Fresh in my mind is the event we hosted on Feb 8. “After Mourning” is a play about the sister-in-law of Vincent Van Gogh and her 30-year struggle, and subsequent success, in giving Vincent’s artwork the recognition it so strongly deserves.
Written by Mike Czuba from the University of Calgary and founder of Dancing Monkey Laboratories, and directed by Elayne LeTraunik, the staged reading was performed by Michael Saar, Chris Presley, Sunny Rae Breland and Heather Rushing, with Le Traunik providing the stage directions.
In the same vein, director Xania Marie has been holding auditions, rehearsals and events to put forth her production, “I’m Not Finished Loving You: Desiree’s Story.” It is a drama about love gone wrong and speaks of issues about our culture today.
Both of these events point to a growing trend in independent, directors and producers creating theater productions outside the usual venues.
We see the same in the visual arts where there are self-made artists working to expand the definition of art and to find their own unique way to create before presenting their work to the public. More venues are opening up through out our region and more artists are there to fill those spaces.
Those venues include our new pop up gallery (yet to be named) in The Studio lobby. Besides limited wall space there is no age, style, subject or content limit hindering artists from applying to show. We are taking portfolio applications for both galleries for the upcoming exhibition seasons.
New opportunities in classes will be coming your way in the near future, thanks to a couple of acquisitions over the past year. Recently, The Studio was able to broker a deal to acquire the former Merry-Go-Round Stained Glass Co. Headed by James King, who is well versed in teaching stained glass, we moved the massive amount of glass and equipment. We spent two weeks and three large rental trucks to transport the supplies to The Studio’s annex (840 Franklin). The building is now filled to the brim with beautiful sheet glass in a rainbow of colors and most of the equipment we will need.
Tenant Elizabeth Fontenot is putting in a supply list to prepare for her up coming printmaking classes. We lucked into a great intaglio press right here in Southeast Texas. A rare find! With that opportunity for her to create her favorite kind of art, she has offered to provide classes in the process and opportunity for experienced printmakers to have a place to work. The class will cover the basics in the printmaking techniques and offer a new opportunity for people to learn a fascinating process.
Clay classes are rolling along, as is our drawing group that now meets on the first three Wednesdays of the month.
What I am seeing is increased participation in all our events. I credit our staff, which is able to keep up with the wide variety of requests, questions and offerings and efficiently convey them to the public. The Art Studio is responding to the needs of our community, and it is working amazingly well.
With all of that being said, along with the Cultural District’s promise of increased art populations and a higher interest in the arts community in Beaumont and Southeast Texas, I ask how will we accommodate the influx of artists. Each season, September to June, we present nine monthly events: art exhibitions, pop-up shows, Band Nite, First Thursday, and drawing group that meet three times a month. That is 63 events per season — and that does not include programs that continue through the summer as board meetings, drawing group and Band Nites do.
Class room rentals, classes, workshops, birthdays and other unforeseen events also occur. We also have annual and semi-annual events such as the Beaux Arts Ball, Summer Spree and crafters show, as well as the Shop-O-Rama Extravaganza, a holiday arts and crafts sale, and summer ArtsKool, a three-week program teaching art to children ages 5-15.
We have often dreamed of expanding the facility. Until recently it was a “what-if” situation but now it’s getting to be more of a “when” kind of thing.
As an organization with an impeccable record of accomplishing each goal we set, standing by our vision of the future and remaining an independent, self-reliant institution dedicated to the preservation of artists and the skills that make us human, we have been exploring the possibilities of construction of a new ceramic/sculpture facility between the back door of the ceramic space to the end of the property. It will contain 12 to 14 studio spaces with separate glaze lab, clay mixing, chemical storage and kiln room with teaching area, restrooms and breakroom.
What goes into the old clay studio and classroom area will be a performing arts facility and four classrooms, storage and a production booth. We see a correlation between the availability of space and artists’ productivity.
As the amount of space available increases the amount of work produced and the amount of artists who feel there is room for them increases relatively. It is what I had postulated many years ago about The Art Studio — if we have the space, artists will fill it.
The Art Studio has invested in facilities, infrastructure, equipment, supplies and raw materials. We pride ourselves in keeping our operating budget to be conservative considering the amount of programs and activities we present and produce. To me, it’s a statement of our perseverance, our vision of the future and the understanding of the needs of this community. Being “Art-Aware” will fulfill our goal to have an active and creative community that will benefit our children’s education and present Southeast Texas as an attractive and viable community in which to live, a perfect location for new companies to build based on quality of life and a myriad of activities for their employees.
This can be our future. We have the wherewithal to accomplish so much more, but we need a concerted effort by the community. Not necessarily monetary support but verbal and written support to our city council, our county commissioners, our Texas legislature and our corporate community. Already we have seen vast changes in our patrons and participants in recent events, and we’d like to remain responsive to those changes.
The Art Studio embraces diversity, openness, generosity and dialogue. All are welcome and all can be part of this family of creativity.
Greg Busceme is TASI executive director