Thank you everyone for coming to Lisa Reinauer’s exhibition “Allegories.” Lisa is and has been a diligent participant in TASIMJAE whether accepted or not. She sets a good example of diligence and perseverance.
The willing eagerness to produce and present your work is key in your drive as an artist. An actor does not memorize lines if there is no play to perform. There is no race if there is no finish line. Artists of all disciplines need a deadline, a show booking, a venue to seek affirmation for our efforts at creativity.
The public’s role as the witness to the exhibit is desire to be the first to hear the music, see the art or watch the performance.
We have a new intern working at The Studio. Welcome Laura Little, with support from Work Resources Texas. This is a good opportunity for young people to experience a non-profit environment and see the results of what we do. We always need extra people to handle a busy day and make improvements on the facility. This has an added bonus of someone being paid to help us. Thanks so much for bringing her to us. It is a perfect fit.
By the time this magazine comes out I will be almost gone or on my way to Japan. This is so exciting for me to actually go OUT OF THE COUNTRY! There are so many things that can come from this visit. On my mind is artists and students from Beppu University and other nearby colleges to travel abroad to Beaumont and, of course, send our diligent students and artists to visit our sister city. Through this educational and cultural exchange that Chris Troutman has carved out over the years, we will be able to benefit our community and Beppu theirs, and we both come out better collectively than individually.
These are exciting times for The Studio. We have been cleaning up the facility and cleaning up our administrative processes as well — updating our bylaws, contracts, membership responses, grant requests and studio activity. We are coordinating with area organizations and developing cooperative activities with other groups. Our visibility is increasing as people are taking another look at The Studio, what it now offers and what we could offer in the future.
As an established organization with a strong record of consistency and impactful programs, we, along with other diligent arts and cultural organizations, have changed the face of this community and have become a strong, vocal advocate for continued and increased support for the arts.
We have created a new gallery at The Studio. In our lobby we began to exhibit part of our permanent collection given to us by Bob Willis, a quiet but strong supporter of the arts. On his passing, we received the ceramic collection and his library that constitutes fully 80 percent of our library holdings. We will run the permanent collection show for a few months and switch to a series of Pop Up exhibitions. With only two exhibitions open for individuals on our calendar, it is hard to get a spotlight on so many young artists who deserve to be presented. In response to a lack of pop-up opportunities, we decided we would serve our young artists with a chance to show what they are doing and where they are going with their art.
As I referred to above, without a show date or a chance to show, it is hard to push your creativity to its best limit. We will be taking applications for the pop up starting in July. We may coordinate small group shows of two or three to maximize local artist exposure. All ages are welcome to apply. Details to follow.
Bob Willis gave us a great start on our library back in 1992, and we continue to add to our collection and you can help. We are happy to take any art books, instructional texts or history and non-art books on general history, science, industrial guides, etc. Thanks to Louis Oliver who donated six large boxes of books on ceramics and other disciplines, as this offers a wide range of information that we so badly needed. I hope The Studio, one day, will have the largest art library in the region.
Thank you for supporting The Studio and its efforts to bring the arts to you and encourage creativity in everything you do. Art will be our salvation!