and Central America, and Jamaica. Many of his carvings and statues are on public display and in administrative buildings in Jamaica and the UK.
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Valda Harris is a Jamaican-British painter, sculptor and writer.
The National Windrush Monument is a bronze sculpture by Basil Watson in Waterloo Station, London. It was unveiled in June 2022 by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. The monument commemorates the British West Indian immigrants who came to the United Kingdom on board HMT Empire Windrush in 1948, who subsequently became known as the Windrush generation. The inscription accompanying the monument lists the members of the Windrush Committee who commissioned the sculpture, and a poem by Laura Serrant, "You Called ... and We Came".