Last year, master printer Erika Greenberg Schneider converted an old Tampa Heights retail building into a multifunctional space where she could live, work and host the occasional art happening. She named her 4,200-square-foot domain Bleu Acier (bleh ah-see-ay), French for the moment at which steel turns blue and becomes malleable. Following the principle of "art de vivre," wherein objects and images are lived with and displayed, she calls Bleu Acier "a living, productive space for work and for working; a place for communication and presentation; a space where experience, research, exchange and discovery work together; and where art and the city keep company."
Schneider celebrates Bleu Acier's first anniversary with a special exhibit, the opening reception for which is from 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 11. The show features new print editions by a dozen artists; some of the works were created in Bleu Acier's atelier and some are presented by Derriere L'Etoile Studios of New York City. Highlights include:
Paula Scher of Pentagram Design, a graphic artist who creates images from words. She will show her Headline series, a sequence of eight, hand-colored prints that focus on the changes in print news post-9/11.
Edgar Sanchez Cumbas presents drawings that explore spirituality, phobias and other aspects of the human condition. His figurative, mixed- media artworks are created with fresco-like, textured surfaces.
Elsa Valbuena, a choreographer with much experience in contemporary dance, uses photography as a means to portray motion and transformation. Her prints use sand as a metaphor for movement.
Other artists featured by Bleu Acier are Sylvie Eyberg, Max Neumann, Jovi Schnell, Claudia Ryan and Ricky Otto; artists on display from Derriere L'Etoile Studios include William Mackendree, April Gornik, Elisabeth Peyton and Elizabeth Murray.
There are no planned art-making demonstrations at the reception, although Schneider says that she always ends up doing something, seeing as how the events are, in fact, at a workshop.
"If there's a real question, I'll address it. People are very curious about the machines I have [a cast iron letter press from 1840 and a litho press from 1890], so they usually become part of the event."
Aside from the bounty of artwork, guests can enjoy some down-tempo grooves by DJ Anthony Sylvestri, and a cash bar for cocktails and other refreshments.
The exhibit runs through Jan. 22; the gallery is open from 1:30 to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and also by appointment. Bleu Acier, 109 W. Columbus Drive, Tampa, 813-272-9746.
This article appears in Dec 8-14, 2004.
