Pulse of the Caribbean

#37 From Canvas to Camera: Meet Ava Daniel a young Caribbean artist and filmmaker

• Pulse of the Caribbean

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Ever won an art competition or written a film? 🎨🎬 Ava Daniel shares her incredible journey from painting portraits to making movies! 

Ava Daniel is not just a name; she is a remarkable beacon of creativity emerging from the U.S. Virgin Islands. Curious about her story? 

Listen and be inspired by Ava Daniel, a noteworthy figure in the artistic landscape of the Caribbean.

#PulseoftheCaribbean #trendingnow #Caribbeanpodcast #CaribbeanArt #CaribbeanFilm

Pulse of the Caribbean:

Thank you All righty. Ava Daniel, an artist and student filmmaker, is our guest on today's Pulse of the Caribbean podcast. Welcome to the Pulse of the Caribbean podcast. I'm Keisha Blyden. Ava Daniel, an artist and student filmmaker, is our guest on today's Pulse of the Caribbean podcast. Ava Daniel is a high school student in the US Virgin Islands that is doing great work at an early age with her creative talent, and today we'll learn more about this talented young woman that is already making great strides with her creative talent, and with that we say welcome, ava um okay, uh, uh, hello.

Ava Daniel :

Um, my name is Ava, like she said before. Um, I'm a student at the Vani Idora Ken. Um, I started my creative, my creative journey, um, at least I'll say, like drawing wise at eight, and I've just been drawing ever since. But I feel like everything started to pick up in the later half of my eighth grade year. I went to Seba Shelton middle school.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

All right. So you went to birth of Seba Shelton middle school in St Thomas, and that's when your art started to pick up, as you said. So tell us about your art interest and the type of artwork that you produce.

Ava Daniel :

The type of artwork that I tend to like to produce. You'll see a lot of portraits. Some of them some people would describe as, I guess, like I don't want to say surrealist, because not all of them are like that. A lot of them are portraits. I have landscapes, but some of them, I feel like, can take you to another world.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

I feel like Okay, wonderful, and what is some of your favorite pieces that you've produced?

Ava Daniel :

Some of my favorite pieces that I have produced was Queen Mary. That was one that I really enjoyed, another one called the Caribbean Mermaid, and then there's one that I actually quite enjoy, and it's just I have a lot of paintings and I like to call them the anti-hit women. I like those, I like making those a lot.

Ava Daniel :

So I can't really pick one, but yeah, and tell us about your creative process when you start when you sit down and when you know your work is finished. Usually, when I start my creative process, I started off with a blank canvas and just a vague idea of what I want to do, and I'll know I'm finished until I'm finally done touching paint for the day.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

So most of your work you do is paintings. Do you do drawings? What type of materials do you use?

Ava Daniel :

I normally do paintings a lot but I draw a lot like sketches For my materials. I tend to use acrylic paint on like normal fabric canvases.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

All right, wonderful. And we know that you were involved in an art competition and that one of your pieces, your artwork, was selected as the winning entry. So tell us about that competition that you entered with your artwork, where your artwork won the contest.

Ava Daniel :

The art competition I joined was Senator Carla Jones's Black History Month art competition. It's I, it's, I joined it in. I joined it in eighth grade because it was mainly meant for middle schoolers and I decided to paint the subject Queen Mary, because we have to choose somebody from Virgin Islands or Black history. And when I realized I won it was I don't know. It just didn't feel real. I was just really happy that I was able to experience that.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

Wonderful, and tell us about that portrait that you selected, queen Mary. Why did you select her and who is she?

Ava Daniel :

I selected Queen Mary because I really enjoyed her story, her willingness to just never give up and not be oppressed, and how she would fight for not only her rights but for the rights of other people like her, even taking extreme measures like burning down fields of sugar cane to make a statement and put a stop to some of the cruel stuff that she was going through at the time.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

So, queen Mary? For those of our listeners that may not be aware, queen Mary was a freedom fighter in the Danish West Indies, the Danish Virgin Islands, at the time before it became the US Virgin Islands. And those are the reasons that you selected Queen Mary, because she fought not only for herself but certainly for others that were oppressed at that time during the enslavement of Africans in the Caribbean. And with that entry for Black History, virgin Islands History Month for the office of Senator Carla Joseph, tell us what do you think is the importance of Black History Month and Virgin Islands History Month?

