Augusta Savage Gallery at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is pleased to announce an art exhibition entitled “THE HISTORY OF REGGAE IN THE VALLEY.” This exhibition features drawings by local artist Ras Jahn Bullock. The show will run from February 10 through March 11, 2005 with an opening reception on February 10, 5-7pm.

Ras Jahn Bullock, a self taught artist who hails from Boston has a long and solid artistic history in the Pioneer Valley. His Jamaican and African American ancestry give form to his style and his story, which are uniquely his own. His impressive drawings of musicians pay tribute to the joy and life force behind Reggae music.

As a child, his summers were spent on his family farm in Vaughn, North Carolina. The Bullock family had a reputation for an ability to always make things grow. And Ras Jahn carries on this legacy with his focused commitment to the development of his unusual style.

“Drawing has always interested me. Pencil was where I started, then pastels. I soon became interested in airbrush painting. I was fascinated with what you could create with little drops of paint and air. I won a contest sponsored by Dorchester High School and the Boston Globe with an airbrush painting I did called ‘Barbara’. In my senior year I was voted most talented male in the senior class. After high school I took to exploring the Universe and my mind. I was incarcerated in the Deer Island House of Correction for 6 months where I realized that I had a talent for reproducing pencil drawings from photographs. This gave me the ability to trade my talent for things I needed in prison.”

After prison, Ras Jahn started using magic markers to draw permanent images on clothing. He says, “My first drawings on my own blue jeans were inspired by a love for the graphic artwork of Vaughn Bode. I was drawing Cheech Wizard on everything.”

Over the years his technique developed and he branched out. His work with dots is particularly imaginative and exciting. Using dots to create faces and places with keen precision, he talks about his process. “It is a very percussive meditation. Bob Marley has always been my inspiration. I am now into producing photos with dots in a technique called stipple, which I taught myself while doing posters for my group the ‘Loose Caboose Band.’ When I first started doing posters, I did a lot of cutting and pasting, creating what I called Xerox art. But because of the difficulty getting a good print, what with light and dark problems with paste-ups & whiteout, I decided to produce my own originals with the aid of magic markers. The only problem with the ink is that it’s permanent, so no mistakes.”

For more information: 413-545-5177 All events are free to the general public