Nuri ... Carib Ancient Reserve Exclusive.

Story by Samantha Hodge. 

Nuri One Heart was the acrilic painter who first acquainted me with the magic that time can weave in a vat of fermented pineapple.

I was 24 and working in a pub on St. Thomas when a rep from Bloomingdale's came in for a Pina Colada and quest for the best artist on the island.  Having been cheered that year by hundreds of happy beach combing, wind surfing x-pats, locals, seasoned tourists and various other party people all of who owned at least a half dozen hand screened and hand painted Nuri-Shirts there was no question in anybodies mind who had spent more than 24 hours on any of the islands who the best Caribbean artist was! Nuri indeed! Painter, Screener, Employer, Wholesaler, Civil Right's Activist, Environmentalist, Sobriety Sister Nuri! Now you can see a large collection of her vintage Caribbean t'shirts marketed as "Carib Ancient Reserve Exclusive"= Nuri-CARE.

My association with Nuri was one of the only associations with an artist that I truly admired and enjoyed. Nuri wasn't and still isn't just an artist who feels warm fuzzies while painting and covering the earth with paintings. She is a painting and selling maniac with major globe-healing passions. Her actions follow her beliefs like surfers follow the waves.

Like people, fabric arts don’t necessarily improve with age. You could argue that musty vintage sarongs, tea-stained old French lace and the peaty, rambunctious blue jeans from the island of Martinique, for example, are preferable in their fiesty youth, but I find that "Nuri-Shirts and Other Arts" from the Caribbean region get classy like aging people ought to: with tenderness, nostalgic grace and a little spunk tossed in. While some of the more eccentric edges may soften, an aged acrilic painting on a cotton t'shirt grows in complexity as it mellows. Each color tends to reveal some previously undetected nuance of character, as if you're getting to know a person who, drawing on a richly lived life, always has another story to tell.

Sorry, that's really sentimental. Good spirited art does that to a person.

Anyway, Tuesday night I sat down with the Bloomingdale ambassador who visited St. Thomas with her agenda to flinch the freakiest island artist who so prolifically showered the islands with colorful clothing and wall art for more than 19 odd years.  The impending opeining this fall of two crates of the most charming wash-and-wear art this country has ever seen, namely The Nuri 40 Year Old Fermented Pineapple Line. One shirt will be sold for around $900. Another will be sold for $600. And the prices go up and down from there. The  majority of shirts will be sold for prices more managable for people with more slender budgets, such as $30. $50. and $75.oo. Copies of the musty vintage shirts will be printed on brand new x-lg white cotton t'shirts and wontonly sold for jazzy prices such as ($22. each, or 5 for $96.) So don't despair; you too can have a piece of Fermented Pineapple. And furthermore, as a treat for winners of a contest to find the Caribbean's 50 best fathers a beautiful hand-signed Commenerative t'shirt will be shipped to each of the  participating dads... all you have to do is write a little blog about them and dear ol' Nuri One Heart will send a special shirt with an appropriate, personal, uplifting message on it to each of them  (Update: contest link to be announced.) BTW, all proceedes from Nuri One Heart sales always go to supporting her activities to rehabing single women who reach out to her for art and survival training.