Berlin Cassamajor

IF YOU GO
WHAT: Paintings by Berlin Cassamajor on display in solo art exhibit

WHEN: July 14 to Aug. 5. Reception 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. July 23

WHERE: Ridge Art Association, Chain O'Lakes Complex, 210 Cypress Gardens Boulevard, Winter Haven

COST: Free

CONTACT: 291-5661

Published Sunday, July 3, 2005


By Shelley Preston
The Ledger

McGordon's Learning Center is a burst of sunshine on the corner of 5th Street and Kettles Avenue in Lakeland.

Large swaths of primary colors circle the entire building, imploring eyes of both young and old in the neighborhood to take notice. The happy scene on the mural would be at home on a child's piece of construction paper.

A red school house set against a blue sky covers the front door. To the viewer's left, a smiling mother and her child greet patrons as they bring their children inside. Farther down, a family of birds dressed in hats and neckties under a pair of fluffy painted clouds hurry in from around the corner to deposit their chick at school.

The west side of the facade features children of different colors with wide grins holding their arms up in greeting as they stand along a bouncing road headed for a lemon-yellow sun.

"I wanted the outside to reflect the inside," says Cynthia Orduna, part owner of the day care. Two months ago, Orduna commissioned the mural from Berlin Cassamajor, a young artist from Winter Haven, to execute her vision.

"I didn't know him before he came to show me a sketch," Orduna says, "but we all fell in love with him."

Stopping by the day care recently, an affable Cassamajor, sharply dressed in black business pants and a light-blue pin-striped shirt, explains how 11/2 years ago, he put aside a job with the City of Winter Haven to pursue a career in art.

"My biggest goal is to support my family doing what I want to do. I want to look back 20 years from now and say I've done something satisfying with my life and enjoyed my work."

So far, he is succeeding. Besides the day care, other murals by Cassamajor in Polk County include a pair of faces rendered as flowing lines reminiscent of Japanese sumie painting against a pumpkin-colored wall at De Lashon's Fashions beauty shop in Winter Haven and rows of painted oak tress along a long path that disappears into the horizon at a residence in Fort Meade. He also paints on canvas and dabbles in commercial design.

Cassamajor's talent was recognized early on by his elementary school teachers in Miami, where he grew up as the son of first-generation Haitian immigrants. He was placed in advanced art classes where he explored a number of different mediums.

As adult life called, bringing the responsibility that goes with it, Cassamajor put down the paints and got an associate's degree in drafting from ATI Career Training Center in Miami. He married his wife, Natacha, in 1998 and soon moved to Winter Haven to get away from the scramble of the big city.

"We wanted to be in a place where we could grow as a couple. Winter Haven is very family-oriented," says Cassamajor, who has relatives in the area. "I decided it was a good place to start."

After five years with the city of Winter Haven, Cassamajor longed to return to his art. His wife and his cousin, Ruth Fairweather -- also artistically inclined -- implored him to release his creativity.

"I took a leap of faith," he says.

Cassamajor began with black-and-white portraits of friends and family and worked on new paintings. In 2003, he entered artwork to the Ridge Art Association. A year later, he was teaching art classes there.

Not long after he got his first mural gig at the beauty salon, Katherine Branch, a former colleague, asked him a favor. Hurricane Charley wiped out a grove of oak trees at the Fort Meade home of her grandparents, James and Leona Curry. Branch and other members of her family wanted to restore the patch of shade that the elderly couple once enjoyed from the trees.

"We wanted to recreate what they had," Branch says. "We wanted to give them a place where they could sit and eat their crackers, drink their Cokes and watch the birds."

Besides helping to build a new trellis for the couple, Branch had the idea of painting a mural on a nearby masonry building to add to the effect. She called Cassamajor.

Using Branch's loose vision as a guide, Cassamajor painted a string of leafy oaks along a foot path, and it delighted the Currys with its symbolic rendition of their beloved trees.

