On Friday, May 1, the Clay Glass Metal Stone Gallery will host its sixth anniversary party with an evening of butterflies, music, food, drink and great art. The party will take place at 15 South J Street in downtown Lake Worth from 6 to 9 p.m. Brightly colored butterfly tattoos will adorn the first 100 visitors.
In the past six years, more than 100 artists have shown their works in the unique, nonprofit, 3-D gallery. One of the first artist cooperatives in the county featuring only 3-D artists, it has since seen similar galleries spring up and flourish. 3-D artists are those who create fine-art sculpture, pottery, wood-turnings, stone carvings, jewelry and other such works. Never sacrificing quality, the gallery has shown unusual art forms, structures and experimental pieces, some of which have proven to be thought-provoking and controversial. The gallery has spawned a cooperative 3-D artist studio at 216 South F Street. Over the past year, artists have begun to produce many of the works now showing in the gallery at the studio. Grants have been awarded for this effort.
Some of the finest performers in the region will be performing outside the gallery in a concert under the stars. Kat Mahoney, Mel & Vinnie and Gin Blische may be joined by others. These performers are representative of the talent pulled together by Flamingo Clay Studio and the CGMS Gallery, for its yearly concerts presented at the Lake Worth Playhouse.
During the past five years, the gallery has initiated and participated in a series of community-based fundraisers that have helped improve the quality of life for children in local elementary schools, including art supply drives. It has also been successful in helping the children of Jacmel, Haiti, through its Haitian Empty Bowl Fundraisers. The Flamingo Clay Studio is working on raising money for a partnership program with art students at Lake Worth High School.
Guest artists, workshops and special projects have become a signature of the gallery. This year, the annual Peeps Show drew more than 1,100 visitors. Several years back, a huge mermaid created from tin cans fed countless homeless people when the project came to an end. Tour groups and artist demonstrations have become a staple in the community. The past six years have been a diversely creative span for the artists of the CGMS Gallery.
Clay Glass Metal Stone Gallery looks forward to planting new crops of artists in Lake Worth, with new ideas and new ways of looking at the art world. The melding of the talents of the young and the old within the gallery has created an arts synergy that sparks energy and excitement.
Clay Glass Metal Stone Cooperative Gallery is sponsored by the Flamingo Clay Studio, a nonprofit arts organization that provides affordable studio and gallery space for three-dimensional artists. New studios for clay, fused glass and small metals are currently being built at the F Street location.
Gallery hours are Sunday through Tuesday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Wednesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Gallery openings are the first and third Friday of each month from 6 to 9 p.m., with many other special events. For more information, call (561) 588-8344 or visit www.cgms.flamingoclaystudio.org.
