Opening January 3 at The Studios of Key West: O’Miami Poetry Retrospective, West African Portraiture,

Opening January 3 at The Studios of Key West:

 O’Miami Poetry Retrospective, West African Portraiture, 

Portraits by Annie Dillard and Painted Photographs by Larry Blackburn

[Key West, Fl.] Four new exhibitions open during this month’s First Thursday event on January 3 from 6-8pm at The Studios of Key West. Exhibitions by O, Miami, Rhonda Bristol, Annie Dillard, and Larry Blackburn fill all three floors of The Studios’ landmark building in Old Town.

“How to take the words out of a poem” is the first-ever public retrospective of the O, Miami Poetry Festival. Combining site-specific, cross-genre projects with poetry-in-public-space projects, O, Miami has produced over 400 events and projects over the course of their seven-year festival history in the Greater Miami area. “How to take the words…” documents the range and depth of their accomplishment with objects, photos, video and audio.

O, Miami’s mission is to reach every single person in Miami-Dade county with a poem during the month of April. Visit The Studios on Thursday, January 10 at 3pm for a Gallery Talk with P. Scott Cunningham, Founder/Director of O, Miami.

Opening in the third floor XOJ Gallery, Rhonda Bristol’s “Glimpses: Inside Personal Space” features works on canvas and in clay which impart elements of West African and Caribbean design. Her work focuses on The Grand Feminine and powerful experiences she classifies as “soul captured moments.” Fascinated with storytelling and history, Bristol strives to capture “an aspect of the human psyche.”

In the Zabar Project Gallery, Annie Dillard presents portraits in oil of writers when they were young. Dillard’s small-scale paintings reveal a sure sense of line, color, and exuberance that is “assured, perceptive, and sometimes dazzling,” as noted by veteran art critic and writer Ann Landi. 

Dillard says, “My hope is that future young writers will not despair that they look ordinary. Almost everyone does. That’s what ordinary means.” 

“Dual Visions,” a body of collaborative works by photographer Larry Blackburn with the help of local artists, will be on display in the second floor Zabar Lobby Gallery. Artists such as Rick Worth and Pam Hobbs have layered their signature styles onto Blackburn’s photographs, creating dual visions of Key West scenes.

The public is invited to the opening reception at The Studios of Key West, 533 Eaton Street. The shows remains on view through January 31. Gallery hours are 10am-4pm, Tuesday through Saturday.