Students at one of Key West’s charter high schools are taking a different type of art class this semester, one taught not by full-time art teachers, but by working artists. And instead of a classroom on campus, the class, known as ArtSpark, meets for two hours every Tuesday and Thursday at the nonprofit Key West Art Center gallery, at the corner of Whitehead and Front streets.
“ArtSpark is the Key West Art Center’s youth arts education program, designed to connect high school students with professional working artists for hands-on instruction in a real gallery setting,” states its description in the grant applications that have funded the class that is now an art elective for Somerset Island Prep high school students.
The class culminates with an art show wherein the students display and sell their works and split the proceeds of any pieces sold with the gallery. The artists keep 65% and the gallery gets 35%.
“We really want this class to show students what it’s like to be a working artist in the community,” said Christina Joy, the director of the Key West Art Center who applied for the grants that support the Art Spark program. That support has come from the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys, the Florida Keys Council of the Arts and the Key West Woman’s Club.
“Each week, a different local artist comes in and teaches the students a different medium or technique,” Joy said. “So when Karen Beauprie came in to teach watercolors, she spent two hours on a Tuesday and two hours on Thursday with the class,” Joy said, adding that artist Brendan Vessels, a spray-paint artist, also taught a week of class. “We are cultivating the next generation of Key West artists.”
The student art show opens Thursday, May 7 with a reception. The show will be on display until May 15 at the Key West Art Center, 301 Front St.
On Tuesday, May 5, eight or so students from Somerset Island Prep, the charter high school on Flagler Avenue, were busy at their own workstations, on the second floor of the art center, putting finishing touches — and price tags — on the projects they plan to submit for the show, where all are welcome to attend the opening on Thursday, May 7 from 4 to 6 p.m. The nonprofit gallery says its mission is to provide “a year-round sales resource for local artists while providing a community gathering place, learning environment and public exhibit space. We safeguard the heritage of Key West as a city of artists.” More information is at keywestartcenter.com.
