from the KEY WEST ART & HISTORICAL SOCIETY 281 FRONT STREET, KEY WEST, FL 33040 295-6616 Fax: 295-6649
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With styles ranging from precise to Picasso-esque, paintings, sculptures, constructions and photography by women artists of the Keys have been piling up at the Key West Museum of Art & History at the Custom House. The Fifth annual Key Women Artists Exhibition opens with a champagne reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Sept. 9 for the artists, friends, members of the Key West Art & Historical Society and attendees at Womenfest Key West celebration, which runs from Sept. 7 to 12. The entire first floor of the museum will be dedicated to the exhibition featuring works executed by more than 80 women from key west to Key Largo, including a watercolor from the late Theodora Bergery who died Feb. 1 and whose application was submitted by her son Nicholas. "We had planned to limit the number of artists to 75 this year," said Norman Aberle, the Society's curator, "but when the applications started coming in, we decided to make room for everybody. Of course that means using every bit of available space, because some of the works are quite large. "I have yet to decide what to place where or how to group the artwork," Aberle said last week. "There is such a variety. We have some very traditional representations, some particularly spiritual work, some obscure pieces, some highly experimental stuff and some things that seem to defy any label." The non-juried exhibition is the largest show of women's art in the Keys. Artists, who are allowed to submit only one work, must be women 18 or older, working in Monroe County and must have exhibited previously. "That's one reason we have attracted a wide range of work," Aberle said. "Juried exhibitions tend to reflect one theme or the particular taste of the jurors." In submitting his mother's painting Nicholas Bergery wrote that he is trying to keep the legacy of Theodora Bergery's art alive through posting some of it on a memorial website at http://theodorabergery.free.fr. Mrs. Bergery, who was 75, had been a stage actress before moving to Key West to paint. She is buried in the Key West Cemetery near her Ashe Street home. Although the opening reception is the central public event of the exhibition, which runs through Oct. 8, this year a group of six local writers will read from their works from 6 to 8 p.m. on Sept. 16 amidst the artwork on exhibit. The reading, which is sponsored by the museum and a grant from the Florida Keys Council of the Arts, features work from Cricket Desmarais, Margit Biztray, J.T. Eggers, Kelly Everman, Teresa Foley, and Leigh Pujado. Commenting on the content of the artwork he has received, Aberle said it is an esoteric mix that flowed in from established veteran artists as well as from younger very talented newcomers. "There should be something for everyone to enjoy," he said. "It's really going to be a wonderful show."
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| Pepe's by Laura Black, acrylic on canvas, is one of more than 80 artworks in the Key Women Artists Exhibition that opens Sept. 9 at the Key West Museum of Art & History at the Custom House. |
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| Photograph of Theodora Bergery |
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| Watercolor by Theodora Bergery |