Patterned Kay

Pastel drawing takes its name from a traditional Haitian house that is long and narrow, with its narrow end facing the road and lots of cross-ventilation through windows and doors. According to landscape architect Patti Stouter, its design is similar to--and may have influenced--the American "shotgun shack."

Kays often were colorfully decorated on their street-facing end, and this appears to have inspired the design of Catave Sean's drawing--although it has been abstracted to a shape and patterned colors. The painter, having migrated from Haiti, was at the time living at the Hoehandle labor camp in Castile, NY. The drawing appeared in a 1985 exhibit sponsored by the Geneseo Migrant Center called African Past: Migrant Present.

Cantave Sean

Pastel on paper

11 x 14 in.