DAVID BOOTHMAN
Christine Millar was TT’s Jaycees Carnival Queen in 1951.
But according to the late Kathryn Stollmeyer Wight, “Christine Millar was so much more than this beautiful face, though, those who knew her still talk about her natural beauty and this was evident all her life too. What valuable contributions she went on to give to our beloved TT. Aunty Christine loved our old buildings and beautiful spaces without reservation.” I concur.
In one of my visits back home from the US, I visited Millar at her art store, Deltex, on Pembroke Street, Port of Spain (back then there were two others – Moart on Henry Street and Beharry’s Art Store, on New Street).
She would always be glad to see me to catch up with my latest work and gossip. Of course, with her signature red wine we would sit for hours in conversation. This was in 1998, when I had told her that we were losing all our artists, thinkers, our "cultural engineers." This was the same year Pat Chu Foon died, so we discussed the idea of pursuing the collection of the cultural icons.
She said "David, you should do it…you are the one to do it, because you can."
Three years later, I installed my Heritage Collection of Cultural Icons at the National Museum in 2001. Within the three years, Scofield Pilgrim, Lord Kitchener, Daisy Voisin and Beryl Mc Burnie had died. They were all included in the collection.
I had created an ongoing Heritage Collection, paying homage to artists and cultural engineers who had died and had contributed immensely to our cultural life in TT and the Caribbean. Their lives and work embody the collective spirit that defines the identity and culture of our people. I dedicated this growing collection to the memory of these artists, who were also my friends and colleagues.
This is not to be confused with living legends – the collection would be passing the baton of legacy to the youth.
[caption id="attachment_1019463" align="alignnone" width="1024"] The Heritage Collection of Cultural Icons. -[/caption]
The exhibition ran for a month. It was produced by Nalis and the national museum, with the promise to acquire the collection. The curator of the museum at the time was Vel Lewis. Millar knew most of the artists in TT and was very instrumental in arts in education in schools, the Art Society, and arts and environmental programmes all over the country. She is also one of my early art collectors, with an enormous collection of local and regional art.
Her close friend Diana Mahabir-Wyatt said, “Christine was more than a single person. She was a beautiful woman on one level and on another she was a force of nature, a competent business woman, a gracious hostess and a fierce mother, strong, stubborn creative and indomitable.
"Her love of art, of history, of form and structure was never theoretical: it developed into the establishment of supporting organisations such as Citizens for Conservation, developed the Art Society of TT, started a book club and habit-forming discussions on political and social controversies that could cu
