FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(West Palm Beach, Fla.) – August 15, 2022 – This month the Armory Art Center will welcome four artists to their nine-month Artist-in-Residence program. This highly competitive program attracts a diverse group of emerging artists with varied disciplines who have at least a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts degree.

John Lark joins the Armory this year as an Artist-in-Residence in Painting, Drawing and 2D Media. John is a representational painter who creates oil paintings that depict interactions between figures and environments. In 2012 he received an MFA from the New York Academy of Art. His interest in art dates to his childhood years in Michigan, where he frequently visited the Detroit Institute of Art and the Cranbrook Art Museum. It was there he developed a connection with, and enthusiasm for, abstract expressionism, minimalism, and pop art. Lark graduated with a BFA, Cum Laude, in 2005 from University of Michigan School of Art and Design where his concentration was in figure painting and printmaking. He later studied abroad in Florence, Italy where his appreciation for Renaissance and Baroque periods blossomed. After graduation, Lark moved to New York City and took a post-baccalaureate semester at Columbia University. He realized his primary interests lay in representational painting and began graduate studies at the New York Academy of Art where he developed the style for which he is known today. Lark has participated in a numerous of group and solo exhibitions with New York galleries including the Ethan Cohen Gallery, the Untitled Space Gallery and the Van Der Plas Galley.

Hanna Scrima is the Armory’s 2022-2023 Artist-in-Residence in Ceramics. Hannah was born and raised in western Pennsylvania. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Slippery Rock University, she was employed at the Brockway Center for Arts and Technology for four years. Working at a non-profit art center, Hannah found a passion for building relationships with students that starts with art but extends beyond the confines of an art studio. The process of exposing students to new techniques forms a full circle experience of who inspires whom and is a driving force in her creative process. She hopes to continue building these symbiotic relationships at the Armory Art Center. By using the intimacy of clay and the slow meticulous process of handbuilding, she is free to find focus and mental clarity to transform disorganized and chaotic thoughts into cohesion. Ranging from unfired sculpture to functional pottery, Hannah utilizes the intimacy of clay as a coping mechanism.

Tony Baker is joining the Armory as an Artist-in-Residence in Sculpture. Tony grew up in a very poor neighborhood in Sacramento, California, alongside the freeway littered with heroin needles and crack vials. As Tony travelled from the lower to middle class parts of town to attend school, he experienced noticeable cultural dislocation. He never felt as though he fully belonged to either cultural subset. As a result, he was an observer, living between cultures. Experiences in these formative years grew a desire in Tony to make work that can be a voice for the people who do not have one, the people who are struggling to survive in this world and can relate with this story of living a life with little control over circumstance. He received his BFA in Ceramics at California State University Long Beach in 2018, and his MFA In Ceramics at Alfred University in 2022. His work is in several prestigious private collections, and he will have a solo exhibition at the Torrance Art Museum in California in the fall of 2023.

Maria Camera-Smith is returning for a second year as an Artist-in-Residence in Jewelry and Metalsmithing. She is a maker of jewelry, functional hollowware, and large wearable works, which focus on humankind’s relationship with its environment. Camera-Smith uses traditional and contemporary metalsmithing techniques alongside precious metals, enamel, industrial, natural, and synthetic materials. She earned her MFA in Jewelry, Metals, and Enameling from Kent State University, OH in 2021 and a BFA in Metalsmithing from Slippery Rock University, PA

in 2015. Her work has been exhibited nationally and is in private and public collections including the Brockway Center for Arts and Technology in Brockway, PA. Camera-Smith is a member of the Allegheny Metals Collective (AMC), Ethical Metalsmiths Students (EMS), and Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG).

“We are very excited to have these four exceptionally talented artists at the Armory this year,” said Dr. Tom Pearson, Chief Executive Officer. “We look forward to offering their classes and workshops and sharing their work in our galleries.” Interested students can find their classes listed online at www.armoryart.org. The Armory provides each resident artist a studio space where they can develop their own work.

The public will have an opportunity to see the work of these four artists at NEW & NOW: Artists-In-Residence and New Faculty Exhibition on display in the Armory’s East Gallery from September 9^th through October 21^st. There will be an opportunity to meet them at the exhibition’s opening reception on Thursday, September 8^th from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. All exhibitions are held at the Armory Art Center, 811 Park Place, West Palm Beach, FL  33401. Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m.-Noon. Closed Sunday. Galleries are free & open to the public. For more information go to www.armoryart.org/calendar/ or call (561) 832-1776.

About the Armory Art Center:

The Armory Art Center’s art school and galleries provide creative opportunities to enhance your life. The Armory has served the community for over 30 years. The mission of the Armory Art Center is to inspire the creation and experience of art and the Armory’s vision is to be the leading community resource for arts education. Serving over 3,000 students annually, the Armory Art Center offers 160 courses per term in six terms throughout the year to students ranging in age from pre-school to retiree. Classes in drawing, painting, photography, jewelry, fiber & textiles, ceramics, and sculpture are held in twelve state-of-the-art studios. Twelve exhibitions are hosted annually in three galleries. Exhibitions, lectures, and special events are open to the public. For information, visit www.armoryart.org or call (561) 832.1776. The Armory Art Center is located at 811 Park Place, West Palm Beach, FL 33401.