In the art studio
Gallery & Studios
Ceramics and sculpture, glass fusion, painting, drawing, mixed media, decoupage and upcycled furniture. Artists keep 100% of their sales.
Chapter 01
Seven studio disciplines under one roof
Gallery & Studios is the fine art program at ProjectFREE in Gulfport, Florida, and it covers seven disciplines: ceramics and sculpture, glass fusion, painting, drawing, mixed media, decoupage and upcycled furniture. That is a wide menu for a studio program. A member can try clay one month and a brush the next, then settle on what fits. Adults with diverse abilities make the work, and the work is treated as art, not as a craft activity to keep hands busy.
The photos from the studio show the real thing. Shelves hold paint and brushes, and the tables are splattered from use. One wall has a slab roller, labelled drawers and student paintings. A ceramics cart holds bisque pieces and glaze-in-progress work from students. It is a working room, a little cluttered the way a good studio is, and the pieces on the cart have the uneven, handmade look that tells you a person made them.
A studio cart holding ceramics in progress, bisque and glaze-in-progress pieces made by students
The studio day at ten o'clock
In the daily running order, art comes at 10:00, after academics at 9:00 and before lunch at noon. That puts the studio in the middle of the morning, Monday to Friday, at the program on 51st Street South. A regular slot means a piece can move forward day by day. Ceramics in particular suits that rhythm, because clay is shaped, dried, fired and glazed in stages, and glass fusion and decoupage have their own steps and waits.
Upcycled furniture shows how the disciplines overlap. Painting, decoupage and mixed media can all be applied to a piece of furniture, so a technique learned in one corner of the studio can be used on a chair or a table. Karen Thompson, a volunteer, wrote in her Google review that the program has great teachers for the adults and that students' art projects are for sale. She also called the staff helpful.
Chapter 03
Artists keep 100% of their sales
ProjectFREE's position on sales is stated plainly: artists keep 100% of their sales. When a member's piece sells, the money is theirs. ProjectFREE describes itself as a means of expression, development and self-employment, and a policy like this fits that aim. A studio program that ends in a sale gives the work an audience and gives the artist a result they can point to.
Two things are still ahead, and ProjectFREE says so. It hopes to launch an online store and to attend art markets. Neither has a published date, so treat both as hopes, not as shop windows you can visit today. To ask about the studios, or about a place in the art program, call (727) 603-0595. The programs sit within Florida APD Life Skills services and no fees are published, so funding is part of that conversation.
Artists keep 100% of their sales.