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Thursday 27 July, 6-8pm

National Gallery of the Cayman Islands

Come join us for a panel discussion exploring the evolution of the Biennial and its impact on the Cayman Islands art scene, which is being hosted at the National Gallery. Featuring the selection jury from this year’s biennial, speakers include Davin Ebanks, Leonard Dilbert, and Natalie Urquhart, moderated by William Helfrecht. Drinks and light refreshments will be served.

Speaker Bios:

Davin Ebanks:

Davin Ebanks is Assistant Professor and Head of Glass in the School of Art at Kent State University, in Ohio. As one of Cayman’s foremost sculptors, he primarily utilises glass to explore his personal and cultural history and examine the relationship between identity and environment. He is a recipient of the Silver Heritage Star from the Cayman National Cultural Foundation, and his glass sculptures can be found in the collections of His Majesty King Charles III; The Kerry & C. Betty Davis Collection of African American Art, and NGCI. His sculpture, Adjacent, was selected as the winning submission to NGCI’s public sculpture competition in 2014, and now permanently graces the front entrance to the National Gallery. In 2019, Ebanks was featured in the A-Z of Caribbean Art, published by Robert & Christopher Publishers, one of only four Caymanian artists to receive this distinction. Having exhibited frequently in Cayman, he was the subject of a solo show, Blue Meridian, at the National Gallery in 2011, and was featured in the first two editions of the Cayman Islands Biennial. Overseas, Ebanks has shown his work at SOFA Chicago and at CONTEXT Art Miami, as well as at The Sculpture Center in Cleveland, Ohio, which hosted the artist’s solo exhibition, Nowhere is Blue, in 2021. Notably, he is the immediate past winner of the Bendel Hydes Award and currently serves on the Board of the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands.

Leonard Dilbert:

Leonard Dilbert is a leading authority on Caymanian art and culture, and one of the finest literary voices of his generation. He completed a BA (Hons.) at McMaster University, an MA at the University of Western Ontario, as well as an MsC in Social Policy and Planning at the London School of Economics. A practicing poet, Dilbert’s book-length collection of original poems, Grown From This Ground, was published in 2003. In addition to authoring several published works, he has led poetry workshops, and participated in public readings and literary festivals across the Cayman Islands, Canada, England, and the United States. His poem, ‘MANNA’, was chosen as Cayman’s official selection for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In 2013, Dilbert retired from a lifetime career in the Cayman Islands civil service, having served in various capacities, including as Permanent Secretary, Deputy Chief Officer, and finally as Chief of Staff in the Office of the Premier. Leonard is a recurring Cayman Islands Biennial juror, having first served for the inaugural edition in 2019, and participated as a featured artist in the 2nd Cayman Islands Biennial in 2021. Over the years, Dilbert has sat on several cultural boards and committees, and is currently a member of the National Gallery’s Collection Committee.

Natalie Urquhart:

Natalie Urquhart is a Caymanian curator and arts manager with 20 years’ experience in the Caribbean cultural sector, where she specialises in developing creative strategies, programming and exhibitions. Having served as the Director of the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands since 2009, Urquhart has played a critical role in stewarding the development of the Caymanian contemporary arts scene and raising the reputation of Caymanian art locally and internationally. She is a former core committee member of the Tilting Axis Caribbean contemporary arts alliance (2016-2020), and a board member of the Museums Association of the Caribbean, serving as MAC’s president from 2017-2020.

As NGCI’s Chief Curator she has spearheaded groundbreaking exhibitions such as REVIVE: Contemporary Caymanian Craft, Persistence of Memory, Tidal Shift – Explorations of Contemporary Caymanian Identity, and Art of Fashion, as well as establishing the Cayman Islands Biennial, and initiatives such as NGCI Creative Careers, the Big Art Auction series, Business of Art, the Art at the Airport initiative, and the Sister Islands travelling exhibition programme. She is a leading authority on Caymanian art and has regularly published papers and exhibition texts on the topic, along with the country’s first formal art history, Art of the Cayman Islands, and the Caymanian artist sections of A-Z of Caribbean Art.