Mill Bank’s Simpson contented with crafting items

OWEN SIMPSON, a local craftsman living in the rural Portland community of Mill Bank, prides himself on staying in touch with his roots.

The elder uses natural wood and goat skin to craft the West African djembe drum, also known as the jembe, which is a skin-covered goblet-shaped drum with a rope tuning system that is played with the bare hands.

He also knows how to construct the kettle or kette drum, which consists of a hollow brass, copper, or fibreglass hemisphere with a calfskin or plastic head.

Simpson said in a recent interview with The Gleaner that he sells his crafts to people from West Africa, England, and Antigua. He mentioned that one of his customers is a dancer, and that she would use these drums to create rhythm for her lessons.

Simpson also uses coconut shells to make decorative pieces to sell to tourists, and some of his products include cups, jewellery and hair clips.

“When the coconut shell is green, the things you make from it are white and when the coconut dry, the things you get from it are brown,” he shared.

He went on to say that he often has spontaneous ideas for his craft, which inspires him to start carving after he has drawn a pattern on the coconut shell.

LEARNED SKILL EARLY

With reference to his 15 years of experience, Simpson remarked, “I have done some classical things,” each piece bearing the signature of his alias in the art world, ‘Getto Jewell’.

Simpson learnt his craft during woodwork classes at Swallowfield Primary School in Kingston when he was quite young.

“The first thing I learned there at school was to take a coconut and make a ship,” he said.

“We had another class we would go to where we got a small penknife and we would cut the lime, open the lime [or] cut and split a cho-cho and whatever pattern we putting on it, we would do it and put in a tin of red paint and we had a cloth stretched out and we would dip and print,” he said of the early ways of making tie-and-dye.

It was from then that Simpson realised his love for art and craft.

A jack of all trades, he also farms, repair shoes and raises chickens.

Over the years, Simpson has received numerous questions about why he chose not to leave his hometown in search of “greener pastures”.

But he believes that it’s important to use your God-given talents to give back to folks in your community and to help improve the overall neighbourhood.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com