Artists
The TSKW Studio Artist program provides local artists and writers with the space, support, and professional camaraderie that is so necessary in the creation of new work.
There are currently fifteen studio artists participating in the program; eleven artists work in studios found on the second floor of the Historic Armory, and four artists can be found just two doors down from the Armory at 610 White Street.
We hope you’ll get to know our artists and find out about the unique ways they contribute to the creative fabric of our community. Collectors, patrons, critics and the general public are invited to stop by TSKW during our monthly open house (details page 8), and private tours with individual artists are available by appointment.
Sponsored by Blue
“I have always been a writer, scribbling in little blank books, recording life as it is taking place around me.
The year I spent in Japan following my college graduation changed the direction of my career. After eating rare fish parts in tiny Kyoto restaurants, learning weaving at a remote textile school, and starring in karaoke videos, I simply couldn’t hitch myself to selling art work in a gallery or working in an art museum (my previous plan, given a B.A. in Art History). Instead, I decided to be a writer. I woke up at 6 a.m. to read and write for three hours before I went to work in a flower shop and then in an Italian restaurant. I became a student of sentences I read and loved.
In 1994, I moved to Key West, because I’d read that artists lived there. Within two weeks, I joined a women’s writing group and learned what it was like to read out loud. I wrote a weekly dining column for Solares Hill newspaper, and learned about deadlines and the many ways to paraphrase “delicious”. With clippings from Solares Hill, and the right story at the right moment, I sold a feature story to Vogue. Since then, I have been published in O, Gourmet, Metropolitan Home, Islands, Miami Modern Luxury, Conde Nast Traveler, and other magazines I used to dream about writing for.
I live in South Florida with my husband, Markham, who pushes me professionally when I feel meek and taught me to love wine; our son Blue, who started eating sushi at age two, and our daughter Vivian, who loves little blank books and recording life as it is taking place around her.”
Sponsored by Eaton Bikes
Pam Hobbs was born in northern New Jersey and moved to Kansas when she was 13. She attended High school and then received her B.F.A. from the Kansas City Art Institute. Pam was trained as a weaver in the craft department and used fabric, either woven or surface design as her medium. After college, thirty years ago, she came to Key West Florida on vacation and never left. After seeing the colors of the water, sky and the tropical flowers and trees her colors blossomed, as well as her use of different mediums. She likes to portray her ideas and feelings with bright colors and bold shapes. She also like to give people the same directness, boldness, freedom and happiness she feels living here in the lush tropics. Pam’s work can be seen at 7 Artists Gallery in Key West.
Sponsored by Michaels
Brooks Whitney Phillips was born and raised in downtown Chicago. She attended Franklin College Switzerland where her studies focused on European art and literature before transferring to the University of Denver. Upon graduation she spent three years working in public relations & advertising until deciding to pursue a career as a freelance writer. She was a long-time contributor to the Chicago Tribune for whom she wrote a weekly-syndicated column and feature stories focusing on music and the arts. She has published six children’s books for the popular American Girls collection as well as been a columnist and feature writer for their magazine, American Girl. She has also published two books with Scholastic and served as Assistant Entertainment Editor for CompuServe’s online publishing division. Brooks has lived in Key West for twelve years and is busy raising a young family, contributing stories to Coastal Living magazine, and finishing a novel—this one for adults!
Brooks can be found working at “610 Studios”, just a two doors down from the Armory.
Novel Excerpt
“September was the hottest month, the endless days bright and still, the drone of cicadas incessant. Dragonflies swooped low over dusty roads with hungry crows in eager pursuit. Alligators lolled in warm mud-brown rivers. Fruit ripened; grew fat and full then fell and rotted under sullen trees. Fruit flies swarmed leaving seeds like bones. Wooden houses swelled. Doors no longer shut. Cotton curtains hung in limp expectation. But come month’s end the cool north wind would begin to blow, lifting the leaves of the drooping orange trees, sending a rustle through the grove like hope. How we’d rejoiced that afternoon with Turkey Boy jumping out of the tree he was pruning to lift me high over his head with a whoop. That wind! It would break the stillness of the Indian-summer heat and steal the warmth before the night was through. Summer always ended that way, abruptly.”
