A Hybrid Art Gallery, Bookstore, Café, Rum & Wine Bar
Priscilla Hintz Rivera Knight and David Knight Jr., Bajo el Sol Gallery & Art Bar owners since 2016, are proud of the gallery’s more than 30-year legacy of support and engagement with the arts community of St. John and the greater Virgin Islands. The gallery is home to thought-provoking monthly exhibitions, readings and book signings by award-winning V.I. writers and poets, documentary screenings with regional and international filmmakers, as well as presentations by local and visiting academics and musicians.
​​​
At the Art Bar, you'll find Puerto Rican espresso coffee, chocolates, wine, classic Caribbean cocktails, lite savory bites, soups, salads, and freshly baked pastries. The Art Bar is also home to the largest selection of aged rums in Cruz Bay, which can be sampled in curated tasting flights.​
​
Located in Mongoose Junction, Bajo el Sol is just a five-minute walk from the Cruz Bay Ferry Dock.
​
Events & Exhibitions
-14.jpg)
Upcoming Exhibition
30th Anniversary Exhibition
2024 marked the 30th anniversary of the founding of Bajo el Sol Gallery and before the year ends, we will be celebrating the longevity and legacy of this creative community space on
St. John. Over 30 gallery artists will be featured in the exhibition.
​
Originally founded by a group of artists, including Aimee Trayser, Kat Sowa, Gail van de Bogurt, and Les Anderson as an artist cooperative.
​
The gallery has experienced many challenges, transitions and disruptions; including fires, hurricanes and pandemics, and yet it continues to be an important space for our artists and our greater Virgin Islands community 30 years after its founding.
Current Exhibition
'J'OUVERT by Shansi Miller
Shansi Miller was born and raised on the island of St. Thomas and is celebrated for her ability to capture the vibrancy of the V.I. culture in which she was raised. She is best known as an oil painter whose photorealist narrative works are an ongoing exploration of the nuances of Creole identity and history on her home island.
Her pieces, which are highly sought after by local and mainland collectors, are immediately distinguishable by their careful execution, intricate details, compositional complexity, and rich narratives.
Shansi's pieces currently on display at Bajo el Sol Gallery are a series of studies done for a large narrative oil painting titled 'J'ouvert.' The series gives a rare glimpse into the artist's meticulous process - the many variations and stagings conceived of with local models before a final work is complete. The details in each study also speak to the artist's technical mastery and her uncommon ability to capture the intrinsic joy and communal revelry of the Virgin Islands' festival arts traditions. In 'Jouvert' and its studies, each individual figure is bursting with inner life while also contributing to the proud and deeply-felt sense of heritage embodied in the collection.
​
​
Rhyme & Lime Poetry Jam
Every last Saturday of each month starting at 7pm (except December, June, August & September), the Gri Gri Project along with Raven Phillips hosts Rhyme & Lime Poetry Jam at Bajo el Sol Gallery. This monthly event features the musical stylings of the event's house jazz band From Broheem With Love
​
Rhyme and Lime features poets, musicians and spoken word artists of every experience level from around the world. Although the island that is home to the Rhyme and Lime claims a population of less than 5,000 people, the event’s reach has extended far beyond its shores, welcoming visiting performers from around the Virgin Islands, the rest of the Caribbean and the United States.​
​​
​You can read your own poetry or someone else's - or if you don't wanna rhyme, just listen and lime!
Book Of the Month
On the Outskirts of Eden
Exploring the Roots of Creole Society
in the Virgin Islands, 1492-1692
​For those who came of age steeped in the carefully crafted narratives of New World colonization espoused in the modern era, it is easy to have missed the more-nuanced aspects of social development that took place in small-island communities throughout the Lesser Antilles during the postmedieval period. On the Outskirts of Eden shines new light on this little-understood, yet critically important period in Eastern Caribbean history.
David W. Knight Sr. is a cultural resource consultant, historian, and author from the
U.S. Virgin Islands.
-6.jpg)
Curator's Pick
VIRGIN ISLANDS MARKET BASKETS
by Crucian Bayside Creations
Crucian Bayside Creations is a ​folk art collaborative comprised of the
five Henry siblings from St. Croix: Letitia, Carla, Lloyd, La Verne and Carmen. They carry on a tradition of Virgin Islands basket-making that was passed down to them by their aunt, Eileen Henry-Huggins.
​
The siblings each add their own modern flair to their baskets through the use of different wood types in the basket handles, and by including unique splashes of color in their basket designs.
​
Gustos Premium Espresso Coffee From Our Neighboring Island of Puerto Rico
Sip our single origin, small batch coffee, in one of our handmade, locally crafted coffee cups.