Honoring the region's best at the 2012 Caribbean Heritage Month Cultural Extravaganza

To commemorate Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago's 50th anniversary of independence, the nations' best and brightest will be honored at the Caribbean Heritage Month Cultural Extravaganza on June 15, at the Miramar Cultural Center in Miramar, Florida, at 7:30 p.m.

In honor of this special event, get to know this year's honorees and their invaluable contributions through our weekly profile.

Peter Minshall – "Mas Man Extraordinaire"

As one of Trinidad and Tobago's most celebrated costume designers and artists, Peter Minshall is lauded for his inspired mix of traditional Carnival characters, innovative techniques, and social and spiritual commentary. He premiered on the national stage in 1976 with his first legendary collection, Paradise Lost. In 1978, he formed his own Carnival band, the Callaloo Company, and became known for his "dancing mobiles," which allowed designs of unprecedented scale and theatricality.

Residents of Miami Gardens show off their fantastic mothers for Mother's Day in the annual Miami Gardens "Mother of the Year" awards.

Award organizer, Miami Gardens Councilwoman Lisa C. Davis, has announced Dorothy Blount as the 2012 Miami Gardens Mother of the Year. A foster parent in the Florida Quality Parent Initiative, Blount has been a foster mother for 44 years, nurturing her four daughters and over 100 children.

"She is truly one of our best foster parents," says Sharon Frazier-Stephens from the Center of Family and Child Enrichment on her award. "She is a remarkable, compassionate woman. We called her home 'a place called hope.' Her foster home is like no other foster home in Dade County."

Blount however doesn't "really consider myself a foster mother."

From colonies to independent nations, the Caribbean has always left its indelible mark on the world. The contributions of the region's sons and daughters to their adopted home of America have proved just as integral to American life. On June 5, 2006, President George W. Bush celebrated these achievements with a special proclamation declaring June as National Caribbean American Heritage month.

This year, as Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago celebrate their 50th year of independence, Jamaica Awareness Inc. is proud to honor this milestone with a special Caribbean Heritage Month Cultural Extravaganza on June 15, at the Miramar Cultural Center in Miramar, Florida, at 7:30 p.m.

Under the auspices of Consuls General of Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, Sandra Grant Griffiths and Dr. Anil Ramnanan respectively, the black tie affair features outstanding works and performances from the literary, musical, and design fields.

Artist and teacher Errol Emanuel waited patiently to photograph "Let us pray," a lone egret overlooking a flock of its bathing, seemingly prayerful brothers. It is a brief, anointed moment – an ordinary Jamaican beach scene transformed into nature's sermon.

"There is a great education in watching and learning," says Emanuel on his process, a philosophy that infuses his art and teaching.

An Edna Manley College graduate, Emmanuel's early art education began in this careful observing. His childhood efforts to copy his cousin's sketches mingled with the constant play of his mother's radio.

"I remember my mom listening to BBC news and hearing all the struggles from these different places around the world – Egypt, South Africa Ghana. They're saying the same thing as the Reggae singers, to stand up for what you believe in. That brought a broader, more international thinking to me. The kind of work I do is based on social commentary, things from everyday, both local and international, and the Bible."

And it is society's symbols that shape Emanuel's paintings – stars of David, Jesus Christ figures and Egyptian masks lit in acrylic yellows and metallics. Influenced by the work of Marcus Garvey, painter Barrington Watson and sculptor Alvin Marriott, Emmanuel tweaks familiar images to find unseen or forgotten meaning. Godlike pharaoh masks stand by their modern Black faces and streetwise Rastafarians are crowned in light. Emanuel was awarded the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission Festival Certificate of Merit for his sharp eye.