Art in the garden, Yazzy's at www.williamverdult.com

According to Jamaca Cleaner.com, for those in the know, the signs that the Yuletide season is upon us are as varied as the many festivities throughout the season. But without a doubt, for those in Kingston, one sure sign is the arrival of invitations to the annual smasheroni by Anthony and Jeannie Watson; and over to the north, the annual staging of the Harmony Hall Art and Craft Fair at the historic Harmony Hall Great House.

The Harmony Hall Art and Craft Fair is one of those long-standing traditional outings that is both an exposition as well as a fabulous soiree of definitive social magnitude. The owners of the complex, Peter and Annabella Proudlock, are not only leading exponents of Jamaican art and craft, they are, in fact, leading members of the very socially active north coast expatriate community.

Their standing within that community, and their unimpeachable reputation as prolific and sincere art dealers, propelled many struggling artists from obscurity to recognised artists. Such, my dears, is the cachet of the Proudlocks.

Last Sunday, was the 26th anniversary of the Harmony Hall annual exhibition and craft fair. To celebrate this particular milestone, the gallery hosted one fabulous exhibition, showcasing the works of some of Jamaica's leading contemporary artists. Art and craft was also available in the gardens by some of the island's leading masters, and a book-signing by noted advertiser and playwright, Anthony Gambrill, of his well researched and presented tome, In Search of the Buccaneers.

Anyway, my dears, it was all that and then some. Opening speaker Anthony Gambrill was as erudite as he was poignant, so much so that his delivery was described as "words of wisdom" by at least one attendee.

The assemblage of art from the various artists on offer was one fabulous mosaic of the range and artistry that exist in the Jamaican artistic community. There were liberal doses of the thematic Caribbean, Jamaica in particular, but there was no escaping the wider confluence in the presentations from some of the leading artists of our time.

notables

And so, while it may be initially difficult for the acute observer to see the work of David Pinto, Joanna Brasch, Deryck Campbell, Cecil Cooper, Laura Facey, Jag Mehta, Susan Shirley, and Graham Davis in one exhibition, the co-ordinated display attained artistic proportions!

Among the notables out were: Mrs. Linda Gambrill; Custos of St. Ann 'Rocky' Walters and his wife Mrs. Norma Walters; Professor Rex Nettleford; The Hon. Maurice and Valerie Facey, head of EU delegation Ambassador Marco Mazzocchi-Alemanni; Honorary Icelandic Consul Robert MacMillan; Geoffrey and Pat de Sola Pinto, and their son, artist David Pinto.

Also out were the lovely Sue McManus; Peter Fraser; the fabulous Maxine Walters; Greg Shirley; David and Elle Rickham; Dennis Rappaport; the charming Belinda Nash; Joey and Asha Issa, the simply fabulous Gunvor Magarity-Graves; Carl Bliss and Dawn Fuller-Phillips; the charming Yvonne Gore; William Hendricks; the lovely Alex Ghisays and her son; Nancy and Virginia Burke; Tony Passmore; Sally Bagenal and her son Beach Bagenal; Andrew and Caroline Grant and their children; Johnny McFarlane; Delores Force; Wayne and Myrene Cox; Steve and Pam Campbell - from Michigan, who raised nearly $20,000 for Swift Purchell Boys' Home in Highgate.

Also in attendance were: Gordon Cooper; Karen Schlieffer; travel writer Kathy Mangan; Wendy Lee; Kathy Snipper; Humphrey Taylor and Lisa Solon; Prem Mahtani, and clairvoyant Yara Nitt; plus several others. It made for a most fabulous outing, followed by lunch (for some) at the fab Evita's Restaurant in Ocho Rios, where the host Eva Myers proved a class act, and then some!