A brief history of Image Brewery.
In 1995 Tom Peacock and I decided to turn a crusty pole barn into an artist’s studio. The pole barn was behind my , hidden behind Brandon Bolt and nestled in the corner of a couple of acres north of 60 and west of Mulrennan Rd in Valrico. It had a tin roof and a concrete slab. All it needed was walls and some electricity and it would be ready for the artists.
Before I put several hundred dollars into the restoration of the building, I made a 99 year rental agreement with the owners, my mom and dad.
Tom never moved into the space so I had it all to myself and I painted almost every night after work.
In the summer of 1997 it became Image Brewery, an exhibition space. I came up with the name while screen printing one day and immediately started working on a logo and a color scheme. As I had done in the past, my color schemes were often inspired by Home Depot’s variety of mis-tinted paints. A gallon of this salmon/peachy/orange color, some purple and yellow.
Joe Griffith’s Experimental Skeleton space was on Krental and Kennedy in Tampa, Silver Meteor was in Ybor and Tiffany had a space in St Pete. By joining them as a gallery space, the artist’s potential to exhibit increased by 33% or more.
There were 12 exhibitions and performances from 1997 – 2001 (Image Brewery Exhibition History).
I’m currently scanning some photos of events and trying to put together all of the shows. If you have any photos or documentation that you can share, I will credit you and be very grateful.
In 2002 I married Katy and started having kids. It wasn’t long before the kids were old enough to paint, so it became a studio again and many things were constructed and painted over the next several years.
In January 2014 I set up a more modern space with an office and a painting studio in my home.
Drop by some time and let’s make history! huh?