Stanwyck Cromwell moved from Guyana, on South America's Caribbean coast, at age 20. Today, Cromwell is 64. But when he picks up his paint brush, Guyana is rarely far from his thoughts.

"Guyana is more of a memory of nostalgia for me now ... cowrie shells, fishes, mangoes," Cromwell, a professor of Caribbean art and culture at Capital Community College in Hartford, says while pointing at his painting, "Nostalgic Dreams." "In my mind's eye I can still see places even though those places don't exist anymore."

Memories of Guyana dominate the images in Cromwell's paintings, which are on display at the Pump House Gallery, inside Bushnell Park in Hartford. The opening reception is Thursday, April 5.

But these days, it's more than Guyana that inspires Cromwell, a third-generation artist who now got his MFA at the University of Hartford, and who now lives in Bloomfield. His show is called "Revival" because he paints in memory of his son, Nigel, also an artist, who died in 2009 at the age of 29 as a result of a heart condition. (He and his wife, Mattie, have an older son, who is not an artist.)

"I chose the name because revival encompasses new life, a replenishing of the spirit, a newness of purpose," he says. "My son died, and some friends, and I felt the need for revival."

So "Nostalgic Dreams," a pastel-colored vision of Caribbean influences, and "Water People," Cromwell's interpretation of an old Guyanese folktale, face across the gallery space at "Departure," a contemplation on death, which is darker in color and in tone but not entirely without hope.

"Death doesn't always mean the end of life. It means a transition from one body into another body," he says. "It's a transition from the natural world to the spirit world."

Guyanese influences and folklore also can be seen in a pair of paintings, "Meeting the Elders" and "Homage to the Ancestors."

"Revival" can be interepreted in many ways, Cromwell says. His painting "Four Women On Their Way To Church," a sedate study of four women in the street, and "Dancers in a Circle," a more energetic scene of activity, pay homage to the spirituality of Guyanese women.

"Caribbean women make it their duty to go to church. They consider that their spiritual obligation, more than men do," he says of "Four Women on Their Way to Church." "You see women walking down the street, side by side, going to church, in their long dresses.

"Anything bringing new joy and energy into the world is a revival," he says of "Dancers in a Circle." "When you throw your hands into the air in jubilation rather than in disgust, that's a revival."

"Rumfa Dancers" is another vision of spirituality. But "Gossip Mongers," hanging nearby, is more playful.

"Revival" also can be interpreted by Cromwell's "Palate" series of paintings, in which he creates artworks from his old paint palettes. "I used to scrape them clean when they got covered with paint, but I stopped doing that," he says. "My palettes became my alibi, my testament that I was there.

"A palette is one of the artist's confidantes. It holds in its pigmented DNA everything an artist does and thinks," he says. "The artist's ideas are locked into the paint." In this same vein, a common sightin Cromwell's paintings are his own brushes embedded into the thickly applied paint.

The most personal meaning of "revival," perhaps, is Cromwell's usage of his son's paints to create some of the most brightly colored works. "When I use his paints, there is a spiritual connection," he says. "That the paint has a lineage makes it very special to me."

So the show, overall, can be seen as a celebration of family: Nigel's paints, elders, ancestors, and, watching over the whole exhibit, two portraits of Mattie, Cromwell's wife.