Selections of Hoyes’ work have been featured in several television shows including theShowtime hit series, “Dexter” and President Barack Obama has even been photographed in front of his work. An internationally celebrated craftsman, Hoyes’ work is know for its African American and Jamaican influences, brilliance in color and depth of spirituality. Hoyes’s work is included amongst the artists featured in the coffee table pictorial, “L.A. Rising: SoCal Artists Before 1980″ by Lyn Kienholz and also “Immaculate Immigrant: The Virgin of Guadalupe in Los Angeles: Reflections and Meditations” by Meg Garduño. His masterful work is also included in the 2011 African American Heritage Month Calendar and Cultural Guide for the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

Hoyes’ gallery is located at 985 Westchester Place in Los Angeles, (one block west of Wilton Place off of Olympic Blvd). Originals from his collection, as well as watercolors, serigraphs, etchings, limited editions, and poster, framed and unframed will all be available and in many instances, you will be able to make a deal directly with the Hoyes.

“Every few years, I begin to notice the art clutter in the studio. This rummage sale is a great opportunity to secure some beautiful pieces at bargain prices. Its also a house clearing for me so that I can make space to continue to create and expand into new dimensions,” adds Hoyes.

Art lovers unable to attend may browse online at http://www.BernardHoyes.com and call 323-732-4601 for discounts and to arrange pick up. Offers made are good for the sale days only.

Jenny P's fashion at Project Ethos X: The Experience of Fashion

Jennifer Prudhome prides herself on ensuring that her designs are done right — and that means bringing some style from the Caribbean into the mix of clothing that carries her Jenny P label.

Prudhome recently spent some time designing a custom hoodie with a graffiti-art crown for teen rapper Sean Kingston, and Carib Press was on hand for a chat while she painted a picture of her colorful world.

Custom hoodie for teen rapper Sean Kingston

“I am bringing in the urban vibe to this hoodie,” Prudhome declared.

The urban vibe included an asymmetrical crown on the gray Hoodie — drawn free-hand by Prudhome — with applications of black and white acrylic paint. The finishing touches included a few stitches here and there as part of a reconstruction of the hoodie, topped off with a splash of colorful green and yellow paint.

Prudhome’s design session on behalf of the rapper put her back where she started in the fashion game, making hand-dyed T-shirts and hoodie’s adorned with stenciled images and reconstructed into fresh designs.

The 24-year-old has plenty of other stuff going on these days, too.

“I moved from T-shirts and hoodie’s to a contemporary line of clothing conceptualized exclusively for women.” Prudhome says, referring to a 15-piece fall 2009 collection unveiled at the Project Ethos X: The Experience of Fashion, which took place on August 21 in Hollywood. Project Ethos is known for producing red-carpet events that bring together various forms of creativity from young adults of the so-called “Millennial Generation.” Prudhome’s collection featured uniquely constructed and richly colored pieces with couture style and figure-flattering cuts — and they rocked the house, judging by loud cheers, applause and whistles that greeted the debut.

Prudhome has come a long way, partly because she got an early start. She was painting and also designing business cards for friends and family before she reached her teen years. She says that her mother would sell the paintings to co-workers and friends. Prudhome decided to embrace her artistic dreams in her early teens, blending abilities in painting and design with a newly discovered love for sewing. She recalls going to the annual Black Business Expo in Los Angeles back then, wearing a reconstructed denim skirt she had made for herself. Someone stopped her and wanted to know where she got the skirt. She ended up making a skirt and jacket for sale. She says she looks back on the happenstance as the moment she began to understand her potential as a designer.

Much of that potential flows from her Jamaican heritage, Prudhome says, adding that she loves the music, color palette, and overall culture of her Jamaican mother’s homeland, and has fused elements of the Caribbean into her own clothing line.

That means bold color and a sense of originality.

Prudhome fuses elements of the Caribbean into her clothing line.

“I love using rich color — neon, fuchsia and tangerine — that’s where my mom comes in,” Prudhome says. “I grew up with mom wearing colors every season. I wore bright orange in the middle of winter — it was not a fashion faux paux.”

And it’s less a faux paux than ever these days, Prudhome says.

“There was a time when bright neon’s were too bold for mainstream designers, so you would not see bright colors in their fall collections,” she says. “During the fall, you would see black, brown, cranberry and gray. It wasn’t until a few years ago that designers have incorporated colors, and the trend continues.”

The trend has been pushed along by larger demographic changes in the U.S., according to Prudhome, who has seen consumers become more color-savvy and bold. Some of that owes to growing influences of Afro-Caribbean, African, and Latin American culture in U.S. markets, she says, adding that the trend has recently reached a tipping point, with consumers across demographic lines shifting from a fear of color to a love of color.

Proudhome’s reconstructs fresh designs from hand-dyed T-shirts and hoodies adorned with stenciled images.

Prudhome launched Jenny Ps designs in 2005 while attending California State University of Long Beach (CSULB), where she earned degrees in Fashion Merchandising and Textiles and Clothing.