Sponsored by Truman and Co.
Jeffrey Harwell is a graphic design artist and abstract painter who is beginning to explore various multimedia forms of expression including sound and performance art. Over the years, Jeffrey has taken several classes at TSKW, including the Abstract Painting Seminar with Roberta Marks. He looks forward to collaborating with other artists, and hopes to use his studio to combine his design, painting, photography and multimedia work in new and exciting ways.
His artistic background is diverse, including time he spent as an interior designer and working at Anthropologie helping design and open stores is Santa Monica and Soho. He also worked for the Smithsonian Institution creating and designing exhibitions for the US Postal Museum.
Jeffrey has lived in Key West for seven years and is an active community member serving on the board of Art in Public Places, the Friends of the AIDS Memorial, and the Tourist Development Association.
Sponsored by At Home In Key West
Sherry Sweet Tewell is a local Key West artist. Originally from the bluegrass state of Kentucky, she visited Key West for twenty years before deciding to make it her home. A graduate from Western Kentucky University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts /Commercial Art degree Sherry has been working for the past fifteen years as a muralist, decorative artist and textile designer. Her mural works include numerous large scale commercial and residential projects. The most recognizable mural in Key West is located on the exterior wall of the Wave Gallery at the corner of White and Virginia Streets.
Sherry is owner of Art Shack located at 804 1/2 Caroline Street.
She is also the creator of the children’s book Cosmo the Boat Cat.
Sponsored by ARCHEO Gallery
Guillermo was born in Colombia, South America where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture in 1981 from the Universidad del Valle in the city of Cali. Orozco then attended Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana and obtained his Master’s Degree in Architecture in 1983 specializing in Historic Preservation. His professional efforts focused upon commercial projects in the revitalization of the Historic Warehouse District as well as residential renovations and rehabilitations. In 1987, Guillermo Orozco moved to Key West where he was employed as an architect until opening his Design Studio in 1994. As a Residential Designer, Orozco’s work has included new construction projects, additions, renovations and the adaptive reuse of historic structures as well as the design of fine furniture, swimming pools, and bamboo structures and fences. Guillermo Orozco has received ten Awards of Excellence for his designs from the Historic Florida Keys Foundation five of which were awarded the highest honor of a “Star”.
Sponsored by Old Town Trolley Tours
Andy grew up in the earlier Key West, before the chain restaurants, and when summers were sleepy. He left to crew on a shrimp boat, came back for the Mariel evacuation and sailed to Cuba.
After several tense weeks and past black muzzles of Cuban gunboats, Andy brought more than a hundred Cubans to freedom, and never left again.
Some of Andy’s favorite subjects are the local characters you will not see unless you walk the side streets and local hangouts of Key West. Native memories, experiences and passions fuel his high-energy watercolors. Bold brushwork, tropical colors and innovative composition are some of his trademarks. His palette vibrates with the sun bleached light of Key West and its darkness.
Sponsored by Strunk Hardware
I came to Key West from New England twenty years ago. I have also been the facilities director at TSKW since 2007. Most recently, I have been exploring ceramic and naturally activated sound elements.
Sponsored by ReCycle Bicycles
Marky Pierson is a prolific artist and graphic designer with diverse skills and interests. He is also…
a production manager for diverse local and national arts projects…
an enthusiastic cultivator of new talent…
the executive producer of theater projects, traveling tours and performance art…
a published writer of poetry, short stories, and journalistic pieces…
And so much more….
Learn more about his work at www.markypierson.com
Sponsored by Julie McCarron
Peter Vey was raised in the northeast in the town where M&Ms are made. After a classical education in art history at Duke University, he moved to Florida where he now lives and paints. A love of the landscape and foliage in and around the tropics has inspired a poetic journal of canvases of Peter’s vision ever since.
