Detail of work by Sue Bennett-Williams and Jason Bennett

Popopstudios International Center for The Visual Arts celebrates Transforming Spaces with a massive exhibition, Open Studios and a Junkanoo Rushout.

Popopstudios is one of four galleries participating in this year’s Transforming Spaces event along with the DíAguilar Art Foundation, the Central Bank Art Gallery and Hillside House. Centered at the Towne Hotel in downtown Nassau, Transforming Spaces runs from Wednesday, March 9 through Sunday, March 13.

Popop will be launching an exhibition called “Triple Double”. The name is a play on the common sports terminology in which a player accumulates a double-digit number total in three of five statistical categories. For the exhibition, each participating artist has invited a partner to play in pairs, and create a body of work. Each artist chooses three words or symbols from the Triple Double matrix from which the pair creates a ‘visual poem’. Then, they create a work or body of works inspired by some, or all, of the poem’s components.

The exhibition will feature the work of 10 pairs of artists, with each pair working collaboratively on art created exclusively for Transforming Spaces.

Heino observes as Alex Timchula works on her collaborative sculpture with Kendal Hanna.

Opening on Wednesday, March 9, from 6:30-9:00pm, the exhibition will feature new work from artists Alex Timchula + Kendal Hanna, Lisa Wells + Nadine Seymour-Munroe, Holly Parotti + Jackson Petit, Sue Bennett-Williams + Jason Bennett, Heino Schmid + Tessa Whitehead, John Cox + Toby Lunn, Dylan Rapillard + Dede Brown, Richardo Barrett + Natalie Willis, AJ Watson + David Lee, plus College of The Bahamas students Keith Thompson + Navarro Newton.

To coincide with the opening of the exhibition, Transforming Spaces Chairman Jay Koment, owner of New Providence Art & Antiques, will be featuring Junkanoo art and hosting a Rushout by the Genesis Junkanoo Group. The Rushout starts at 8:00pm on Wednesday evening and will be supplemented with giant blow-ups of images of Junkanoo performers taken by Popop artist and photographer Duke Wells.

Wells, who is also the Managing Director of Popopstudios, thinks this is one of the most diverse shows Popop’s Gallery has ever presented.

Detail of collaborative piece by Ana-Lisa Wells and Nadine Seymour-Munroe

“We are always excited to be involved in Transforming Spaces. With such a diverse group of artists, this year’s exhibition really demonstrates the collaboration and community of the Transforming Spaces 2016 theme, ‘SWELL'”.

“Transforming Spaces would not be possible without the long-standing commitment, energy and creativity that the institution and its artists bring to the table,” said Jay Koment regarding Popopstudios involvement in the annual art event.

In addition to the massive exhibition, on Saturday and Sunday, Popop artists will open their studio doors to the public in an “Open Studios” event, that allows the public to take a behind-the-scenes glimpse inside the working spaces of Popop’s creative community.

“We’ve had some spectacular exhibitions for Transforming Spaces in the past. But this just might be our best TS exhibition ever, as it features the work of over 20 outstanding artists, Open Studios and even a Junkanoo Rushout. Five days of visual art not to be missed,” Wells added.

Click here to view the complete schedule for Transforming Spaces.