Gladwyn Klosking Bush (14 March 1914 – 24 November 2003), also known as Miss Lassie, was a

Caymanian Caymanians are the status holders or born citizens of the Cayman Islands. As a British Overseas Territory, citizens of the Cayman Islands will hold British Overseas Territories Citizenship. There is no record of a native people to the Cayman I ...

folk painter.

Life and career

Gladwyn was born in South Church Street, George Town, Cayman Islands in March 1914 to Richard and Margaret Bush and was one of ten children. Many Caymanians who grew up with her described Gladwyn in her childhood as being a "wild child". Friends recalled her chasing them and her brothers down the beach with a machete. Others remember her having broken glass bottles lining her fence due to a belief it would protect her household from spirits. During her life, she was not oblivious to those who declared her a madwoman, but instead took some pride in the matter. Henry Mutoo, one of her biggest supporters even stated “reputation that she had was like a lot of older people – if you get on her wrong side she would curse you. So this is why perhaps she had this reputation of being a madwoman.”

Paintings

Bush began painting aged 62 after an experience she described as "visionary". She was inspired to produce artwork after having multiple visions in her sleep of Jesus visiting her and the island. Her work is a mixture of religious themes and documentation of events that had happened on island. For example, one of her works records a large tidal wave which had struck the island in 1932. She painted mainly in

oil on canvas Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest o ...

. She also decorated the walls and furnishings of her home with her work. Her "visionary" art style also served as inspiration for other artists who have also experienced similar visions.

Awards

In 1997, Bush was appointed to the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List "for services to art in the Cayman Islands". She was also awarded the Heritage Award of the

Cayman National Cultural Foundation The Cayman National Cultural Foundation (CNCF) is the official arts council for the Cayman Islands. It was founded in 1984. The Cayman National Cultural Foundation manages the F.J. Harquail Cultural Centre and the US$4 million Harquail Theatre. ...

. The foundation also published a book of her paintings, ''My Markings...the Art of Gladwyn K. Bush'', and she has been profiled in numerous books of

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrate ...

. Her paintings are in private collections worldwide, and may also be seen at the

American Visionary Art Museum The American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) is an art museum located in Baltimore, Maryland's Federal Hill neighborhood at 800 Key Highway. The museum specializes in the preservation and display of outsider art (also known as "intuitive art," "raw ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

House

Following her death in 2003, possession of Gladwyn's home was given to her son Richard. He died shortly after and the interior was destroyed by

Hurricane Ivan Hurricane Ivan was a large, long-lived, Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread damage in the Caribbean and United States. The cyclone was the ninth named storm, the sixth hurricane and the fourth major hurricane of the active 2004 Atlant ...

in 2004. The land was then purchased in 2008 by and preserved by the Cayman National Cultural Foundation. Since April 2011, it has been open as a museum, providing bimonthly tours every second and fourth Saturday. It is also available for school-led tours by appointment.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bush, Gladwyn 1914 births 2003 deaths Caymanian painters Outsider artists British women painters 20th-century British painters 20th-century British women artists Women outsider artists Members of the Order of the British Empire