Jasazii McKenzie - widely respected St Mary-based artist
Published:Saturday | February 1, 2014 | 12:00 AM
Orantes Moore, Gleaner Writer
Jasazii McKenzie is a widely respected St Mary-based artist with a reputation for creating exceptionally emotive pieces.
Over the past decade, she has expressed her artistic talents as a painter and showcased her jewellery and fashion lines for several seasons at Caribbean Fashion Week.
Originally, McKenzie's first passion was sculpting, and in the late 1970s, she was accepted to study at one of the finest art institutions in the world.
However, it took a 33-year journey of self-discovery and a trip to the motherland before McKenzie, who was born in Germany, but grew up in Texas, returned to sculpture.
She told Rural Xpress: "I've always been interested in art, but my mother came from the old country and wanted me to be a teacher. So I put art aside, studied, and became a teacher for a while.
"I returned to art school for three years when I was with my second husband in California. I started out in commercial arts as a fashion designer and then went into illustration, fine arts (painting), mini-sculpture such as jewellery arts, and from there I went into sculpture."
McKenzie's work earned her a place on a two-year apprenticeship programme at the prestigious Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture, but then disaster struck.
She explained: "I went back to California to get my things and while I was there, I found lumps in my breast. I didn't want to go through the regular biopsy treatment route because I'd had some bad experiences with the medical establishment.
"So I started working on the process of healing myself and decided to come to Jamaica instead of going to do the apprenticeship."
Creative skills
McKenzie immigrated to Jamaica in the early 1980s, got married, and spent the next three decades healing herself and honing her creative skills.
She travelled the island, living in Westmorland, St Elizabeth, and St Ann, but developed a special affinity for the parish where she has resided for the past 13 years.
McKenzie explained: "There's an energy here. I love St Mary. I love the nature of the parish, and there are a lot of farms, so food is grown here. St Mary has positive vibes."
Over the past decade, McKenzie has established herself as one of the island's leading contemporary artists. She believes that now is the perfect time to return to sculpting.
She said: "I started sculpting again in November 2010 because I was lucky enough to experience a trip I had been waiting all my life to go on: to Egypt.
"While I was there, I had a meditation and experienced past-life recollections where I remembered sculpting for a pharaoh, which made me feel reconnected and empowered.
"At that time, I was looking for direction in my life because I felt I needed a change. I had been praying for The Most High to tell me where I should go next. And that question was answered in Egypt.
"The feedback I get from people is that they feel a connection to 'ancientcy' in my sculptures. It reminds them of their deeper selves and is very healing. They feel like they've met these people before, even though they know they are just sculptures."
In 2014, McKenzie said she must focus on generating income to sustain her artwork and concedes that financing is always an issue for artists who are driven by passion rather than economics.
Nevertheless, she insists that if someone, irrespective of the person's level of experience, wants to be an artist, he should let nothing stop him from achieving his objective.
She says: "Don't care what anybody says or thinks about it, don't judge it, just do it. Just express yourself. You don't even have to show it to anybody. Go ahead and do what you feel like doing. Just enjoy yourself."