Paintings In The Garden V (PITG5) “Age of Aquarius”
by Alicia Aberdeen Art, LLC

Paintings In The Garden (PITG) is an annual art show and fundraiser produced by Alicia Aberdeen Art LLC. Our organization is committed to creating spaces for artists of the Caribbean diaspora and beyond, to shine and represent the many layers of our creative culture. The event showcases fine art and performing arts from the Caribbean arts community in an all-inclusive, one-night extravaganza, which is then followed by a full exhibition that runs for one to two weeks.

This is the show’s 5th year in production. We will partner again with The Consul General of The Republic of Trinidad & Tobago to bring relief to the Serenity Place Empowerment Center for Women in Trinidad. We are also doing a repeat-partnership with The Coalition For The Homeless NYC. Funding from PITG5 will provide much needed assistance to the facilitators of drug rehabilitation in Trinidad & Tobago as well as help families in the NYC Shelter system, while continuing to establish the PITG brand as a self-sustaining philanthropic organization promoting Caribbean Arts and Culture in the region.

Our Purpose and Mission

At Alicia Aberdeen Art, LLC, we work on art shows and projects that drive Trin'bagonian and Caribbean culture in other ways, alongside yet apart from, the traditional carnival fetes and activities. These art shows spotlight Caribbean culture and heritage that celebrate genres of talent while championing real causes in real-time. We are able to use the greatness of creativity to truly help people in need. In this way, we pay-it-forward immediately! A percentage of ticket sales, as well as proceeds from every piece that sells go directly to families poised and in need of that helping-hand. This year, a percentage also goes toward aiding rehab centers in Trinidad.

Paintings in The Garden V (PITG5), carded for November 11th, can and will provide such aid while celebrating the wonderment and marvel of life and its gifts to us. In years past, we’ve championed topics of taboo and addressed issues that polarize us and create situations that must be tackled weather in peaceful creative protest or otherwise.

As we actively transition from the age of Pisces to the age of Aquarius we’re experiencing a rebirth; a cleansing and shedding; a regenerative energy that this year’s show will hone. This is an age that’s associated with hope and innovation. Therefore, for our 5th anniversary we want to focus on all things positive as we look at the many different lived layers that have brought the artists to this current point. We will feature the paintings of Alicia Aberdeen-Jones; Embroidery art of Adele Todd; exquisite pieces from jewelry designer and silversmith, Janice Derrick of JANICE DERRICK JEWELLERY; and artisanal bath, body and home fragrance from BHĀVANĀ NYC by Tashari DaSilva of Jamaica. And for the first time ever, my twin students Yves and Zach Briggs, 13 years old, living and thriving through autism!

The 2023 installment of PITG will offer insights into the many facets of existence that bring us happiness; the big and the small; the obvious and the inferred; the outright joys and the derived ones... while touching on elements of Caribbean culture. Aquarius is also the astrological sign of Alicia Aberdeen-Jones, the creator of PITG.

We also want to really showcase the beauty of coming together and we will do so specifically through the musical entertainment segment of the show. A dance production by Wynter’s Dance Empire will open the performances. We will be offering one of our own icons of culture, the amazing Carol Addison singing alongside baritone jazz vocalist Ricardo Mendoza with world class steel pan out of Trinidad, from the ultimate showman Mr. Dane Gulston fused with tabla and sitar from Mr. Ehren Hanson and Mr. Indro Roy-Chowdhury, with the resident DJ Stiladancer in attendance.

We are celebrating the hard work and all that goes into this plight; for coming this far in our mission and we’re making a salute to the work ahead. We want to revel in the positive side of things amidst all the madness and confusion that have seemed to become the norm. We are a movement from the ground up and will showcase our many different positive sides as a people!

Aquarius is all about collective responsibility. The hope is to ignite a willingness to be part of a larger system, versus being concerned only with one’s own immediate nucleus. Paintings In The Garden V will do just that by showcasing a carefully curated collection of artists across genres under one roof within one major occurrence called Age of Aquarius!

There is Always a Cause – My backstory, My why!

I was raised as a Seventh Day Adventist whereby the practice is that 1/10th of earnings is given to the church tithes. In growing up it was instilled in us that help is given, whether or not it is convenient. Giving became a matter of responsibility—I still feel that way today. My earliest exposure to homelessness was as a young woman when I helplessly watched my own brother descend from a talented young man, with a world of opportunity, to being homeless for 17+ years, with no outreach due to the crippling effect of drug-addiction and helplessness. That now middle-aged man, is working his hardest to beat his addictions. He is employed and self-sustaining with the aid of the Rebirth House for Rehabilitation and round-the-clock help from his dedicated sponsors/employers HADCO in Trinidad. So in his name and honor I am compelled to do whatever I can to assist those in similar circumstances and particularly come to the aide of the persons and corporations that facilitate these recoveries, without whom there would be little hope.

Years later after that early experience and after moving to New York in the early 2000s, I was blessed to work with my childhood friend Antonio Gonzales who had been involved in helping women and girls in the NYC Shelter System. What an eye-opener that was! I discovered there really is no partiality, and therefore no judgement as to whom homelessness can affect. I have seen people from top-level stature to the abandoned and abused end up in shelters. Its reach has no bound. And so, mine eyes have seen it, so my heart must embrace it.

For the families receiving aid, PITG is a small avenue of community outreach with a big impact on the lives of those we touch. I must therefore use my God-given talents in selfless ways to the best of my abilities. This, I believe, is my calling in life.

Tracy Agarrat