Art Space Making SPI A Venue For Creativity
By R. Daniel Cavazos
Walk into the South Padre Island Art Space and in seeing all the paintings, crafts, brushes, and fiber and ceramic arts, you get a sense of how it came to be.
The space is a joyful one created by the talents of local artists who banded together a decade ago to celebrate community through art. The Island Art Space is a cooperative, the only one of its kind in the Rio Grande Valley. Its members through their dues utilize the space provided to work, teach classes, and display and sell their artwork.
The origins of the cooperative go back to area artists doing ceramics and other crafts out of their garages. They sought to form a group of like-minded art enthusiasts that could use shared space to highlight their work. Be it retirees or hobbyists, they are artists, and the Island with its beautiful setting is an ideal venue to enjoy what they do.
"The atmosphere, the tranquility here, it fits right in," said Sherre Adams, an artist and art instructor who manages the SPI Art Space at 1817 Padre Boulevard, Suite 1. "I think for the Island when you incorporate art into the community, it adds to the tourist scene. It makes the Island an even better place to visit."
Making Art Viable On SPI
The Island Art Space is a forerunner of sorts to more recent efforts to raise the profile of art on the Island.
A major boost in that regard came in recent years with the opening of the Art Business Incubator.
It marked a beginning of sorts that art could be used as an economic development strategy to attract more visitors and grow that endeavor as a viable business sector on the Island. The Business Incubator brings in visiting artists for one-year stints where they can work on their skills, create new art, and learn how to turn it into a viable business.
It's all good in the view of Adams. The Art Incubator when added to what the Art Space and others were already doing to build the Island's artistic spirit. She sees the fruits of those efforts during summer workshops that attract youngsters, who bring their parents and other family members to the Art Space.
"We've had families from other parts of Texas, Mexican (tourist) families, as well as Valley families come in and see what we're doing," Adams said. "It gets more people focused on art while they're here."
Sherre Adams, 2021
Artistic Hub
The Art Space with its dedicated workspaces for ceramic art and kilns on hand to bake and harden clay is a draw for the RGV art community.
Adams spoke of visitors coming from Edinburg to participate in the creative process at the Art Space. Anyone can be an artist, she said, a self-reflective process where "you bring yourself out to your art."
"You can make anything with your hands," Adams said. "It's a matter of convincing your hands that you can do it. Anyone can. Just be yourself."
Adams, an East Texas native, is doing just that in an art world she's helping to cultivate on the Island. She came as a visitor a few years back and never left.
"I came here on vacation and knew this was home," she said. "I absolutely love the Valley."
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Island Matters | P.O. Box 2778 | South Padre Island, TX 78597
