Santaella Opening

Santaella building, side view.

Friday evening the reorganized Santaella Cigar Factory/Artist studios held their open studio night. The curated show in the main gallery was the "Art of Heartache"show was still up. It was reviewed here [Link] earlier. Most of the studios were open, and they had hung their work in the hallways. Many offered wine, cheese and other snacks to visitors. Beer was conspicuously absent.



There was a good turnout centered around a few studios in particular. This is not so much a review as it is a survey of the work of the artists that have studios there

Work by Debra Radke

On the left is a floral painting by Debra Radke [Link].

On the left is Lorrie Mason's, of Mason  Metal Designs' working table. On the right is jewelry by the same artist.

Work by Robert Allen Sargent

 Robert Allen Sargent's spacious studio is well-appointed and his work seems to be mostly portraiture. [Link].

 James Oleson was a guest artist at Santaella for this opening. He has been reviewed here before [Link]. James is a very talented artist who is equally at home welding, painting, or working in glass. He teaches at the Morean.

Work by Caesar A. Carbajal.

 This looked to be either a very clever installation dealing with gross commercialism and the passing of the analog era, looking like a flea-market table. It was the latter, and frankly, did not belong out in the hallway at an open studio night.

Paula Marie Brett in her studio

Paula Marie Brett's artist statement says she is primarily an abstract landscape painter. She has exibited nationally and internationally.  

On the left is Alex Expalter Torres with one of his portraits.

On the left, gallery goers meander around Rick Reeves' studio. He is a realist painter who does football team oriented paintings, and military, mostly civil war scenes. He has been reviewed here before [Link]. [Link].

Laszlo Horvath, who has been reviewed here before showed two digital movies in the first 3rd floor gallery.

On the left are Kerry Vosler and one of her students, William "Yeats" Inrig. Kerry does portraits and Spanish dancers [Link]. Kerry also heads the Vosler Young Artists' Center, another studio space at Santaella., which can be seen on the right. From talking with Vosler, the emphasis is on a sound foundation for the young artists.

 On the left is artist Lynn Manos posing with her work. Her work is compositionally precise and the colors carefully modulated. She is represented by Clayton galleries in Tampa. To see more, [Link].

 I walked into Lisa Presnail's studio to find the one and only Johnna Guzman looking beautiful and posing on a couch, modeling with a pit bull wearing a pink feathered boa like a tutu. This is part of the "Little Pet Project". People were having a lot of fun taking turns posing before Presnail's lens, or tending to their dogs.





It was a nice evening.

--- Luis