Arias in Mango Trees
Foster’s clay sculptures are born out of a dialogue between minimalism and nature. Using the bird-like songs of the title as the inspiration for these works, the vessels are neither purely functional nor purely sculptural, but rather an inventive marriage of the two. Her work featured in the exhibition Revive: Contemporary Caymanian Craft at NGCI in 2017.
About the Artist
Virginia “Auntie V” Foster
b. 1950
Virginia (‘Auntie V’) Foster (Belizian–Caymanian, b. 1950). Born in Belize, Foster arrived in the Cayman Islands in 1977. Here she became an educator, a youth librarian in the Public Library Service and a board member of CNCF. Auntie V is a performer and storyteller at Gimistory (CNCF’s storytelling festival) and on Radio Cayman and is also an accomplished ceramicist, designer and poet. Foster won the 2014 Emerging Pioneer Certificate at the National Heroes Day Award ceremony and the 2012 Gold Star for Creativity in the Arts from CNCF.
Her work is included in the permanent collections of NGCI and the Cayman Brac Museum, and is featured in The Art of the Cayman Islands: A Journey Through the National Collection (Scala Fine Arts, 2016). Exhibitions at NGCI include: Ceramic Art (2014), All Access (2015), Revive: Contemporary Caymanian Craft (2017), and the solo exhibition Virginia Foster: Wonders of Clay (2021).
