Wild Tobago

  The Tobago Icon Museum (Luise Kimme) in Bethel is an inspiration for young Tobagonian artists, and a unique attraction for local and international visitors. It is the home and workshop of the German-born Luise Kimme, and features artwork from her 30-year love affair with Tobago. Pat Ganase recommends a visit. Luise Kimme came from Germany to the Caribbean in the late 1970s. She had fallen in love with the distinctive sensuous Tobagonian features, and followed her heart to Tobago. It was a turning point in her life. She had grown tired of the contemporary abstract art of Europe, the environment in which she was expected to work after her studies in prestigious art colleges in Germany and London; she was at that time a Professor at Dusseldorf Academy (a post which she occupied until 2002). Tobago revitalized her and she turned her back on the trends of the modern art world to follow a completely new track in sculpting in wood, larger than life figures of ordinary folk....

On an island like Tobago, everyone wants to watch the sea; and it’s just as easy from a place high up. Pat Ganase looks at Tobago from the top; and gathers some interesting facts about living on the island. My friend’s mission was to spend two days in Tobago to see if she could find a place to relocate her studio. She is an artist and a potter. Her business in Trinidad has dwindled to the point where she now teaches her art to earn a living. The maintenance of house and garden at her current studio is beyond what she can earn from teaching and selling a few pots. One of the first stops brought us to the home of a Trinidadian couple who retired and relocated to Tobago over ten years ago. “Everything is easily available here,” she told us. The utilities are reliable; health facilities are accessible. Plus there is a social life that suits her retirement: she has joined a choir and a yoga class, and plays bridge; he golfs and sails. The home is made for entertaining with large o...