Image courtesy Isabel Czerwenka-Wenkstetten and Leslie Fry

Tuesday evening marks the public debut of a collaborative project between St. Petersburg-based artist Leslie Fry and Austrian artist Isabel Czerwenka-Wenkstetten at the Studio@620. The pair met via email and Skype earlier this year then teamed up for an intense, ten-day collaboration in St. Petersburg. During Tuesday’s opening reception (6-9 p.m.), visitors are invited to peruse the resulting artwork and play an interactive game while enjoying Austrian and American food and introductions by three speakers: Andreas Stadler, Austrian Cultural Forum New York; Wallace Wilson, Director, College of the Arts, University of South Florida; and Erika Greenberg-Schneider, Owner and Master Printer of Bleu Acier Inc., Tampa.

Hoping to spawn more cross-cultural connections out of their own, Czerwenka-Wenkstetten and Fry say the reception is an opportunity to network and encounter other perspectives. Their collaboration continues in the fall when Vienna’s Windspiel Galerie will showcase their work. Over the weekend, both artists offered thoughts about their collaboration by email.

Artsqueeze: How did you both meet and decide to collaborate?

Isabel Czerwenka-Wenkstetten: I researched in the area who did interesting work, so I searched the internet, and Jorge Vidal at the Arts Center, among others, mentioned Leslie Fry. So I researched her. And I like her work, I love the aesthetics and background she works with. So I called her from Europe and told her about the project. That was in September, I guess. Then some emails, and soon Leslie gave her OK to that exploration.

This article appears in Apr 29 – May 5, 2009.