Gerard Valcin was born in 1923 in Haiti into a very poor family and his parents couldn't pay for him to receive an education.
He was in school for only 3 years until he quit to make money weaving twine for hats as a young boy.
However, as a young boy, Valcin would watch a man in his neighborhood paint Vodou Spirits on pieces of cardboard in his front yard.
He began painting from his spiritual imagination – influenced by country life and the blending of Vodou and Masonic Masonry.
Dwight Peters, the director of the Centre d'Arte, was scouting just such untrained artists and wanted to nurture their work.