Past workshops, events & exhibitions
TSKW recently enlisted the help of local media company, Conch TV, to produce a short video telling the story of our organization. Thanks to the good folks at Conch TV - Gail, Craig, and Matthew – for helping us define the amazing community that is The Studios of Key West.
Installation on View at the Historic Armory from March 4 to 15
The Studios of Key West will open its next exhibition, Space Defined, on March 4. Local artist and designer Debra Yates has created a new series of mixed-media wall hangings and installation pieces, which will take over the Historic Armory’s main hall through March 15. The public is invited to an opening reception with the artist from 6 to 8pm on March 4. Visitors to the exhibition will discover the historic interior as a whole new world, meticulously designed as a bespoke installation.
“The goal of this installation of painting is to create bold visual impact, and to define the space in a slightly different way,” explains Yates, who has been creating the new works in her upstairs space at The Studios of Key West. “These large new paintings have a vibrant but simple color pallette with emphasis on black and white. Many have been made larger than my usual work, to create a visual impact in the vast space of the Armory hall.”
Debra Yates is one of Key West’s leading designers and visual artists. On her eighth birthday, she received the gift of oil paints and canvas. When she ran out of canvas, she painted on driftwood. By the time Yates won a statewide scholastic high school art competition, her family home was already a gallery of her work.
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 Florida Home & Garden for 10 years before it ceased publication.
As an artist, she is known for the abstract nature of her striking mixed media paintings and mosaics. Her large-scale commissions have included two paintings she did for Neiman Marcus at Millennium Mall in Orlando, Florida; the 135-foot by eight-foot mosaic-tile semicircular wall at the North Beach Transit Shelter at Collins Avenue and 73rd Street, which she created for the city of Miami Beach; and the 100-foot by 10-foot multimedia barricade wall she composed at Miami International Airport. Yates’s mosaics, paintings and design work have been published in books and magazines. And she was honored with the 2000 South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship and the 2002 Rodel Foundation Fellowship to Vermont Studio Center.
Yates cites the work of her friend, renowned Brazilian landscape designer, Roberto Burle Marx, as a key inspiration for many of her her creative endeavors. For 15 years, Yates made an annual trek to visit Marx in Brazil, which resulted in diverse third-world influences in her works. She also credits her studio space above the main hall, and her long-time affiliation with The Studios of Key West, as a driver for this latest exhibition.
“The bright bold and joyful feel of this body of work in part comes from my studio space at the Armory. The large and sunny studio inspires me. The surroundings inspire me. I feel free to come and go, leave the work, lock the door, try new things.”
For Space Defined, Yates brings an artist’s sense of color, a graphic designer’s love of white space, a sculptor’s feel for texture, an architect’s eye for detail, a landscaper’s appreciation for earthy elements and an inherent understanding of the importance of light. The public is invited to view her latest large-scale installation at The Studios of Key West from March 4 to 15. The Armory main hall is located at 600 White Street, and is open during normal business hours. For information, contact 296-0458.
The Studios of Key West invites the community to bring ideas, art making supplies, friends, and family members to the Historic Armory at 10am on Saturday, February 6 for the annual Art Crawl event. Participation is free and begins with a continental breakfast and a chance to meet other creative people before hitting the streets of Old Town.
Following the morning gathering, participants will explore the island’s neighborhoods, sties, and side streets to paint, draw, write, photograph, and capture local scenes. After a day of plein air art-making, armed with new creative works based on the island’s unique sense of place, participants will regroup at the Armory for a 4pm celebration, salon style display, and reception.
“This is an open access invitation to join our creative community, bring your favorite medium, and help us fill the streets of Old Town with artistic pursuits at every corner,” says Eric Holowacz, executive director of The Studios of Key West. “We are calling all local and visiting poets, photographers, painters, film-makers, and others wanting to create new works. Join us for the 2010 Art Crawl.”
