May 28, 2014
Contact Lisa Rubinstein, LDR Creative Inc., 941-373-3803 or [email protected]
VISUAL ART, PHOTOGRAPHY AND WRITTEN WORD FEATURED FOR
SHOW AND TELL BEACH READING
The Hermitage Artist Retreat opens its campus for a free artist event on Friday, June 6th, beginning at 6:30 pm. Activities include tours of the historic Hermitage House and an open studio featuring photography by Hermitage fellow Sophie Lvoff. At 7:30, everyone moves to the beach where two artists will share their work. Trenton Doyle Hancock, 2013 Greenfield Prize winner, will talk about his most recent projects, including his Greenfield Prize commission, which will have its first showing at The Ringling Museum in April 2015. Award-winning writer Josh Barkan will read from his work. Visitors are encouraged to bring beach chairs and refreshments and stay for Mother Nature’s sunset, which is scheduled for 8:23 pm. Information regarding changes, due to weather, will be available by calling the Hermitage, 941-475-2098, after 3:00 pm on June 6th.
“We have a great array of artistic talent to share with the community for this event,” remarked Bruce E. Rodgers, executive director of the Hermitage Artist Retreat. “Sophie’s photography gives a new perspective of places, people and things; Josh’s writing is always multi-faceted and thought-provoking; and Trenton has been working on some very exciting projects, including his Greenfield Prize commission, which we are all anxious to learn more about. Join us and meet three great artists who have lots to share with you.”
Although a recent graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (BFA, 2008) and an anticipated MFA from Tulane in New Orleans, Lvoff has already established herself as an artist with many solo and group exhibitions in the United States and around the world. Among the list of locations that have shown her work are NYC, New Orleans, Atlanta, Miami, China, Switzerland, Morocco, Paris and many others. Sophie Lvoff photographs are owned by private collectors, as well as The New Orleans Museum of Art, Musee de L’Elysee in Switzerland and Aperture Foundation in New York.
Josh Barkan, who will also be reading at Sarasota’s Bookstore1 on June 12th at 6:00 pm, was awarded a literature fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for his short story collection Before Hiroshima. His novel Blind Speed was named a finalist for the 2009 Paterson Fiction Prize. He has taught writing at Harvard, New York University and Boston University, and is currently Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Wichita State University. With much of his childhood spent living in Kenya, Tanzania, France and India, it’s no wonder, his personal experiences have informed many of his stories. A Phi Beta Kappa Yale University graduate, he spent a year teaching in Japan and received a master’s degree in fine arts from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His writing has appeared in Esquire and as a contributor to The Boston Book Review. Glimmer Train magazine named three of his stories to their Fiction Open Top 25 lists in 2012-2013. His collection of stories, Məxico, was named “runner up” for the Juniper Prize for Fiction, 2014, by the University of Massachusetts Press. He is the winner of the Lightship International Short Story Competition, 2013.
Trenton Doyle Hancock earned his BFA from Texas A&M University and his MFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Philadelphia. Influenced by the history of painting, especially Abstract Expressionism, Hancock transforms traditionally formal decisions—such as the use of color, language, and pattern—into opportunities to create new characters, develop sub-plots, and convey symbolic meaning. His paintings often rework Biblical stories that the artist learned as a child from his family and local church community. Balancing moral dilemmas with wit and a musical sense of language and color, Hancock’s works create a painterly space of psychological dimensions. Hancock was featured in the 2000 and 2002 Whitney Biennial exhibitions, one of the youngest artists in history to participate in this prestigious survey. His work has been the subject of one-person exhibitions at Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; and Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, the Seattle Art Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh. Among Hancock’s many awards is the 2013 Greenfield Prize in Visual Art.
“Join us Friday, June 6th for an evening of art and extraordinary artists,” concluded Rodgers. “Sarasota is known for its performing arts organizations but the Hermitage is where it all begins. We are very pleased to open our doors and let the community share in the excitement of art, as it is being created.”
For more information on the Hermitage Artist Retreat, visit the website www.HermitageArtistRetreat.org or call 941-475.2098.
