Pictured: Sculpture by Joni Younkins-Herzog.

The Sarasota contemporary arts collective, SARTQ teams up with Burns Court’s [blank] slate gallery for its latest group exhibition, SARTQ: Small Works, opening tonight with an artists reception. Kona Ice and BulGoGi Sarasota, Sarasota’s new Korean food truck, will be on-hand for hungry revelers and attendees are invited to bring canned good donations for All Faiths Food Bank.

Featuring 25 new works of painting, sculpture and mixed-media installation from 12 contributing artists, all were given one qualification: the work had to be small. “They tend to work on large canvases,” admits [blank] slate’s Rae Ramos. Meeting SARTQ Executive Director Tim Jaeger on the Ringling College campus, Ramos knew he wanted to collaborate but was hampered by limited space. The solution offered an interesting opportunity.

“I wanted to see if their aesthetics or styles would change,” Ramos continues, reaching for one of Jaeger’s latest—some sort of three-dimensional painting or mini-installation affected by painted layers of translucent Plexiglas against a cardboard backstop sealed in a wooden box-frame. The image shifts with the viewer’s perspective, offering a deconstruction of the painter’s process and understanding of his own image before congealing into something more straightforward. “This is totally different,” nods Ramos. “I was more used to his animal series.”

In some cases, Small Works led to fruitful collaboration, as in that between SARTQ artist Steve Strenk and area sculptor Vicky Randall. “Here you can see Vicky’s signature style,” says Ramos of the sculpture’s central pillar of slowly undulating metal before addressing the winding coil and circular accents surrounding: “And this here is all Steve.” Enjoying the process, the pair plans to continue the collaboration, Ramos reports.

And that’s what it’s all about—fostering new creation. Exposure for the gallery is nice, says Ramos, but the artists are the stars. “There are some really talented artists in this community,” he says. “This is the next generation that’s going to leave a mark and this is what SARTQ artists are doing now.”

SARTQ: Small Works opens tonight at 5:30pm with an opening reception at [blank] slate gallery and will be on display through Aug. 20.

Pictured: Sculpture by Joni Younkins-Herzog.