page_title: George Simon (artist)
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: George Simon (artist) / Life / Early years
caption_attribution_description: English: Restoration of a Photograph of George Simon (far left) at school in St. Cuthbert's Mission, Guyana.
context_page_description: George Simon was a Guyanese Lokono Arawak artist and archaeologist. He was the founder and mentor of the Lokono Artists Group, a group of Lokono artists from Guyana, based primarily in Simon's hometown of St. Cuthbert's Mission. Simon was widely regarded as one of the leading Guyanese artists of his generation, and his paintings are notable for their explorations of Amerindian culture and the Guyanese environment. He was also recognized for his achievements as an educator, his efforts to develop opportunities for Amerindian artists in Guyana, and for his work as an archaeologist.
context_section_description: George Simon was born on 23 April 1947 to Olive and Mark Simon in St. Cuthbert's Mission on the Mahaica River in British Guiana (now Guyana). His father was a woodcutter, and his mother was a housewife. Simon attended school at St Cuthbert's Mission up until the age of 12. Discussing his early years in an interview from 1994/5, Simon recalled the way in which the Mission school stifled expressions of Amerindian culture: "Anyone found speaking Arawak in class was flogged [...] In general, Amerindian culture was discouraged and we were made to feel inferior".
  When he was 12 years old, Simon was adopted by James William Pink - an English Anglican priest who was serving in the Mahaica-Berbice region at that time. He subsequently moved with his foster-father to Linden and then to Georgetown, where he studied English, Mathematics, Geography, Hygiene, Physiology and Art at Christ Church Secondary School.
caption: George Simon (far left) at school in St. Cuthbert's Mission.
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