starting out on a North American tour.

The exhibition is being staged by the Museum for African Art in New York.

It will be a landmark for Bermuda enabling locals for the first time, to see an exhibition of this calibre without leaving the Island.

The exhibition titled, "Secrecy: African Art that Conceals and Reveals'', will be hosted by the National Gallery.

New Yorker magazine hailed it the "loveliest exhibition in New York''.

About 100 works of art from pan sub-Saharan Africa will be featured.

They will be from major museum and private collections world wide, and include masks, figures, textiles and architectural sculptures.

The display will take over the entire gallery from October 3-December 31.

The gallery's exhibition rooms will be closed for the majority of September.

This will allow time for the exhibits to be put on display.

The shop and reception desk will be open during that time with the exhibition catalogue available as well as advance tickets to see the show.

Tickets will cost $3, with children under 16 admitted free.

A limited number of tickets will be on offer each day. Scheduled tour times will also be available.

The gallery's steering committee chaired by Mrs. Louise Jackson said she was "committed to ensuring the success of the exhibition, organising fundraising events, marketing, raffle, and raising public awareness in the community and schools.'' Committee members are Mr. Dusty Hind, Mrs. Shirley James, Mr. Robin Judah, Mr.

John Kaufmann, Mr. Cyril Packwood, Mr. Arnold Simmons, Mrs. Marilynn Simmons, Ms Phyllis Simmons, Ms Jennifer Smith, Lady Swan, and Ms Ruth Thomas.

Also involved are Mrs. Jane West, Ms Sharon Wilson, "D'' Wood, Ms Linda Paynter, Mr. Jay Bluck, Ms Bonnie Dodwell, Ms Laura Gorham, and Ms Britanny Wivell. To benefit the exhibition, the committee organised the AJOYO celebration at Fort Hamilton, on July 10. It grossed over $51,000. One of the goals of the Gallery is to encourage school children to take advantage of the exhibit. "Both Sharon Wilson and Arnold Simmons of the development area of the Department of Education are on the steering committee in charge of education, and are working on scheduling the schools to visit the gallery in organised guided tours,'' the spokesperson said. A docent workshop will take place on September 27 and 28 to train those who are interested in conducting tours for the exhibit. On November 10 the curator of the exhibit Miss Mary H.

Nooter will give a lecture at the City Hall on African art.