Ava Daniel :

and appreciate the people who came before us that paved the way for our rights and our ability to be able to just go outside and be people and live our lives. That's what I think.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

All right. So certainly that is so important that you stated about the people that came before. That paved the way, certainly for us, especially as Africans in the diaspora, that we have our freedoms, so many things that oftentimes are taken for granted. So it's wonderful to know that a person of your age and what grade are you in at this time.

Ava Daniel :

I'm a 10th grader.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

A 10th grader, so it's wonderful to know that a young woman as yourself would be conscious about the history of our people, Black history as well as Virgin Islands, Caribbean history and those that came before that paved the way for our freedoms and so much more. And most recently, you were part of an eight-week program through the US Virgin Islands Department of Education, a filmmaking workshop that was led by acclaimed filmmaker and Virgin Islander, John P Whitley for high schoolers. Tell us about your involvement and the training that you and other students received in that workshop.

Ava Daniel :

The Virgin Islands Film Academy was basically just a way how to get students of the Virgin Islands to it up how to write scripts, make characters have a story. You know, that's basically what we learned and at the end of the program we would have been able to take one of our scripts and make it into an actual short film.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

And tell us about some of the industry professionals that were involved in leading the workshop.

Ava Daniel :

Some of the people who were there was Gina Nooks. There was another one called Brandon I forgot how to say his last name. We always called him Brandon when he was on set. Javiyah, she was also part of the program. I don't think she was a guest, she was just like helping us learn everything. But I think the most, the one of the ones that people tend to bring up the most and remember the most was Robert Townsend. You know he. You know the actor and director he was there for. Like, he was there for a couple of days and each and every person that came on all taught us their own field of script writing and producing and acting.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

So tell us how did you feel to be a part of that program and your interaction and other students' interaction with filmmaking greats, yeah, that were there to show and teach you their craft.

Ava Daniel :

To be a part of that program. It felt it was extremely fun and it felt it was really cool to be able to actually go out and like learn about this stuff and how movies that we can like shows and movies that we see every day, and learn, and I feel like almost everybody in that class found something about filmmaking that they genuinely enjoy, whether it was working behind the camera or writing script or being a director or producer. I feel like everybody was able to find their own way how they enjoyed that part of the process.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

That is awesome. That is so wonderful. And how long did it take to develop the scripts? What was the time period that they gave you, gave you students to develop the scripts? Put it together, come up with your characters. What was the timeline on that and the duration in terms of the period of time that the story would be told, since it was a short film?

Ava Daniel :

that the story would be told, since it was a short film. Uh, I think the, I think the most. I think the deadline that we all had was like it was like from two to five days, I think, in total to write the script, but on the very first day of the program we actually made our characters.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

So it made it a lot easier to make a script to like flesh out, one based on what we had for the characters in mind okay, so that's that sounded like such a short period of time when you said two to two to five, you know, like two to five days to, to put it out. But certainly you said at the very beginning. I guess it was a creative process, one that you build upon, where, at the very beginning of the workshop, you identify the characters that you would have in your film or in the script that you would write. Then that would become film if selected. So tell us about that selection process.

Ava Daniel :

I didn't know much about the selection process. I do know that when they were picking they wanted us to one read out our entire script and, like they wanted us to read it out as a class, they wanted us to also give a pitch to them of what it was about. You know, a basic summary of what the film would have been about, and I think they also at one point even brought the script that did win and had a whole, and I had our class plus a whole nother group of students read it out loud once again and once they announced the winner, or winners, tell us about that moment uh, when they announced the winners, I think I was actually told a little bit beforehand that, well, my script would have been chosen, but I there was a little bit of maybe, maybe it wasn't it.

Ava Daniel :

You know there had to be other scripts up there, but when it was finally chosen, I my future's, like like the entire time, I was shocked, my jaw was dropped. I I was really excited that mine was been chosen, especially with all the other, really with all the other interesting scripts that were in the selection choice so, once again, you came up on top with your creative works, and this time in the area of filmmaking.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

following this eight-week program, tell us the name of your film.

