John Hoyland Hoyland gives back to Jamaica – building classrooms for the place that inspired him

March 7, 2017

Hoyland gives back to Jamaica – building classrooms for the place that inspired him

The Hoyland Trust Estate has completed the building of two classrooms for Anchovy Primary School in Jamaica. Hoyland’s connection with the school was through his wife, Beverley Heath-Hoyland, who attended as a child. The former Jamaican beauty queen, who now oversees the John Hoyland Trust, says, ‘John loved Jamaica, its colours and people, and so it feels right to be giving something back to the place. The buildings are badly needed because the school is bursting at the seams.’

For Hoyland Jamaica was like a second home and a valuable stimulus for his work. Beverley says, ‘John loved going to the tropics and waking up to this wonderful light. He called it “visual poetry”. He loved watching the humming birds and the butterflies whizzing around, the lizards pretending to be dead. He loved it all. And it fed through into his work.’

The classrooms also function as emergency shelters in times of need and have been built to ensure they withstand natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes.