Interstell-arts

Through Brevard Cultural Alliance’s Art in Public Places Program, restaurants, like Dixie Crossroads, and other businesses transform their interiors into small gallery displays of local artists’ creations.

Through Brevard Cultural Alliance’s Art in Public Places Program, restaurants, like Dixie Crossroads, and other businesses transform their interiors into small gallery displays of local artists’ creations. DAVID KOPECK

Space Coast is becoming prime space for public art

Snoopy — Charlie Brown’s best friend, created for him by artist Charles Schultz — became NASA’s mascot in 1968. The world’s most famous beagle was assigned this important role during the space race to raise spirits and promote safety. Snoopy is just one example of the powerful — and very much planned — intersection between art and STEM on the Space Coast. 

Daniel Kopeck, the arts services manager for Brevard Cultural Alliance, describes the area as a “middle ground” between art and science. 

“People don’t associate art and science, but they are very much connected, even from a historical perspective,” he said. “NASA has used art for every single one of its missions, starting with Gemini 8. They contract and deal with artists because it is something people can connect with.” 

ART IN PUBLIC PLACES

Daniel Kopeck, Art Services Manager at Brevard Cultural Alliance, strives to increase the visibility of local art through the Art in Public Places Program.

Daniel Kopeck, Art Services Manager at Brevard Cultural Alliance, strives to increase the visibility of local art through the Art in Public Places Program. MATTHEW ADAMS

Kopeck began his role at BCA in August, having previously worked at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in the education department. As Brevard County’s designated arts agency, BCA works to invigorate art and culture along the Space Coast. The alliance is made up of roughly 112 artist members and 40 other groups, such as small businesses and galleries.

This alliance strives to nurture Brevard’s creatives, whether through advocacy to keep the arts in schools or supporting local artists through programs like Art in Public Places, headed by Kopeck. It’s a program created to improve the quality of life of Brevard residents and visitors “through the provision of visual and performing arts, artistic landscape and architectural design in places available to the public for its cultural enrichment and appreciation,” according to Brevard County’s Code of Ordinances.

Members or non-members of BCA can submit artwork to the Art in Public Places Advisory Committee, made up of 10 members appointed by the county commission. It is mandated that three of those members are representatives from BCA. Every month, the committee meets to vote on new submissions. Then, the accepted artwork gets placed in various locations across the county, including government buildings and local businesses. 

Current exhibit locations include Satellite Beach City Hall, Savant Wealth Management and Melbourne Orlando International Airport. These locations contract with BCA for a year, and new pieces are rotated through every four months. Most of the artwork is for sale, creating an opportunity for artists to gain recognition — and potentially profit. “It allows these artists another avenue and way to be out in the community,” Kopeck said.

Barbara Fine stands alongside two of her mosaic surfboards, Blue Wave and No Gray Area, previously on display at Lexus of Melbourne.

Barbara Fine stands alongside two of her mosaic surfboards, Blue Wave and No Gray Area, previously on display at Lexus of Melbourne. BARBARA FINE

THE INTERSECTION 

Kopeck — who oversees the Art in Public Places program — has a background in astronomy and astrophysics, with a degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach. He is also a digital artist. “Art to me was always a nice mental break to do something else versus all the math stuff,” he said. “It’s nice to have both ends of things.” 

Through his experience in both fields, Kopeck attests to the importance of nurturing their intersection. “We have these great facilities, but, if workers don’t want to live here with their families, you are not going to have productive work,” Kopeck said. 

It is his mission to ensure that, as long as geography and physics dictate the need for the space industry to launch from the East Coast of Florida, art and culture will be here to attest to the multi-dimensionality of those who live and work in that field and its adjacent industries. 

Barbara Fine, a BCA member and artist, agreed. “We have all this technical enrichment, with these brilliant people, but there’s the other side to being human and that is creating.”

TWO OF THE ARTISTS

Fine’s piece titled, Rosy, showcases a flamingo using ceramic tile, beads, and pearls on a skim board which can be seen at Urban Prime in Melbourne.

Fine’s piece titled, Rosy, showcases a flamingo using ceramic tile, beads, and pearls on a skim board which can be seen at Urban Prime in Melbourne. CLINT KISON

Fine is a part of the Art in Public Places program and has artwork on display at Urban Prime, a marketplace and restaurant in Melbourne. She landed in Melbourne after her husband’s engineering career brought them to the Space Coast. 

Fine cannot remember a time when art was not a part of her life. From working in a design studio on Manhattan’s Madison Avenue to being the senior graphic artist at L3 Harris, she has held numerous roles within the art industry. She’s also devoted much of her time to the Space Coast art community as the assistant program administrator for the Eau Gallie Arts District, as well as a volunteer with the Foosaner Art Museum. She eventually landed in education and was an art teacher at Palm Bay High School for 11 years. 

After retiring, Fine felt drawn to creating mosaics, so she focused her creative endeavors on collecting mostly recycled materials — such as broken dishes and old buttons — to create eye-catching displays on used surfboards. She describes her experience with BCA’s Art in Public Places as a gift. “I had no way to display these [surfboards],” she said. “They need physical exposure. They look pretty on paper but when you see them in person it’s a different experience.” 

Mitch Gubnitsky, another BCA member and artist, echoed Fine’s sentiments about how helpful BCA and the Art in Public Places program has been to him. “I would not normally have access to all these things and all these businesses without the Brevard Cultural Alliance,” he said. 

Gubnitsky became a registered nurse during Hurricane Andrew and currently works at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. He is one of seven artists selected by BCA to work on a project to transform the Florida Department of Transportation utility boxes in Satellite Beach. The artists will create designs to be printed and adhered to the boxes, spicing up a mundane but essential public object. 

“With there being a greater STEM focus — and STEM industries surrounding this area — and being a nurse, I think there’s a greater need for art,” Gubnitsky said. “It can promote healing.”

A radiant sunset titled, Grains of Blue, was painted with acrylics on wood by Gubnitsky and can be found on display at Palm Bay City Hall.

A radiant sunset titled, Grains of Blue, was painted with acrylics on wood by Gubnitsky and can be found on display at Palm Bay City Hall. CLINT KISON

LOOKING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD 

Mitch Gubnitsky stands next to an electric and contrasting acrylic work on canvas titled, Grouper Blues.

Mitch Gubnitsky stands next to an electric and contrasting acrylic work on canvas titled, Grouper Blues. MITCH GUBNITSKY

This year, BCA celebrates its 50th birthday. Its new administrative team is studying the agency’s history to reflect and learn from previous eras of flourishment. They are also looking into how to potentially restructure membership to give more back to the community. “We have a very tiny team and big ambitions,” Kopeck said. 

His personal goal is to keep expanding the Art in Public Places program beyond its current 20 locations. Seemingly minor additions, like the FDOT Utility Box Project in a smaller area like Satellite Beach, enriches the community in major ways. He points to the concept of “third places,” to explain the importance of public art. 

The brainchild of sociologist Ray Oldenburg, a third place is “a familiar public spot where you regularly connect with others known and unknown, over a shared interest or activity,” Oldenburg wrote. Where a first place is one’s living environment and a second place is one’s work environment, a third place exists outside of those spaces, as somewhere to recreate, recharge or gather with others, free of financial barriers. Art in Public Places is a creative — and appealing — example of that third place for Space Coast residents. 

“It makes you want to live here,” Kopeck said.

 

See the original article in print publication

Madeleine Pape