Batavia Artists Association

@ Water Street Stuios, Batavia's Art Center
501(c)3 not-for-profit organization

Joi Cuartero - Art Director / Executive Director

Joi holds art, no matter what the form, in high esteem.  From sculpture and painting to music and the theater, she loves it all.  That is why she wanted to help create Water Street Studios.  She believes in the vision of having a place for artists to create, tech and learn; all while giving the community a place to hang out, view art, take classes and be proud of their local talent.  She loves walking into the Art Center and seeing people working in their studio, while someone is playing music in the gallery and others are taking a class.

She comes from an arts background, with a degree in Arts, Entertainment, Media Management.  Her education gives her the ability to be a great liaison between the artistic and business side of this project.  Currently, She works for Batavia Mainstreet, a not-for-profit, community-based organization devoted to enhancing downtown Batavia's identity as the heart of the community through dedicated volunteer efforts. Before that she worked at HD Ready, a music-television production company that co-produces the show Soundstage and is now working in 3D music films.  Her experience in production allows her to engage with this project in order to help Water Street Studios grow even more. You can find Joi Cuartero on IMDb here: www.imdb.com/name/nm3378660/

Steven Lockwood - Gallery Director / Technology Director

Deriving his work from architectural influence, Steven Lockwood likes to organize geometric shapes in a manner reflecting blueprints in relief form on a wall. This allows him to work toward styles reminiscent of both the early 1880-1920 Art Nouveau and the late 1908-1935 Art Deco. Using metal, light, and plastic, he blends these periods' most known characteristics from their geometric and angular shapes to their graceful, elongated, curvy lines, with an industrial twist. He tends to use positive and negative space to interact with each other making a more elaborate surface structure.

Steven's appreciation for art was apparent at a young age. Later on, he was able to cultivate his talent at Northern Illinois University where he received a Bachelors Degree in Art for 3D Studio, Sculpture. He was able to implement his artistic skills at Marshall Fields where he did Visual Merchandising and Window Display for four years. After graduation he wanted to make sure that he always had a studio to create in and further his artistic development. You can view Steven's work here: www.stevenlockwood.com

It was his search for a studio that led him to work in creating Water Street Studios. At first, all he wanted was a studio, but after seeing the potential of what the Art Center could become, he wanted to make sure that he was involved from the ground up. Now, he is not only a co-founder of the facility, along with the rest of the Batavia Artists Association Board, but also the Gallery Director. He found another passion involving the arts through being in charge of the Water Street Studios Gallery. He and his team juries and places the artwork for gallery shows, solicits new artists to show work and implements various ideas involving the gallery to further art in the community. He finds himself lucky that where so many dream of establishing such a facility, he gets to be an integral part of it's existence.

The mission of the Gallery is to provide exhibitions that promote the understanding and appreciation of art.  The Gallery Director will develop and oversee an ongoing schedule of exhibits.  The Director will plan and implement all exhibitions including being a curator, soliciting artists, budgeting, and installation of work.  The gallery is open to all renters and the surrounding communities.  Please note, all renters must submit their work into the gallery if they are interested in being considered. Renters are not guaranteed to be accepted into all exhibitions.  The Gallery Committee juries each show, with the Gallery Director overseeing each rotating jury of artists. You can find the Gallery Application under Gallery Submissions.

Kari Kraus - Director of Education

Education is a major element of Water Street Studios in that it will engage the community on many levels.  Our educational program has been tailored to all ages, from 2 to 102.  Kari Kraus, the Director of Education, has a B.A. in Art from NIU and came to WSS with experience as the Assistant Director of a community based art school with a specialization in children's programming.

Art is very important to Kari and that is why she teaches.  She believes art is a constructive way for children to explore and to express their feelings, and gives them another way to think and process information.  She finds that many important abilities can be learned from art education such as technical skills (i.e. painting, drawing, etc.), communication skills, physical hand-eye coordination, as well as improving vocabulary and visualization skills.  Art also exposes children to new ideas, cultures, and other parts of the world that they otherwise may not have seen or been exposed to.  Kari also observes that art helps with a child's confidence because they feel that they create something, literally, that no other child can create. Art teaches kids the process of looking at something, breaking it down and analyzing it, then reconstructing it with a meaning and understanding on the subject.

As a founding artist of Water Street Studios/Batavia Artists Association Kari has established the Water Street School of Art and has developed it to now include not only fine arts, but mind and body wellness, performance arts, and language courses.   Kari also is a fiber artist that has been juried into several shows and continually explores and works in fiber three dimensionally. You can view Kari's work here: http://wearduringorangealert.blogspot.com/2009/01/artist-of-week_26.html

Jim Kirkhoff - Director of Development

Jim Kirkhoff graduated from Purdue University with a BS in Industrial Engineering.  For 16 years, he worked in engineering, sales and project management positions at companies who provided capital equipment for the assembly of electric motors and generators.  Since moving to Batavia in 2004 (with his wife Suzy), Jim has been involved with a variety of community groups related to arts, recreation, education and environmentalism.

In April 2009, Jim started to work with joined the board of the BAA to help form the Community Outreach program then began filming the evolution of Water Street Studios for a documentary (to be released September 2010).  In July of 2009, Jim joined the board as Director of Development.  The roll of Development is to find and secure funding opportunities in the form of donations or grants from sources such as citizens, patrons of the arts, community groups, foundations and companies.

Artistically, Jim works in film (in addition to the WSS documentary, Jim is also working on a Star Wars fan film), photography (Jim's work will be in the 2010 Summer Show) and music.

Since BAA/WSS is a not-for-profit organization, we need to develop funding opportunities from a variety of sources.   The roll of Development is to find and secure funding opportunities in the form of donations or grants from sources such as citizens, patrons of the arts, community groups, foundations and companies.  As Director of Development, Jim's roll is to lead this effort, but he can not do it alone.  Anyone who is interested in participating in this process is welcome to join the Development Committee.  Also, if you have contacts who would be interested in donating to Water Street or if you have experience in this area, please contact Jim by e-mail at development@waterstreetstudios.com.