Art teacher proud to make Wailers maquette

St Catherine-based artist Paul Napier said that he is very happy to have been contracted to create a Wailers maquette.

Napier said that the three-foot-high piece of art has been close to his heart.

“This is a privilege to be given this project ... that was the brainchild of the Bunny Wailer Foundation,” Napier said. The maquette shows the famous trio Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer.

The full statue that will be designed from the maquette is to be erected at the Bournemouth Bath in east Kingston.

“I think that it (the statue) will be completed in the summer. I think it will be about six feet high, but I don’t know for sure,” Napier said, noting that final arrangements had not yet been made.

With regard to being asked to do the maquette, he said that he is humbled by the gesture as the piece represents a great part of Jamaica’s reggae music industry.

“I think that the group (the Wailers) is responsible for the great artistic delivery in the renowned and well-loved music. So to be given a chance to highlight them is simply wonderful,” Napier said.

Napier is the vice-principal of the Tivoli Gardens High School and believes that the arts are a very powerful tool. Therefore, he said, he instils appreciation for them in his students in his daily interactions with them.

Meanwhile, it was revealed by Maxine Stowe of the Bunny Wailer Foundation that the statue may be funded through the collaboration of stakeholders.

It was the consensus that the image of the three performers will be a great present to Jamaica and a national legacy.