Teaching - Researching my first book - A Brief History of Graphic Design in Trinidad and Tobago

As I started to work as a Lecturer at John S Donaldson Technical Institute, I hit the ground running on that very first day that I entered the school. I was taken to the second floor to meet the students who were doing Clothing and Textiles. I was told that I was going to meet them. I was escorted by the Head of the Department. He was very cordial to me, and I walked into the room feeling quite happy to be introduced before I would officially be asked to teach.

Then to my complete surprise he left me with the class. He was at the door when I turned and whispered, where are you going?

I took a few quick steps toward him as he paused only to hear him say,

They are all yours. This is your class. Teach them.

I was mortified.

I had been a student and now, I was a shiny new foreign educated upstart.I realised that when I had entered the staffroom that day that nothing was prepared for me. I had to find a seat and a table and clear out the shelves of those colonial wooden drawers. I was allotted one shelf of a metal unit behind me and that was as welcoming as it would get. To say that I had to learn at the speed of light was an understatement and I always say that teaching is a calling. It is not for the faint of heart. It can be done as a profession without all of that romantic consideration, but without it, it is not a job that many can stay in without that foundation. When I enetered that class that fateful day, I may have initially felt as though I were wading into deep waters, but I saw the horizon. .

.........

I had known the teachers as a student and I concluded that I was not welcomed because I was not a colleague in their minds. I took that in stride, giving everyone the respect expected of the department. This meant way more listening than speaking and as I completed my first year. I found many snippets of information that wafted my way, leading me to wonder about Graphic Design as it related to Trinidad and Tobago. My direct superior Elizabeth French had also graduated from PRATT Institute and seeing her portfolio when she returned with her degree had been the final incentive to realizing my own dream.

The Head of Department, Miss Archibald had retired, but she visited the school often and I decided to ask her about her own history.

Miss Archibald told me that she had left Trinidad and Tobago to study Art. She was in France when our first Prime Minister Doctor Eric Eustace Williams called her in the very early 1960’s, pre-Independence to return home to assist with the vision of a new country. He told her about John S Donaldson Technical Institute being built and its importance to the island as a whole. She would be pioneering the certificate in Commercial and Applied Arts. She was persuaded and she did what he requested.

Miss Archibald taught us about the Bauhaus Movement. Paul Klee’s Color Theory. The Grid System, Picas as a rule of measurement. How to eyeball a layout of text and photography for symmetry. We learned to draw lettering by hand, respecting negative space and could take a small image and create it at a hundred times the size.

With every class we became better practitioners. We painted every form of color wheel. We cut, scored, folded and glued assignments together with scathing critiques that demanded perfection. Those critiques coming from our peers and ourselves because the standard was so high.

I cannot count out the Painter Carlisle Harris as well. Whatever Miss Archibald did not touch on, he elaborated. He showed us how to think critically. How to consider working in dimension by doing bas relief and sculptural forms. We learned screen printing techniques from tearing paper to precision printing in four colors. He too taught Art and Design theory and showed us the practice.

As my first Art teachers who had gone abroad and returned to teach - Mr Harris had gone to Howard University. It behooved me to want to read at least a pamphlet about those who were there as Trinidad and Tobago became a nation.

Where was the writing? What book or journal could I find that could tell me about my own? A Brief History of Graphic Design in Trinidad and Tobago needed to be written. It was a whole mouthful, audacious thought that I set for myself.

This book begins with our First Peoples. Gerard Besson’s Book of Trinidad provides much of the research. Mr Besson deserves a huge acknowledgment for his impact on me and so many others in the field of graphic design. This I shall do in another post.

The First Peoples of Trinidad and Tobago at the very least have left us with their language, culture, habits and respect for our land.

The second observation is of all of the people who came. The Spanish, the Africans, the French, the British, the Portuguese, the Indians, the Chinese, the Syrians and the Lebanese. Everyone brought their languages, culture, religion et al.

After slavery ended, how the collection of diverse peoples moved forward is first acknowledged in how the island became a literate environment. How our citizens exchanged goods and services and interacted in ways that made our island home must be considered.

As the 1900’s crested and in eleven years the First World War began, how did our broadsheets look? Able bodied men of Trinidad and Tobago were conscripted to fight for Mother England.

As a series of firsts, also written by Gerard Besson. To write the brief history, it serves to note all that little specks of dust off the coast of Venezuela produced so much. From being the very first oil company in our hemisphere to being the place where television was pioneered.

Trinidad and Tobago also lent its brilliant minds to the world in the guise of Eugene Chen, C L R James, Stokely Carmichael to name but three… all of this fits into the history by the sheer fact that the term graphic design is so broad. As a term meaning visual communication I argue that any vehicle or body can be used in that way.

The Brief History of Graphic Design encompasses the continuous and continuing history of Trinidad and Tobago. Emphasis is placed on what makes graphic design local. How we have used radio, television, newspapers and all media as we have. Thus some inclusion of a Trinidad Aesthetic must be discussed.

A Brief History would not include Tobago because of the different history that our sister island has experienced. Tobago is deserving of its own book.

Over the years, I have come across so many remarkable stories for this thesis. It is a largely male, Caucasian dominated field. However because of our diversity, very quickly over the last hundred years the discipline has attracted citizens of every group.

From Auntie Kay, Holly Betaudier, Ian Ali and Hans Hanoomansingh.

Our brief history is a rich tapestry.