As part of Fort Lauderdale's Art and Design Week, the fourth annual Art Fair on The Water will ferrying art enthusiasts to curated exhibits in waterfront mansions through this weekend.
Of the three homes hosting exhibits along the boat tour through Art Fort Lauderdale, there's a partcular urgency to the art on display at 'Bahamas Haus.' It features artworks from the Bahamas and part of the proceeds from art sales will fund arts education and rebuilding an orphanage in Freeport, The Grand Bahama Children's Home.
The artworks include traditional Bahamian festival Junkanoo masks.
"These are these beautiful, colorful handmade masks," says Jennifer Nayak Feldman, curator of the exhibit. "Junkanoo is really one of our most popular exhibits in the show. The collection that I have are designed after tropical fish and birds that are native to the various islands within the Bahamas."
Hurricane Dorian devastated parts of the island chain in September. Some of the pieces around the house burst with colors and joyful themes, while others were born out of healing and frustration after the storm.
Read More: Despite Horriffic Hurricane, Much Of The Bahamas Remains Open For Business
Nayak Feldman's passion for the islands comes in part, from her family. Her husband is Bahamaian and they spend time in Grand Bahama.
"I wanted to talk about the resiliency of the Bahamian spirit and I wanted to show the beauty and the joy that's there - and all of the reasons why to keep going, and to keep supporting, and to keep paying attention."
One artist featured in the show is Laurie Tuchel. She lives part of the year in Grand Bahama.
"I have a painting here...of just a gentle scene of people fishing on a dock. This particular area where I sat and sketched these people… it's totally gone. It's just gone," Tuchel says.
Tuchel paints with soft colors, blurred lines and scenery from everyday life around the island.
"The fragility of life on an island. Water plays a big role, it's beauty as well as its destructiveness," she says. "And I think we all feel that."
