ABOUT US
DEREK GORES
CO-FOUNDER AND ART DIRECTOR
I'm made of New England slate walkways with moss in between, mixed with Space Coast views where you can see So Much Sky while the pulse of waves keeps rhythm. My fancy RISD education is offset with playing with Legos, making up Star Wars characters, and in general aiming to keep the eyes of a child. Wandered serendipitously into Collage, where the imperfect tools and aggressive textures keep things from being too fussy. Collage has been full of luck, enabling me to play with galleries in far off lands, make art for some of my favorite musicians, and lets me flee forward at a very good clip. Artdrenalyne is efficient fuel.
I enjoy spatial play in my art, keeping the senses guessing - and in the fractal spirit, I zoom out to take that approach not only on a canvas, but in my gallery, and in the EGAD District, and in defining Culture's importance in Brevard County. They can all be Art, watching the components mingle and bounce off each other. And so here we are with Aqua Editions. Let's mingle. Stray facts: I know the drum fills to most 80's songs. I'm never stuck. I like to kill with kindness.
SARA RUSSO
CO-FOUNDER & DESIGNER LIAISON
I’m a curator & art and flower lover from Melbourne Beach, Florida. My love for visual treasures – especially in the creative fields of art, design and floral design was cultivated from a young age. I was born into a creative family - my mother, an artist and floral designer, and father, a craftsman and kite maker. As a child, weekend projects might include my dad constructing giant kites or my mom designing costumes for children's theater, punctuated by long, lovely days on the sunny Melbourne beaches. I graduated with a liberal arts bachelors in 2004, returned to the space coast and ran a floral design company with my mother, Ann, for 5 years, a wonderful and special season of my life.
I live in Melbourne Beach with my husband, John and our growing family
SARAH ALBERS
CO-FOUNDER AND PRODUCTION MANAGER
I grew up outside of Minneapolis and got a research oriented psychology degree from UW-Stout, WI. My need to be inspired by my physical surroundings
flourished during three summers in Talkeetna, AK (sequential living arrangements: tent, wall tent, A-frame). Later, I moved to Jackson, WY and lived where the buffalo roam (sequential living arrangements: motel, 1890's log cabin,1970's refurbished Airstream, live-work space). I left Wyoming in Fall 2013, with the intent of living in Florida's sun and coastal breezes for one winter. Instead, found a rancher near the beach with a pool, good people and a breezy lifestyle. The physical space around me plays such a powerful role in my world-I've got to have a representation of the surrounding outside culture, inside. Surf Pop, Tidal Pool & Golden Hour---that's life here on the beach in Florida. And though I couldn't hang artwork in my Alaskan tent, I improvised with a solid lean on the nylon. Here in Florida, nails do the trick.