Greenwich Village of Melbourne
”The Greenwich Village of Melbourne” – Part I
Florida Today - May 12, 1991
Thirty years ago this month (May 2021), almost to the day, Florida Today carried
a two-page article by Pam Harbaugh in the Arts and Leisure section highlighting
the Art Students Guild of Brevard. Calling our loft studio an “Artists’ Arcade,"
the article began with a general statement about how many people fall away from
pursuing art. “What is needed,” it states, “is nurturing of the spirit through
encouragement, suggestions for improvement with technique, and the permission to
fall flat on your face without being judged a failure. The group of 45 members
of the Art Students Guild have got exactly that.”
This 1991 description of the
loft takes us forward thirty years to present time: “There are brick walls
painted white, a rough-hewed beamed ceiling exposing the underside of the roof,
swatches of mismatched carpeting catching drippings from oils, acrylics,
watercolors and ground-in charcoal and pastels, a few old couches and chairs
with madras fabric thrown over them, a coffee machine perking away, easels,
chairs, model stands, the hum of air conditioners from adjacent buildings, an
unfinished jigsaw puzzle, a Renoir painting propped unceremoniously on a card
table, and an ever-present silent communion among the artists and their live
model.
“There’s even a prop room filled with a slightly dull yet still
impressive array of thick plastic flowers, old dolls, straw hats, and other odds
and ends that look like rejects from a garage sale.
“The idealistic Art
Students Guild was born in 1965, when the Beatles were still content to just
hold your hand, when Doris Day and Rock Hudson were idols in Hollywood’s
fantasyland, and when the Summer of Love was still a gleam in the eye of San
Francisco’s flower children.
“Twenty artists – including Ellen Plankey, Marti
Meyer, Janet Uhrmann, Eliot McMurrough, Louis Wilson, Pat Joslin, and Janette
Maloy – were meeting at the Melbourne Regional Airport for workshop sessions. As
their love for these sessions grew, so did their realization that they needed an
artistic home of their own…”
Stay tuned for our next weekly installment of the
history of The Art Students Guild of Brevard in 1991. [Digested and shared by
Ellen Dobbin.]
[Many thanks to Marg Kuhl, who recently found this article
buried in a file in her house and inspired this series.]
Source: Harbaugh, Pam.
"Artists' Arcade; The Greenwich Village of Melbourne." Florida Today; The Space
Coast's Newspaper [Brevard County], May 12, 1991, p. 6F.
”The Greenwich Village of Melbourne” – Part II
Florida Today - May 12, 1991
This is a recapturing of a feature story about the Art Student’s Guild of Brevard, written by Pam Harbaugh and published in Florida Today. For those of you who were around then, or during the ensuing years, this may be a walk down memory lane. For the rest of us, it is a lesson in TASGOB history.
We left off with a group of artists who met weekly, realizing they needed a permanent home. Ellen Plankey, one of the group, related that, “artist Clay Kent found a vacant loft in an old office building built in 1924 during Florida’s land boom – the Arcade. The space had potential, but needed quite a bit of cleaning… Plankey laughs when she recounts how the loft was transformed into an artist’s nirvana… ‘Janet [Uhrmann] and I pitched garbage and junk around, scrubbed the floor on our hands and knees, and cleaned up what is now the coffee room area. A lot of others were supposed to show up, but we got the dirty end of the stick.” She quickly added that many others did show up to help “unearth the rooms one at a time and make them suitable for workshops. Eventually, the ruddy bricks were painted to lighten up the rooms… model stands were built and walls erected to divide the space. But [much of it] has stayed pretty much the same as it was in 1965.
“On any Wednesday or Saturday morning, you’ll find a score of Guild members – like artists Mildred Richardson, Jim Winecoff, Charles Spohn, Marg Kuhl, Medea Woods, Kathy Ammon, or Mary Tsamoutales – sharing in the expense of a live model and working by a bounty of windows which baptize their room with an artist’s sacred northern light. Although they’re all looking at the same model in the same pose, this group of artists work on their own perceptions filtered through their own set of aesthetics… blocks of colors… line drawings… negative space… moods, forms, and shapes.”
Sound familiar? Please stay tuned for our next installment. Most of the names have changed, but the Guild lives on…. [Digested and shared by Ellen Dobbin.]
Source: Harbaugh, Pam. "Artists' Arcade; The Greenwich Village of Melbourne." Florida Today; The Space Coast's Newspaper [Brevard County], May 12, 1991, p. 6F.
”The Greenwich Village of Melbourne” – Part III
Florida Today - May 12, 1991
Presented here is the third offering of part of a feature story about the Guild written by Pam Harbaugh and published in Florida Today thirty years ago this month.
We left off with a description of a now all-too-familiar drawing session with a live model. Each artist present was working in his or her distinctive style. Then-president Olivia Kovljain described the structure of the organization, which has changed somewhat from the four annual meetings and Christmas Garret sale of 1991. “Asked about the essence of the Guild,… she really lights up. ‘This place is pure harmony. It’s wonderful coming here. You forget all your problems as soon as you start climbing the stairs. This is a second home for our artists. We’re family and friends.’
“It comes as no surprise that an artist can learn much by working with one another. Virginia Raymond remarks about what she calls the third-floor karma. ‘Many artists get their stripes here. It’s a place of passage for many people. Many who have left still remember it.’ Bette Buck chuckles that ‘we’ve got air conditioning in the winter and heat in the summer’, while Kathy Wilson comments that the essence of the Guild is ‘L’art pour l’art. It’s the only place where you have art for art’s sake.’
“Sculptor Dexter Johnson comments about how fortunate Guild members are to have a live model to work with two days a week, and about the beautiful spirit there. ‘You don’t take your cares of the day. There’s never any gossip, just support. Nobody criticizes anyone else. It’s a little world all its own.’
“The Art Students Guild is not a deep, dark secret. Many area artists know about it, which is why there is such a long waiting list… Before a new member joins, they go as a guest. ‘We like to know them, to paint with them and make sure that harmony is there,’ Raymond says. ‘They’re like painting buddies. If someone likes to paint on large surfaces or with rock music, that just wouldn’t be compatible with us.”
Well, times have changed, and so has The Guild. Most of us like rock music – along with many other genres. The size of one’s painting surfaces doesn’t impede membership. Nor do we have guest memberships or a waiting list. But the spirit survives – and we live on in the loft! [Digested and shared by Ellen Dobbin.]
Source: Harbaugh, Pam. "Artists' Arcade; The Greenwich Village of Melbourne." Florida Today; The Space Coast's Newspaper [Brevard County], May 12, 1991, p. 6F.