Today her designs are showcased on the runway of Project Ethos, boutiques in Los Angeles and Orange County, and have caught the notice of the trade and consumer press, including California Apparel News and The 360 Magazine.

Just as impressive has been Prudhome’s ability to handle the business of fashion, mixing art with commerce.

“I am my own finance person,” she says. “I have to be a business woman. Art has to sell, clothes have to sell.”

Prudhome also handles her own marketing, including graphic design and the line’s website.

Then there’s the matter of getting out of the studio and putting the goods on display.

“Fashion shows are an excellent opportunity to build name recognition and familiarity with an audience that may not have known you yesterday, but now they do,” she said. “Network, network, network”

Next season’s ideas, meanwhile, come from many sources.

“Fashion forecasting comes from many places,” she says. “A walk outside, things you notice such as the sky, flowers, the way people live, and their surroundings. I might take a trip to Jamaica and receive inspiration from the greenery in Fern Gully and decide to create an entire collection that is influenced by the environment.”

So what does the fall trend report look like, according to Prudhome? For the daring there will be color-block styling trends, featuring bold chunks of various shades that will be in this season.

“The buzz for fall runways will illustrate creativity and artistry in terms of color and design, so we should see a lot of neon brights in the fall, which you [typically] would not see unless it is summer or spring,” she says. “That is something I’ve always done — I incorporate color.”

Looks like the fashion world will catch up with Jenny P this fall.

Visit jennyps.com on the Internet for more information about Prudhome’s designs.

Sheannette Virtue is a writer for Carib Press.

Photos from Carib Press

Gallery Plus in Leimert Park features a changing inventory of African-American art.

While many of us are checking our budget in tough times, there is a reason for optimism in Leimert Park Village, a cultural center of African-American life in Los Angeles.

The optimism shone forth during a June 6th book fair that came with the theme of “Celebrating Our Literary Legacy: Our Heritage, Our Words, Our Stories.”

Carib Press headed to Leimert Park Village — between Downtown Los Angeles and the beach city of Santa Monica — for the 3rd annual edition of the book fair on June 6th.

It soon became clear that walking is the way to take in the sights of the book fair, which set up shop on Degnan Boulevard and 43rd Place. The pedestrian-friendly village has a growing number of small businesses, including coffee houses, jazz clubs, restaurants, retail shops, and a farmers’ market every Saturday. There are more than 20 small shops lining both sides of the boulevard and a look at their wares shows an inventory of artifacts from around the world.

Ackee Bamboo Jamaican Cuisine restaurant is a relative newcomer to this established community, and it appears to have earned its spot. The place has been serving up authentic Jamaican style cooking for the past three years.

Marlene Sinclair, owner of Ackee Bamboo, says there are always exciting things going on in the village. She’s about to add to the excitement, too, with plans for an expansion project that will bring Adassa’s Cafe and Entertainment next door to her restaurant.

The Gallery Plus store in Leimert Park Village

Laura Hendrix, who owns Gallery Plus, says that the art store has been in Leimert Park Village for 18 years. She offers an array of African-American art, and the stock changes each time she returns from buying trips.

And there have been buying trips, despite the lagging economy.

“Business has been pretty good these days,” she said.

Augustus Muhammad spent time at the recent book fair promoting books of poems from a grassroots perspective.

“I was inspired by my father to write poems,” Muhammed said. “My father was searching for a positive and productive way for me to be creative with a positive perception of self.”

Haitian Entrepreneur and filmmaker Uscla “Johnny” Desarmes visited the book fair to promote his movie, titled “Life outside of Pearl.”

“I am pushing it at a grassroots level,” he said, adding that he wants to sell 500,000 copies of the movie with proceeds to benefit infrastructure work in Haiti.

The Africa By the Yard store

Oran Z of Pan African Black Facts and Wax Museum proudly displayed a waxed figure of Levar Burton in his vendor booth. His museum on 3742 West Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, a mile from Leimert Park Village, has a large selection of black artifacts, postcards, black wax figures, and a reference library. He says he plans to work on a poster of the legendary reggae artist, Bob Marley. He has coined himself a Posterian — someone who tells stories out of pictures and poster art.

The Leimert Park Village Book Fair encourages reading, writing, and literacy in Los Angeles and other Southern California area communities. The Book Fair provides the community access to writers and their work — and gives writers and spoken word artists a place to network with other artists, exhibitors and sponsors.

Face painting, clowns, storytellers, a crafts pavilion, and a special performance by Mayseo the Magician, were featured in the Children’s Village. A poets’ stage, Farmers Market, cooking demonstration, outdoor theatrical performances from the Pasadena Playhouse Theatre Players and the Towne Street Theatre, along with musical entertainment, rounded out the book fair.

Cynthia Exum is the producer and coordinator for the Leimert Park Village Book Fair. Various arts beyond literature were incorporated in this years’ event because “organizers are committed to supporting the community and parents with creative ways to encourage reading and writing,” she said.

Sheannette Virtue is a writer for Carib Press.

Photos by Carib Press