Renowned cultural icon ‘Pilling’ Pollard dies

Costume designer, Julian “Pilling” Pollard will surely be missed in the mas bands business as his uniqueness is what spoke to art lovers.

Pollard passed away suddenly on Wednesday June 12, 2024.

The local artist’s long time friend Roland “Scrappie” Dopwell told SEARCHLIGHT on Thursday June 13, that he has known Pollard for close to 45 years and during that time they forged a long-lasting friendship that has resulted in some “great” art pieces.

Dopwell said he met Pollard at a Vincentian social event in New York in 1977, and they spoke for a while that night.

“…I told him he could spend the weekend because I had my own spot, and eventually, he would come every weekend and we would hang out…and with his skill and my skill we gelled it together…he was an artist, and I was into metal sculpting so whatever he put on paper I can produce it, so we just blended.”

Dopwell said that after a while he and Pollard took over an entire house in New York and turned it into an art gallery and studio where they produced artwork together.

He said they returned home in 1981.

“We been tight…in 2001…he invited me to the Craft Centre in Frenches, and we have been here ever since. We never had fuss or a fight, so it hit me when he died, but what you will do? I’m a realist. It’s life”, Dopwell told SEARCHLIGHT.

He said that Pollard was taking it slow for this carnival season because he had some health issues. Pollard, who has been in the cultural arena for decades, was designer and band leader for SVG Players International. Dopwell said when members of the band heard about Pollard’s passing, “everyone who are foundation members of the band cried.”

Dopwell referred to Pollard as a true mas man. The quiet spoken Pollard was once an associate of Dragons Mas Band alongside Elroy “Blondie Bird” Boyd before branching out. Boyd, said with the late Dragons band leader Roy Ralph, himself and Pollard, there was too much talent confined in a single space, so they just had to move on. Pollard was one of two local designers on the mas scene who also did designs for several mas camps, Boyd also said. Pollard was the artistic director of the St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) delegation to CARIFESTA 2017.

“I feel it, was my boy,” Dopwell lamented. Asked about the void left by Pollard’s death, Dopwell said, “Pilling is Pilling, he had his own rhythm, Pilling is Pilling.”