The most recent accomplishment for the artist is his first solo show at the Ridge Art Association in Winter Haven. Cassamajor said he hopes the show will further his quest to become a permanent fixture on the Central Florida art scene.

Back at McGordon's, Cassamajor brings out some of his latest paintings from the interior of his spotless white truck. In one, spindly legs and long arms tangle in a dynamic dance. Another canvas exemplifies a saxophonist brought to his knees by the euphoria of his music.

Busy inside the day care getting the children ready to go home, Orduna says, "We get a lot of compliments on our building. I feel like it has really elevated the neighborhood."

Cassamajor says in his artist's statement for his coming show that when he can spark creativity in others, "only then I feel that my work is complete."

July 2005 issue of Today & Tonight Magazine at issues/07.05

Summer 2005 Artifacts magazine article can be found at artifactsSum05.pdf page 20

The Art of Berlin Cassamajor
ArtWerks
Fine Art Supplies
5735 South Florida Ave
Lakeland, FL 33813
January 1-31, 2005
Artist Reception January 14, 2005, 6:30-8:30 pm

Paintings by Berlin Cassamajor
Ridge Art Association
210 Cypress Gardens Blvd.
Winter Haven, FL 33880
863-291-5661
July 14-Aug 5, 2005

Born in 1976, Berlin was first exposed to art at an early age through his two older brothers who are skilled artists themselves. At age of 10 He was placed in advance or gifted art classes until joining the Magnet Program at Norland Middle School in south Florida. His training at that time focused on combining his natural talents with the fundamentals of art in an array of mediums, from pencil and charcoal to airbrush and photography. During that time he entered numerous exhibitions having great success and exposure.

He later graduated from Design and Architecture Senior High in Miami, Florida where his studies consisted of architectural drafting and design, computer animation, computer graphics, fine art design, principals and history. Also at that time, he began to receive recognition from the local newspaper and the art community. Being pressured to get a “real job”, his interest shifted towards drafting and ACAD.

Since 1998, he has been given opportunities to show his talents: building renderings, painting for a cause, portraits, entering art shows, and teaching art classes.

January 2004, he decided to pursue a career as a fine artist and took the leap of faith to start his own fine art career. He painted his first mural in February 2004 for a local hair salon in Winter Haven, FL called Delashons on 3rd St SE. In the spring of 2004, he began teaching and selling his paintings and giclee reproducitons.

The summer of 2005, he has been busy entering shows and exhibitions. A solo exhibition was hosted at the Ridge Art Association from July 14-August 5, 2005. His creative abilities were recognized in the Lakeland Ledger, News Chief of Winter Haven, and the Orlando Sun-Sentinel newspapers. He was also featured in Today & Tonight and Artifacts magazines.

In 2006, now living in the Dominican Republic, Berlin Cassamajor continues to expand his fine art projects. He has created artworks for business professionals in Puerto Plata, Bavaro, Punta Cana, Higuey, Santo Domingo, and Jarabacoa. After the tragedy that struck the country of Haiti on January 12th, 2010, he collaborated with Los Artistas de Las Terrenas and participated in an exposition that contributed half of the proceeds to Haitian people in the city of Jacmel, Haiti. He continues to paint commission pieces in his studio in Jarabacoa, DR.

Artist Statement: “Connoisseur of Expression”

I decided to become a full time artist because I wanted to be happy doing what I was given as a gift to do. I really became tired of playing it normal, fulfilling somebody else's expectations of what I should be. So I decided, while I was still young, to take the leap of faith and do what I wanted to do. How many people do you know in life have said "if I knew what I know now, how different things would be". Well I know now. I know that I have a gift and now is the time for me to use it.

My work expresses my feelings.
My jazz inspired works reflect the freedom and the contentment of doing what you really love. In contrast,
The facial expressions: in my human depictions tells stories of being entrapped in most people's emotional life courses.
The Floral and Abstract Series: experiments that continue to amaze me. No matter what path you choose to take, there is always a beginning.
My Carribean/African pieces remind me of my heritage, my home.

— Berlin Cassamajor