Ava Daniel :

The name of my film is called the Moonlight Diner.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

And give us that pitch. Tell us what the film was about. Give us that pitch all right.

Ava Daniel :

The moonlight diner is a is a story set in a set at night in a mysterious area of town where this girl and her babysitter are basically stuck because their car won't start. And when and when her babysitter tries to go get help or something else, the young girl eventually hears something that sounds like her mother. She just goes venturing off into the darkness to go find her, and that's I think that's the most I'll say so far.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

So that is the climax, of course, to kind of draw you in to see what happens and, with this film, tell us about the development and the process, because you mentioned, throughout the workshop, many students had the opportunity not only to write and develop characters, but there were also other important roles to play, whether it was behind the scenes, in terms of running the cameras, audio. So tell us about that process and the development of the script into film.

Ava Daniel :

The process, the process itself. I'm just going to say how long it took. Right now, the process took 16 hours in total to film the entire thing across like two separate days, and it originally started. And it originally started with, of course, setting up all the materials like cameras, cords, all the other stuff. We had a walkie talkies to communicate across the set that we were using. The people who were set on cameras would have to, would have to like yell out like, like, like, like, like camera rolling and audio speed to like have all the cues of when we should actually start the action. Uh, of course, in between we had breaks, but a lot of it was just making sure that the lighting, that the thought like the fad machine would have been working, um, or like the camera had the right angle, or just like which clip we were going to get next. That's what most of the process was.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

And were you in part of the editing of that, the editing and putting together of the film? What was your involvement in the final product?

Ava Daniel :

In the final product. We didn't have as much involvement, probably because it was nearing the end of the program and we spent a lot of it kind of learning and filming. But we spent a lot of time learning and filming but we all had the most involvement during the filming part. We didn't have a lot during the end. I think that was up to the people who were running the program.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

All right, wonderful. And there was a short film debut, or a film debut of the short film on St Thomas. Tell us about that debut of the film, where it was held and the feeling and the atmosphere and who was there.

Ava Daniel :

All right. So for when the premiere started, they all told us to go at Ken and they put us in like a little shuttle van and took us to the venue, which was the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. I didn't even know a place could be so fancy until I stepped, until we drove in front of it, not even stepping into it, just drove in front of it. It was just so I want to say extravagant walking like, walking through the, like a hallway to get to the, to the venue area they had. They had a bunch of food. It was, it was, it was well lit, the chandeliers were trees. Um, it was just, it didn't, it was like a it. I'm having a hard time trying to like like figure out what words to say. It was just such a otherworldly experience, at least for me, and seeing everybody dress so nicely, being so excited to see their movie premiere that they worked so hard on it was amazing.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

Right.

Ava Daniel :

And, in addition to uh-huh, go right ahead. All right.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

And, in addition to uh-huh, go right ahead.

Ava Daniel :

Oh, I was going to say, and many people were there, like people from the Department of Education who funded the program and other really important people as well, so that and like that, that and that also made me feel like really excited as well.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

I'm sorry, no, no, no, certainly so it was a celebrity night, like roll out the red carpet. Uh experience, uh, for, for everyone that was involved in the program, in the production, and, uh, what would you say to, to anyone that may have an interest and be a part of the things that you have been involved in, from submitting your art into a competition to being involved in filmmaking and production? What words would you say to someone in terms of being involved in something like that, whether they are a young person or it is someone that is certainly older? What are your words of advice in terms of being involved?

Ava Daniel :

My words of advice is if you want to do it, I think now being scared to jump into it instantly is perfectly fine, but I still think you should at least attempt, even dip your toes in, try out, start off with something small and then go bigger and bigger until you finally achieve what you wanted to do.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

Awesome. Now, in addition to your winning artwork and winning script for the short film, you're also an entrepreneur. So tell us about your business and where interested patrons can support your work.

Ava Daniel :

Okay, so my business is currently me selling out my handmade paintings. Each one is different in its own way, even if some of them may have some other feels. Each of them is different. No two are alike and basically I'll just go to different events like Jazz in the Park or just other vendor locations and I'll basically just sell my artwork for people to buy, and some people can even ask if they want specific artworks, commissions and stuff like that.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

That is so awesome. So you mentioned Jazz in the Park and I do believe that there is an upcoming event. So are you going to be a part of an upcoming event where your artwork will be available?