All ages, mediums, disciplines and individuals are encouraged to take part in this free artistic outpouring. Interested artists should arrive at the Armory, 600 White Street, by 10am on Saturday, February 6. Breakfast and coffee will be provided, but participants should arrange their own lunch.
“We’ve even added a plein air competition to the event, with a distinguished juror and generous cash and donated prizes,” says Program Manager Martha Barnes. “This new element is the Key West Quick Draw event, planned for plein air painters and sketch artists from the Keys and beyond.”
Quick Draw entrants will have their blank canvas stamped at 10am, and must return to the Armory with a finished work by 3pm. Award-winning artist Priscilla Coote will serve as Quick Draw juror, and will announce the three cash prize winners and three honorable mention artists at the reception. Registration for the Key West Quick Draw is $20 and will be taken before 10am on the event day.
The 2010 Key West Art Crawl is sponsored by Old Town Trolley Tours. Support has also been provided by Florida Keys Council of the Arts, the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, and and the National Endowment for the Arts. To learn more about this event, and other upcoming cultural opportunities at The Studios of Key West, contact 296-0458 or visit.
A look at last year’s Artcrawl
Several years ago, The Studios of Key West began looking into bold models for live/work spaces. As part of our mission to support the island’s creative people and cultural producers, we researched many developments and loft spaces and arts complexes around the country. One model kept cropping up, and that was Artspace USA.
Their non-profit approach begins with close partnerships with city and county government, local arts organizations, and those who paint, make music, perform plays, and sustain the creative life of a community. The end result is affordable living and working spaces, combined in unique collective environments, and a new place for artists to contribute to their environs.
With dozens of large-scale live/work buildings under their management, and a 25 year track record of directing projects from the ground up, we though it might be time for Key West to invite Artspace USA to help our community formulate a solid plan for the island and its creative needs.
Learn more about their unique non-profit developer model, here
www.artspace.org
And learn about other successful Artspace developments and live/work spaces here
http://www.artspace.org/properties/all_properties.html
Stay tuned with TSKW for more information about the growing Artspace Key West effort for our community…
One Non-profit Helping Another
Historic Florida Keys Foundation has long been known as a guardian of heritage properties up and down the Keys. This season, they have also provided critical support for TSKW, helping sponsor our season of cultural and creative activities. They join hundreds of our local benefactors in a desire to see the Armory used for an array of cultural programming, free public events, lively concerts, lectures, and exhibitions. We are grateful to one of the island’s leading heritage organizations for lending a helping hand.
The mission of the Historic Florida Keys Foundation is to promote historic preservation through education, advocacy, collaboration, and stewardship. The Foundation oversees the leases on four historic state-owned properties. They directly manage Old City Hall, while the Oldest House, the Armory, and the Truman Little White House are on long term leases to other non-profit entities that manage them on a daily basis. The Foundation provides staff for the Monroe County Historic Preservation Program, conducts walking tours at the Key West Cemetery, to raise funds for cemetery preservation and education, and will soon host its 29th annual Preservation Awards program. This past year they also provided funding to help with the restoration of the Schooner Western Union. Learn how you can support the good work of the Foundation by visiting their website at historicfloridakeys.org or calling (305)292-6718.
TSKW Presents next exhibition, Chicago Artists Works on Paper, from January 14 to February 4
Thanks to The Studios of Key West’s innovative Cultural Manager Residency Program, the island will soon have the opportunity to view and acquire works by over a dozen prominent Chicago artists. The Historic Armory will host Chicago Artists Works on Paper, an exhibition of almost 30 drawings and mixed-media works, January 14 to February 4, made possible by a new partnership between the Second City and the Southernmost Town. The show also includes a silent auction of 14 original works on paper, donated by each of the participating artists, set for the evening of January 21.
E. W. Ross, former Dean at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and director of its Ox-Bow summer campus in Michigan, was invited to spend January 2009 in The Studios of Key West’s Mango Tree House. While here as resident cultural manager, Ross escaped the Windy City’s winter, explored our tropical environs, and began thinking about new collaborations and exchanges. After much planning and effort, he returns this season as curator of Chicago Artists Works on Paper and repeat Cultural Manager in Residence at The Studios.
“Last year we began inviting some of America’s cultural leaders and arts administrators to spend time in residence on our island. And soon we had dozens of leading creative figures planning their retreats,” said Eric Holowacz, executive director of The Studios. “It has become both a strategic and hospitable way to explore new programming, and generate important connections to the mainland and the world.”
Chicago is home to 30,000 studios artists, roughly the entire population of Key West, and has long been established as a global center of arts and culture. Following his residency last year, Ross began inviting a diverse group of visual communicators to consider lending work to a special exhibition in Key West. He describes the results like this:
“The fourteen artists in the show are as diverse as the work itself. It is an intergenerational group. Amy Stibich, 24 years old, is showing paper collages and drawings that relate a bit to David Hockney’s use of color and play. She is just at the beginning of a promising career. On the other end, Karl Wirsum, one of the highly influential ‘Hairy Who’ group of the late 1960’s, is an important Chicago artist with work in the collections of many major museums. His color lithographs are as vibrant and well designed as any anywhere.”
Chicago Artists Works on Paper includes 28 pictures, ranging from straight up water-based media to a variety of printmaking, including wood block, lithography and photo etching. Viewers will discover an exquisite landscape study by Susan Kraut, playful puns in Oli Watt’s prints, and the exquisite mysteriousness of Jeanine Coupe-Ryding’s photo etching.
Also contributing to the exhibition are Jose Andreu, Isak Applin, Linda Cohn, and Willie Kohler. George Liebert, Bobbi Meier, Olivia Petrides, Tony Phillips, and curator E. W. Ross round out the extraordianry Chicago line-up.
Thanks to a generous gesture form all of the participating artists, local art collectors will also have the opportunity to acquire 14 of the pictures included in the exhibition. Ranging in value from $200 to $1500, these works will be available by silent auction, opening on January 14 and closing with final bids at 8:00pm during the January 21 reception. Those interested are encouraged to bid just like the people of Chicago vote: early and often. Proceeds will support the current season of The Studios of Key West.
“When Ross told me that the artists had offered to help our organization by donating a work, I was deeply touched,” said Holowacz. “I knew that a true partnership had begun, and that this exhibition would be the start of many other cultural connections and collaborations between the Windy City and our tropical retreat.”
The Studios of Key West is a now in its third season, and offers workshops, lectures, concerts, exhibitions, and cultural opportunities for everybody. To learn more about Chicago Artists Works on paper, or to find out about other upcoming events, contact The Studios at 296-0458 or visit www.tskw.org.
This project is generously sponsored by the Southernmost Hotel Collection.
Announces Leadership Transition for 2010
The Studios of Key West board of directors recently announced the appointment of Jay Scott as the organization’s next Executive Director, succeeding founding chief executive Eric Holowacz after the current program season.
Holowacz, who joined The Studios of Key West in May 2007, has announced plans to return to his home in Wellington, New Zealand in July 2010. He will work with Scott and both board and staff to ensure a smooth transition over the coming months.
“I thought it would take three to five years to build staff, programming, and a diversified funding base for The Studios,” said Holowacz, “but after our first full season things began to take shape. By the second, the organization was humming. While my mission has been accomplished, the hard part will be leaving the exciting and diverse creative community that now surrounds the Armory and its place on the island.”
Jay Scott brings years of experience to the position, having most recently served as the Executive Director of the Fleck Foundation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which granted over $2 million per year. Scott’s also had a long career as university administrator, specializing in campus programming and student affairs, at the University of Florida and The University of Wisconsin La Crosse. He also served as a trainer at the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, at the invitation of Mrs. Coretta Scott King.
