Pictured: The restored Scott Building on Orange and Morrill glows in Jeffrey Schwartz's illustration.

The problem with upward career trajectories is that they leave in their wake a flurry of administrative paper trails. One such flurry meant that when Tim Jaeger got promoted to Director and Chief Curator of RCAD’s myriad galleries and exhibitions, he temporarily lost his grip on GAZE Modern, the local- and community-centric gallery space that operates rent-free out of the Arcos building on Fruitville Road. “I had to officially resign from GAZE,” he says, but Frameworks Development, the builders behind Arcos, still wanted Jaeger to curate the space and fulfill its original vision. “It maybe sounds a bit more dramatic than it actually was,” he says, “but really, all we had to do was rename the space and sign a new deal.” Simple enough.

The new name: PS340. PS stands for “project space” (not postscript) and 340 is the address, but the simplicity of the gallery’s new name belies the grand abstraction of its mission. “We still want to serve as an incubator space for students to learn about the exhibition process,” says Jaeger, and in this way, teach budding artists how to engage with the community. Of course, communication is a two-way street, so the space also serves as a way for the community to engage with the college—and the first line of conversation between the Sarasota arts community and PS340 will focus on the work of Jeffrey Schwartz. 

Schwartz is another star on the rise within RCAD and now serves the school as the Associate VP for Academic Affairs and Dean of Undergraduate Studies. But, he never strays too far from his creative roots. PS340 will host an exhibition of his work called “Zwart en Wit” (black and white in Dutch), a collection that features grayscale illustrations on paper and collaged paper done in pen, ink and watercolor. The objects explored are all local and predominately mid-century architectural features that may be quite familiar to Sarasota locals.

One such illustration features the restored Scott Building on Orange and Morrill that now houses CFAS. Schwartz’s attention to lighting and perspective help to sculpt the image in a way that does justice to its unique angles and hard lines. It appears both substantive and ethereal all at once, and the simplicity of the materials used helps to spotlight just how much can be said by an artist with such a trained hand and eye. Another, more readily recognizable illustration features a nighttime scene of Hob Nob diner on Washington Blvd. in all of its gaudy neon glory. “He has a lot of love for the objects in his work,” says Jaeger, “and it shows in the way he celebrates these seemingly common things.”

The collection altogether celebrates Sarasota, a perfect throughline for the freshly rebranded gallery space on Fruitville and Central. The exhibition runs through February 29th and is open to the public.

PS – Arcos residents get a discount on any of the works for sale.

Pictured: The restored Scott Building on Orange and Morrill glows in Jeffrey Schwartz's illustration.

Project Space 340