Making a lasting contribution
Mrs Judy Layne-Banks
xviii
In Kentucky, Judy first taught art at the High School level, then at Middle School, before switching to the Elementary level in 2007. She has been teaching art, music, dance, and drama at that level for eleven years and currently teaches art, dance and drama to over 500 students at Wilkerson Elementary. Prior to emigrating to the USA, Mrs Banks taught for over 30 years at the former Erdiston Primary in Barbados (now The George Lamming Primary School). Her desire to learn more about how she could use art as a tool for instruction, especially as a tool for teaching students with learning challenges, led her to the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 1992 on a National Development Scholarship from The Barbados Government. There she pursued a Fine Arts Degree, majoring in Fibers with a minor in Art Education. On her return to Barbados in 1996, besides returning to Elementary teaching, she also taught the Art Education Program at the Erdiston Teacher’s College for six years as a part time Tutor. As a thank you to the college, she donated her batik piece: ‘Child at Play’ to their library. She says she hopes to pass on the knowledge of art that she has gained in the USA to future art teachers in Barbados. Judy is an accomplished and award-winning Batik Artist who has held many exhibitions at home and abroad. She says her talent as an artist really blossomed during her final year as a student at The Cave Hill Campus. After leaving the institution, she donated a very special design entitled “Images of Africa” to the Campus in appreciation of the great contribution of the university to her personal and professional development. The piece currently hangs in the Sidney Martin Library. Mrs Layne-Banks credits all her personal and professional achievements to the education she received in Barbados and especially her years at The UWI Cave Hill. “Barbados is a small island,” she said, “but what is achieved in education, is tremendous.
If you are educated in Barbados, the education is so thorough that you can fit in anywhere in the world and be successful. A lot of what I am doing here such as … the educational methods I use, that would lead me to receive awards, that persistent goal to enhance my training, as well as the ability to do this through scholarships, all started … in Barbados,” she noted. Reflecting on the opportunity to pursue a university education and her experience at The UWI Cave Hill she said, “My university education opened my eyes to what higher level thinking really is and it linked the arts in my psyche. The exposure to jazz music, poetry, Caribbean culture, research and history through the study of literature, revealed to me the connection between all the art forms. Then, in my spare time, I started researching aspects of old Barbadian culture because, I was then fully understanding my roots. This research culminated in my first solo exhibition. Following that exhibition, I dived further into more research and drawing images of our Barbadian history from its beginnings in Africa to the 21 st century in Barbados. That solo exhibition was entitled “From Then ‘til Now” , and the piece donated to the Cave Hill Campus was from that exhibition. It shows some of the remnants of African culture such as the tie-dye, wooden jewelry, mask-making, the Warri board, and pottery which still remain in present day Barbados. It is very dear to my heart, and so is The UWI Cave Hill Campus! To God Be the Glory,” she concluded.
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES CAVE HILL CAMPUS ANNUAL REPORT TO COUNCIL 2021/2022
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