by Constance Garcia-Barrio

At one of Kingston, Jamaica’s, traditional Christmas markets, a big, boisterous December 25 street fair featuring loads of toys and presents, Jamaican native Rupert E. Salmon, aka Ikruwarmaneazy, got an unexpected gift.

“I looked at toys made of wood, straw, cloth and clay, and I knew in that instant I could make them myself,” said “Ikru,” an artist and member of the Philadelphia Senior Center. “I was about 8 years old at the time, and I’ve never stopped making art.”

That dedication has brought dividends. In May, Ikru, now 71, exhibited “The Sunflowers,” a two-dimensional representation of sunflowers, at City Hall as part of the Phila. Corporation for Aging’s annual Celebrate Arts and Aging festival. The piece sold to well-known jurist Federica Massiah-Jackson, a judge in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, for $2,500.

“I was overjoyed,” Ikru said.

Ikru honed his natural ability over decades.

“My mother, Ruth Salmon, was a cook, but she had an eye for art,” he said. “At home, when I was unsure how to make something, she would say, ‘Try it this way’ or ‘Try it that way.’”

To this day, Ikru can use burlap sugar bags to make pants and vests or carve a tree stump into a gorgeous sculpture. He studied at the Jamaica School of Arts in Kingston and received a bachelor of arts in realistic painting and sculpting in 1967.

After his graduation, Ikru taught crafts to students aged 11 to 18 at the Jamaica School of Arts and Crafts and other institutions. In time, he traveled abroad to teach craft workshops under the auspices of the Jamaica Cultural Commission. His career was soaring, but political unrest and the sudden disappearance of some friends and allies during Jamaica’s 1987 elections prompted him to leave the country.

Ikru arrived in Hartford, Connecticut, where his wife — who was doing domestic work — and children had established themselves in 1986.

“It was hard, like starting all over again,” he said.

Nevertheless, Ikru worked, studied and painted. In 1987, the year he arrived in the U.S., Ikru had an exhibition of his paintings in Hartford’s Pump House Gallery.

“I sold a painting there for $300,” he said, “and I felt encouraged.”

He also took classes in carpentry.

“At times I had little to eat,” he recalled. “It was very stressful. Gray hair started popping out on my head.”

In search of more opportunities, Ikru and his family moved to Boston in 1988 and then to Queens, New York, in 1989.

“I had exhibitions at York College and at Roy Wilkins Park in Queens,” he said. “I also worked in a hardware store and did a little carpentry.” Selling his artwork on the street also helped to make ends meet.

In 2006, two of his grown daughters — he has five children and three grandsons — urged him to move to Philadelphia so he would live near them. He took their advice and soon began selling his work as a street vendor near City Hall. He also did pencil portraits of passersby. Good fortune smiled on him when a Temple University professor saw his work and invited him to give presentations in art classes at the university.

In addition, Ikru became a fixture on weekends at Old City’s Knapp Gallery, now closed. The gallery not only displayed his paintings but also provided space for his sidewalk performances on the keyboard.

“I write poetry and set many of my poems to music,” said Ikru, who has a book of poems and drawings he hopes to have published.

His paintings and poems also became well known at the Lighthouse, a building in Phoenixville that Ikru and two friends helped to turn into an arts café.

About four years ago, Ikru fell and hurt his back.

“I’ve slowed down a bit,” he said, “but I still ride my bike and take long walks.”

The more leisurely pace gives him added time to paint, draw, sculpt, knit, sew, crochet, carve wood, sing, and write poems, noted Ikru, who used to dance as well in his younger days.

“I’m going to use money from selling the painting for a trip to Jamaica,” he said. “I haven’t been back in years. I’ll eat great food, go to the beach and visit places I used to know. I can’t wait.”

Longtime Mt. Airy resident Constance Garcia-Barrio writes for the Local and other publications about many topics. This article is reprinted, with permission, from Milestones, the monthly publication of the Phila. Corporation for Aging.