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Off the beaten pathOnce a month, local artists band together to draw art-lovers to their out-of-the-way studiosOn Wednesday evening, 30 minutes after opening his studio to the public, Richard Rosen sits down next to one of his newer clay projects.
His work often looks like fantastical buildings coming up from some sort of landscape where Dr. Seuss meets Gothic architecture. The particular piece he’s working on is shaped more like a traditional vase, except there’s a great deal of textural focus points, raised areas and indentations. He carefully fills in small circular sections with blue, the brush strokes tightly overlapping. He wants the people mulling through to see him work while enjoying their complimentary snacks and wine. It makes them feel like they are seeing inside the process, he says. “It gets them closer to the work,” he says. Getting anyone closer to his North Naples studio is a challenge in a part of town more often thought of as home to custom cabinet makers and wholesale tile salesmen. That’s why Rosen, along with a score of other North Naples artists, are opening up their studios on the first Wednesday evening of each month. They pool their resources to buy advertising and their mailing lists to attract as many art lovers as possible. “Almost everyone who comes through here tells me the same thing,” says painter and printmaker Tammra Sigler. “They all say ‘I had no idea there were so many artists out here.’ This is one way to change that.” - - -
With out much in the way of street lights, navigating the streets can be a bit of a challenge. And if, like Studio Blue, you happen to not face the street and are on the second floor, good luck getting anyone to show up, no matter how well promoted the event is. It would all be much easier if these studios were in high traffic areas like Fifth Avenue South or Third Street South. But those districts are too high rent for most local artists. “So we’ve created a little community of artists here where we can afford to work,” says painter Barbara Groenteman, co-owner of NONA Gallery and Studio on J & C Boulevard. Beginning in the early ‘00s artists started flocking to the industrial neighborhood located just off Pine Ride Road, buffeted by Airport-Pulling Road to the east, Taylor Road to the west and Trade Center Way to the north. Shirley Street has an especially high concentration with eight of the sixteen members of the Underground Art Wednesdays having set up shop there. Sigler was one of the first to find space on the street. “It’s always been a struggle to get people to know you were out here,” she says. But there are plenty of benefits to help make up for the low number of window shoppers. The seclusion allows the artists a quiet environment in which to create. “I can’t paint and talk at the same time,” Sigler says. “It has to be one or the other for me. So I couldn’t have people in here all the time while I’m working.” It’s also close to people who supply materials that many of the artists use. There are lumber yards nearby for woodcarver/sculptor Nili Leichter to get the exotic woods she uses to create her evocative pieces. And for folks like Rosen and studio mate Margret Chevalier, it’s a place to house kilns that probably wouldn’t be allowed in commercial spaces like those in the shopping districts. - - - Calling the open houses “Underground” is a bit of a misnomer in that the work is pretty straight ahead. “Edgy” and “gritty,” words that are often used to describe underground art, don’t really apply here. There’s nothing in the artwork involved, which ranges from $150 to $10,000, that would seem out of place in houses decorated by Robb & Stuckey. Which isn’t to say that there isn’t substance. A great number of the participating artists are award-winners both locally and nationally. “In our case, ‘underground’ is more a statement on our out-of-the-way location than the work,” Groenteman says. “Though some of the work is less straightforward than others.” The clientele also isn’t what you might expect for something billing itself as “underground.” The average age of the 100 or so people who came to check out the studios was probably 60. Mostly the patrons were friends of the artists or friends of friends. But there were a few people outside that circle. “This is our first time down here and my wife was looking for different things to do and she found this,” says Harvey Spitz, who is spending two months in Naples from New Jersey. “We met Richard Rosen at Art in the Park and he told us we should come,” says Judith Lipnick. Friend or stranger, the response, while not directly relating in many sales so far, has been greatly enthusiastic, the artists say. “I think it’s still seen as a privilege to be in an artist’s studio, to see where the work happens,” Sigler says. “It gets people excited, more so than seeing it in a more sterile gallery environment.” If you go Underground Art Wednesdays When: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. the first Wednesday of ever month from November through April Where: 16 artist studios and galleries in North Naples Admission: free Information: 821-1061 |
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