Matt Stock creates hyper-realistic nighttime photographs with a technique called Painting with Light in the Dark® in which he and his team meticulously illuminate a scene on location using light sources ranging from the Milky Way and full moon to specialized lighting tools through the course of many hours and hundreds of individual exposures.
In mid-June, a group of watercolor enthusiasts met each night at the beach, just before sunset, with paints, brushes and open imaginations. Led by beloved Key West-New York artist Susan Sugar, the students learned new ways of observing the ephemeral shapes and transitory moods of the evening sky. Presented are a selection of the small format watercolors they created.
Thomas Filipkowski revisits his popular 2013 project, Heads Up Key West in which he photographed 600 faces from the community. Then and Now illuminates the changes caused by time and circumstance, providing a clear-eyed look at ordinary people coping with the reality of what it means to live in paradise.
Marge Holtz describes herself as a maker, intrigued by a spectrum of media. Holtz draws inspiration from the design process and the tactile sensation of fabric, creating art quilts that serve as love letters to color.
Part command center, part makers' lounge, part exhibition space, the gallery is transformed into one of the creative hubs of this year's Fantasy Fest as a fresh, new artistic team takes the reins. On the walls, a collection of posters, video and rare photographs from the 38 year history of Key West’s gonzo signature event. Also Christine Fifer and Co constructing over-the-top costume pieces for their Candy Land Themed Parade Float.
How are we grappling with climate change on individual and collective levels in a place we are actively still creating? Portable Memories in Rising Seas is an ongoing participatory project about sea level rise that connects lived experience with memory and climate change.
When we meet someone, we create somebody that doesn’t really exist. As we get to know them, our fantasy is challenged and inevitably, that image disappears. Do we keep our creation alive or replace it with reality? I Don’t Want to Lose Her explores this ever-changing perspective.
Sculptor Tom Jorris cast 12 plaster Conch Nutcrackers from the original mold of the nutcracker used in the production Nutcracker Key West. These nutcrackers inspired local artists and artisans who have embellished, painted, and re-imagined them to create one-of-a-kind works of art.
As we prepare for our final push to burst through the roof - and build our long-awaited roof terrace here at The Studios - we find ourselves looking upward quite a bit lately. Whether it’s the endless blue of an ocean-colored tropical sky, the stars overhead as you bicycle home at night, or a spontaneous rainbow after a mid-afternoon shower, we invite artists to consider the simple act of looking up as metaphor for a future filled with creative possibility.
