2009 Fall Arts Preview: S/ART/Q, Joint

Published Sept. 21, 2009

The contemporary arts scene in Sarasota has been getting a little fed up with many of the local galleries around town. They point out Palm Avenue and some of the city’s arts organizations as purveyors of what they consider pretty lame art. Two groups, S/ART/Q and Joint, have recently taken the initiative to start their own contemporary arts organizations — no seashell paintings, no blown-glass dolphins, just pure creativity.

S/ART/Q presented itself to the community with a live screen-printing party in August. The group currently consists of 14 of the city’s finest painters, sculptors and photographers and each of them created a T-shirt design for the event. In other big news, as of last week, the arts collective was officially incorporated as a nonprofit organization.

They will hold their inaugural S/ART/Q art exhibition during the first week of November and they plan to school downtown Sarasota on how to rock a real traditional gallery show. “It will be right in the middle of downtown somewhere,” says founding member Joseph Arnegger. “We’ve got a couple of options.” The exhibition will be a week-long event focused on attracting art collectors to the area. “We’ll do a collectors’ forum on Thursday night, then anybody can come Friday night and then Saturday we’ll bring in the farmers’ market so it opens it up for more people. We’ll actually be showing all the members’ strongest artwork, so it will be more of a museum quality. Getting collectors to actually buy here is the end goal.”

One of the biggest aims of the exhibition is connecting with the community. “There will be outreach during that time too,” says Arnegger, “maybe some student tours, and have the downtown farmers’ market do tours, just get people activated. Fifty percent of our goal is outreach, to stimulate the economy and introduce people to Sarasota.”

S/ART/Q is still in its infancy and the members are serious about quality over quantity. “We’re moving slowly and methodically,” says Arnegger. “We’re interested in doing it right the first time and keeping control of the movement of things. We’re not in the T-shirt business. That’s something we will do again, but not every week.”

Sarasota’s other freshly established arts coalition was designed for artists who aren’t quite as savvy in the professional world. Joint was formed over the summer after 10 recent Ringling grads and current students responded to an open call to create an arts community. The goal of the collective is to provide something for art school students to be involved in after they graduate. They want to give Ringling kids and other fine art grads around the area a reason to stick around Sarasota.

The group tries to unite all mediums of art with local music during their art events, which they throw out of a three-bedroom fixer-upper that one of the member’s parents let them use for their shows. 1335 12th Street is much more than a house to them, though, and much more than a gallery to the community. It’s a place for the city’s youth to express themselves in their own way, without school or the city trying to interfere.

Joint’s first “Art and Music” event just took place last week, but they plan to hold new exhibitions every couple months with different artists and bands participating. They are currently in the market for a permanent art space, because the house will eventually have to be rented, but the events will press on. “We are willing to work with other organizations like S/ART/Q for the next show,” says founding member Katie Foster.

Details about S/ART/Q’s fall exhibition will be available at sartq.com.