Scott and his family relocated to Key West full-time last year, and immediately began volunteering and supporting the local arts scene. He began working as volunteer Development Chairman with The Studios of Key West staff in May 2009, and embraced the challenge of building business and corporate relationships for the coming season.
“Until Jay joined us, our fundraising pace was slow and deliberate,” said Holowacz. “He jumped right in, picked up the tempo, and soon had half the island joining us as friends, sponsors, and major donors. His enthusiasm, smarts, and creative soul will surely drive the organization into an even brighter future.”
The Studios of Key West board chair, Rosi Ware, expressed deep appreciation for Holowacz’s foundational tenure: “We wish Eric well as he returns home to New Zealand. In his three years at the helm, Eric has turned a nascent organization into a major player on the arts stage, building a local and national reputation for creative pursuits on the island.”
Ware also commented that existing staff and ongoing programming will not change, and the Key West community can continue to expect diverse and dynamic cultural programming from the organization.
“There is no doubt that The Studios of Key West is an amazing, extraordinary place,” said Scott, “and we’re going to keep it that way, for a long, long time.”
The
The Studios of Key West announces a free lecture by Jack Becker, Executive Editor of Public Art Review, on Wednesday 20 January at noon. Becker visits the island as a Cultural Manager in Residence, and will present a one hour talk entitled, “Public Art in the Age of Obama.” His free presentation is open to all and is part of the The Studios of Key West’s Brown Bag Lunchtime Series, in partnership with the Florida Keys Council of the Arts.
“Jack is one of America’s greatest advocates for art in the public realm, and his talk will help give us an idea of what is happening with public art around the country,” said Eric Holowacz, executive director of The Studios of Key West.
Becker is also founder and executive director of Forecast Public Art, an organization established in 1978 to strengthen and advance the field of public art. His lunchtime talk will focus on the issue of sustainability, partnerships, and trends affecting public art in the 21st century. Becker will also discuss maintaining art exposed to the elements, retaining careers in the field, eco-activism, community building, preserving the “art” in public art, restoring civic life, and defining new forms of creative expression.
“These topics, and public art issues in our own community, are of great interest to Key West’s creative people” said Eric Holowacz, “so we expect this free mid-day lecture to be lively and engaging.”
As a public artist and program administrator, Becker specializes in projects that connect the ideas and energies of artists with the needs and opportunities of communities. He has organized more than 70 exhibitions, 50 publications, and numerous special events around the world.
The January 20 lecture, sponsored by Fleming Street Gallery, is the third in the popular lunchtime series at The Studios of Key West. The fourth and final lecture, “Revealing the Art of Clay Printing,” will be presented by artist and instructor Mitch Lyons on Tuesday January 26 at noon. All lunchtime lectures are free and open to the public. For information, please contact The Studios of Key West at 296-0458.
To learn about Forecast Public Art and Public Art Review, click below
The Studios of Key West offers a great experience to begin the year ahead….
Watercolor FUNdamentals with Karen Beauprie
Make this your New Year’s Resolution
“I will learn how to Watercolor in 2010!”
Popular instructor and Florida Keys award winning artist, Karen Beauprie returns to The Studios of Key West in January for Watercolor FUNdamentals. The artist will offer a wonderful opportunity for community members to learn the basics and expand their painting skills, January 4 to 6, from 10am to 4:30pm at the Historic Armory.
“This three-day course is great for newcomers,” says Program Manager Martha Barnes, “and also suited to those wanting to brush up on technique and expand on fundamentals. We offer a place to discover the spontaneity of the medium, create vibrant and flowing paintings, and build a strong foundation in the discipline of watercolor painting.”