His unique view, fresh colors, and mastery of painting technique result in works remarkable for their sense of place. The ambiance in Peter’s paintings is like the atmosphere he creates them in echoing the vibrant light of the sun drenched tropics.
Vey’s palate knife technique is unusual in that he sculpts in a painterly manner rather than decorating with the thick lush colors of the southern latitudes. His works exude lush floral details, formal architectural patterns, and intricate almost abstract flowery geometric forms.
Peter has created what is simply a satisfying visual statement.
Sponsored by Cole’z Peace
Lois has lived in Key West for nearly seven years. You may have seen her at the Key West Art Center where works as the assistant director and also oversees annual shows and festivals.
Lois has been making glass beads and designing jewelry since 2001 and takes inspiration from her travels, having visited many beautiful places including the Galapagos Islands, The Amazon Rainforest, New Zealand, Portugal, Italy and the island of Murano , as well as other parts of Europe.
Lois uses an age old technique called “lampworking”, to produce hand-crafted glass beads by winding hot molten glass around thin stainless steel rods. A torch is used to melt the thin rods of brightly colored glass to a working temperature of more than 1500 degrees. Although the tools have improved, the same basic techniques have been used to produce glass beads for more than two thousand years.
Sponsored by Seven Fish
Maureen Tracy Venti is originally from the Berkshires, in Massachusetts. She has a BA in English from UMASS Amherst, a M.Ed. in Research and Evaluation from Boston College, an MFA from Lesley University in Creative Writing, and a Certificate in Literary Publishing from Emerson College. Her poetry has been published in The Secret of Salt: An Indigenous Journal and she has been a contributing author for Microsoft Press Publications. A former Principal Software Consultant with Microsoft Corporation, she now lives in Key West, FL and Jackson, NH with her husband Eddie and their golden retriever Luca.
Maureen says, “My art encompasses three disciplines: Poetry, Photography and Publishing. Poetry conveys big ideas in minimalist language. Photography transforms by stillness, revealing the ordinary as extraordinary. Poetography is the art of combining poetic lines with images to create a theme, a narrative, an epiphany. Publishing is an art form too, one that adds a third dimension to works of literature and art.
I founded Stella Luca Press with the vision of publishing books that are themselves works of art, in content and in form. In addition to my own work, I am developing book projects with other Key West writers and artists. I have admired the work of TSKW since its inception and am excited to become a part of this artistic community.”
Sponsored by Lucky Street Gallery
Growing up in Key West gave Debra Yates a quintessential perspective on art. The island, known for its artistic freedom and historic preservation, has long been a haven for emerging and established artists.
Yates may have island roots, but she is also well traveled. After graduating from Florida State University with a degree in advertising design, she studied art history in Florence, Italy. She began her career in New York as an ad agency art director, moved into magazines—first working in design development for Hearst Publications—and then as art director for Miami Magazine and the Miami Herald’s Tropic magazine. Yates served as art director for South Florida Home & Garden for 10 years before it ceased publication.
Her mosaics, paintings and design work have been published in books and magazines. Two awards that Yates is most proud to have received are the 2000 South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship and the 2002 Rodel Foundation Fellowship to Vermont Studio Center.
Yates brings to each project an artist’s sense of color, a graphic designer’s love of white space, a sculptor’s feel for texture, an architect’s
Sponsored by Green Parrot
Mark Hedden writes narrative nonfiction, primarily ornithology-oriented natural history, which most people refer to as “stuff about birds.” He has also written about necrovoyeurism, his love of the Tour de France, his aversion to pirates, his hatred of clowns, the inappropriate use of firearms during photo shoots, and music. His work has been published in the Bone Island Sun, the Key West Citizen, Solares Hill newspaper, the Miami Herald, Tropic magazine, Miami Metro magazine, the Washington Post, and the secret of salt.