Ava Daniel :

Yes, on March 8th I will be going to Jazz in the Park to sell more of my artwork. There will be new pieces there for people to look at and maybe even enjoy or purchase. But if anybody would like to, if anybody just doesn't like the ones I have displayed out, maybe you know, if we can, I can probably also do a commission for them.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

That is so awesome. So tell us about just about that whole whole whole process of of going out and and and showcasing your work and being an entrepreneur. What's your inspiration, your?

Ava Daniel :

work and being an entrepreneur. What's your inspiration, or who's your inspiration? My inspiration, um, has to be like my parents, my family, my art teacher you know, he's the one who pushed me to join the art competition in the first place, um, and the general setup of everything takes a long time. I don't I'm not the best at helping set everything up, which is why I said my parents they've been helping so much with, like you know, setting up these events, like encouraging me to do certain things, even going out and buying some of my materials for me, which I really appreciate. And I like my family in general for supporting me and also, once again, my art teacher for pushing me to join, like my art teacher, mr Matthew let me say his name out loud for encouraging me to join that, to join my first couple of art competitions, because if I didn't, I don't know if I would have still been here today.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

Awesome. And what is the best advice that you've gotten? Words that you live by or best advice that you've gotten words, words that you live by, or best advice that you've gotten from, from your mentor, whether it is your art teacher or your parents? What are the is the best advice that they have offered you, or words that they have told you to encourage you?

Ava Daniel :

uh, one one that I got a couple of times was go big or go home, and also, once again, is to just keep on trying. You know, don't stop. Keep on what you're doing, what you're doing, you'll eventually find success.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

That is great advice. And tell us, ava, what are your future endeavors. Know that you already doing so much as an artist, a filmmaker and an entrepreneur. So what are your future aspirations?

Ava Daniel :

my future aspirations is to not open up if I don't't open up an art center. I want to open up a gallery, not to only host my art, but to host many other people's art either other entrepreneurs or just other people to showcase the things that they love and enjoy.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

Okay, and what do you love most about being a woman from the Caribbean, a young woman in the Caribbean?

Ava Daniel :

What do you love most about being in the Caribbean and St Thomas, your island? The thing that I like being in the Caribbean the festivities. You know, the fruit. I love some sugar apples. I don't think I could live without them once during season. Another thing I love is once again I said it before the festivities carnival being able to go with friends, being able to go to the beach and seeing just everything that could be nice.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

I always say that this place is like a paradise, as long as you find the right location. That is so awesome, and what are some of your?

Ava Daniel :

favorite subjects in school and other hobbies or interests that you may have. So my favorite subjects in school, of course, is art, but I don't know if I'm allowed to say that one. I enjoy mathematics, more specifically algebra. I think I'm pretty all right with that. Science is also one that I really enjoy, more specifically algebra, I think I'm pretty all right with that. Science is also one that I really enjoy, more specifically, biology.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

Yeah, so we're well-rounded. Well, we certainly would like to say thank you for joining us on the Pulse of the Caribbean podcast. It's been a joy and a pleasure to have you. Congratulations to you on your award-winning art, your filming, your entrepreneurship. We wish you well and certainly look forward to yes, the opening of that art gallery by Ava Daniel in the Caribbean. Good luck and blessings to you with your future endeavors.

Ava Daniel :

Thank you, have a good night.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

All right, and one more thing I'd like you to say for me, ava, which I do ask folks to say after I record, is your name, and then basically you could say Ava, daniel, artist, filmmaker, entrepreneur. Know, I am the pulse of the caribbean. However you want to describe yourself, say your name, um, how you would describe yourself and then say I am the pulse of the caribbean for me, please?

Ava Daniel :

all right, um, okay, I'm ava daniel and an opera an op an um an entrepreneur.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

You can start again, okay.

Ava Daniel :

It's fine. Okay, I am Ava Daniel, an entrepreneur, an upcoming filmmaker, and I am the pulse of the Caribbean.

Pulse of the Caribbean:

Okay, one more time for me. So that's Claire.

Ava Daniel :

Okay, okay, my name is Ava Daniel. I'm an artist, an upcoming entrepreneur, an upcoming filmmaker and the pulse of the Caribbean.