This workshop is thought of as a prelude to Beauprie’s weekly watercolor sessions, soon to be offered at TSKW every Monday afternoon from January 11. Students will receive advice on organizing a palette, choosing and preparing materials and equipment, and how to use water and pigment to create a variety of brush strokes, lay down washes, and create specific textures. Those interested can register now
To learn about this and other upcoming creative opportunities at The Studios of Key West, pick up a season catalog at the Historic Armory, or contact the office there at 296-0458.
Zack Seemiller and TSKW Help Fight Hunger
The spirit of singer-songwriter Harry Chapin was alive and well at the Historic Armory last Friday, when Zack Seemiller took the stage to perform a tribute to one of his musical heroes. The audience was encouraged to bring canned goods, to help support the local food banks, and the response was overwhelming. Almost two hundred people attended “Harry Chapin’s Last Concert,” which also raised $1000 to fight hunger in the Lower Keys.
“We wanted to do a benefit just before Thanksgiving, something to help our local community” said Eric Holowacz, director of The Studios of Key West, “and so we donated our proceeds, the audience gave food and money, and two local hunger relief organizations received an unexpected bounty.”
Fishes & Loaves, a program of the Florida Keys Outreach Coalition, and Star of the Sea Outreach Mission, each received $500 and several hundred pounds of canned goods and ready-to-cook food. The idea was inspired by the life and advocacy of Harry Chapin, who died in an automobile accident in 1981, and left behind a body of music that has become part of
the AMerican cultural fabric.”Zack paid tribute to one of his idols, and the evening was a tribute in every way,” said Holowacz. “Somewhere up there, Harry Chapin looked down on this small island, saw people helping people, and hopefully realized that his life and music have given us all something to be thankful for.”
Thanks to a generous $85,000 Challenge Grant by an individual donor, every charitable contribution made to The Studios of Key West throughout the season will be matched dollar for dollar. Our goal is to raise an additional $85,000 and grow our local base of support as we deliver our most ambitious program year. Hundreds of Friends and Patrons have already rallied to help us meet this major fundraising challenge.
Now is the perfect time to join or renew your membership, and ensure that our creative community grows throughout the season. If you know someone who values the arts and culture and hasn’t joined The Studios of Key West as an annual giver yet, please encourage them to support what we do.
Thank you for helping us expand our creative community and find a few new cultural Patrons and Friends.
Here’s an update on this wonderful challenge
27
New Friends From Campaign Start
$63,580
Campaign Dollars Raised To-Date
$127,160
Total Raised including Matching Grant
410
Current Friends / Annual Supporters
53
Current Patrons / Major Donors
82
Current Business Sponsors
Artist in Residence MOMO to create ten murals over one month
The Studios of Key West will host New York-based artist, MOMO, during the month of December, and he will work with ten local residents to create a new mural for interior and domestic spaces all over the island. MOMO, who has conducted innovative conceptual projects around the country, calls his upcoming Key West effort, Public Art in Private Spaces.
Commissions for MOMO’s work have come from corporations like Y-3/Adidas, Scion/Toyota, and J&B, and from galleries in New York, Seoul, London, Madrid, and Sao Paulo. For Key West the artist will design and create ten murals in private residences at no cost. Residents and participants must have ownership or approval to utilize an interior wall or living space for a new mural, but are under no obligation to keep or maintain the artwork. MOMO will document each work with photography and produce a small booklet about Public Art in Private Spaces, and seeks a wide demographic of Key West residents and living spaces.
The Studios of Key West seeks interested home owners and residents who might want to meet MOMO in early December, and be considered for one of his TSKW/Key West murals. Interior walls can be in any private space, living room, hallway, stairwell, kitchen or bedroom. The artist will be responsible for selecting the final ten sites, based on the responses, and based on his intentions for a diverse group of locations and demographics.
Help us support MOMO in his quest to create and gift ten new murals to our island identity. Teachers, retirees, sailboat captains, waitresses, Conchs and conch train drivers, contact TSKW if you or someone you know might be interested in offering an interior wall or site for Public Art in Private Spaces: 296-0458 or info@tskw.org
