Realism Artist Finds Home On Island By R. Daniel Cavazos |
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Malia Quinn is seen working in her native Hawaii, a realism artist whose art focuses on abstract qualities of light, form, and space, avoiding unnecessary details. (Courtesy) |
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Leaving Colorado, the pandemic year of 2020, Malia Quinn knew just the place to continue her progression as an artist.
A decade spent in the Rocky Mountains as a realism artist specializing in landscapes gave Quinn sufficient years to work on her style of "abstraction and color harmony," as a description of her work states. Plein art painting is where Quinn’s heart and art lays. It's the art of painting in the open air. Mountains were done. Now, Quinn wanted to paint water and ocean.
The allure of the coast is what brought Quinn to South Padre Island in 2020. She was accepted for a yearlong residency at the Art Business Incubator South Padre Island. It gave her the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from "other people who create." Being in the midst of other artists going through their own residencies inspired and helped develop Quinn’s own skills. |
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Just as importantly were the interactions with the general public who came into the ABI gallery to see the paintings and consider buying art. It was refreshing for Quinn to have immediate feedback and communication from potential purchasers of her work. The ABI program offered insights on starting and maintaining an art-based business. The contact with customers gave Quinn a feel of what it would take to make a go of it. "Being in the (ABI) program taught me a lot about what people expect and want to buy," she said. "I saw the potential if I could produce enough art, especially the bigger pieces that people want for their homes." Staying Put
The way light washes over the sky at South Padre Island is a marvel in Quinn’s eyes. |
| Malia Quinn decided to stay on the Island to open a business after completing a one year residency with the Art Business Incubator South Padre Island. (Island Matters) |
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On a recent morning, she looked out the windows of her Quinn Gallery on Padre Boulevard at an overcast summer day. Shades of gray replacing the usual late August sunshine. It was a lovely Island Day in its own right.
"There's something special about the lighting here," Quinn said. "I don't what it is, or how to describe it, but even the gray days here are beautiful."
Love of ocean and water encouraged Quinn to stay after her ABI residency ended. The reception to her art work was a further factor in the decision. Knowing South Padre "checks all of the boxes" of where she was looking to live and work, the ABI experience confirmed her inclinations to be on the coast. "I decided if I got in the program and did well, I'd stay," she said.
And so, Quinn has at the 2500 plaza on Padre Boulevard. It's a sort of focal point of the arts on the beach with the ABI located next door and the art-friendly Karma Coffee & Books just down a way on the plaza. There are hopes the entire plaza can eventually be filled with art galleries and art-related businesses. It would all be a good fit in helping to build the Island's growing art community. |
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Realism art is featured in the Island gallery of Malia Quinn. (Island Matters) |
| Seeing The Potential Quinn believes that South Padre can look to the Texas Hill Country when seeing how art can attract visitors.
Fredericksburg is known for its classic 20th Century downtown featuring the community's German heritage along with a World War II Museum of the Pacific War and its most famous son, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz. It also now also features galleries, especially of the realism art that seeks to represent subject matter truthfully without undue added elements. |
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It's the kind of art Quinn is committed to creating, with "striking paintings that avoid unnecessary detail and instead focus on the abstract qualities of light, form, and space." This description sits along one of Quinn's paintings at her gallery. More of it, along with other types of art, can do for South Padre what is being seen in Fredericksburg and in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the hub of realism art in the Southwest.
"You're going to have people coming back just for the excitement that it (art) brings," Quinn said. "We know the ocean is the key here. After you do that, you look for something else that can touch you. What else is there to keep you here after you go to the beach?"
Art, she believes, can help fill that void.
"There's certainly the potential here," she said. "I enjoy being an artist in a tourist location. It's wonderful just to see the looks on their (tourists) faces when they see the paintings. It's really exciting to be part of it." |
The Quinn Gallery at 2500 Padre Boulevard is helping build an arts community on the Island. (Island Matters) |
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