Meet Sharon Koskoff | Art, Architecture & Community

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sharon Koskoff and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sharon, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
I moved to Florida in 1985, from Brooklyn, New York and I followed my passions for mural painting and love of Art Deco Architecture…. What I discovered in the Palm Beaches was that our Arts and Cultural Institutions as the Armory Art Center, Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, Lake Worth Playhouse, Dreyfoos School of the Arts and more, were uniquely housed in Art Deco structures. As president of the Art Deco Society of the Palm Beaches (ADSPB) I can educate audiences through tours and lectures about the significance of these endangered treasures and work to keep the Arts enthusiastically vital.

Currently, I do a lot of Public Speaking, where I engage with the community and advocate art, culture and historic preservation. I just returned from Tallahassee where I presented Modernism: Art & Architecture in the Palm Beaches at the Preservation on Main Street 2024 (POMS24) and Florida Historic Preservation Conference.

In June of 2022, I had a seven-week long, one-woman retrospective entitled Trilogy: Art, Architecture & Community at the Hatch 1121, the Community Redevelopment Association (CRA) Art Gallery in Lake Worth Beach. I highlighted my achievements as a public artist and community arts activist as: receiving eight Neighborhood Artists in Residency Program (NARP) grants, working as an Artist in Residence at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in Belle Glade, creating the Alone Together: A Corona Crisis Mural Installation (113 Artists), organizing the Open Door Project (75 Artists), leading and organizing Art in the Alley (150 Artists), building 14-foot tall Giant Puppets with ten non-profit organizations, and painting over 350 murals in Palm Beach County Public Schools with my father, Rubin “Papa Ruby” Koskoff, and other community volunteers. At Trilogy, I also displayed, painting, pastels, sculptures, and my international black and white Art Deco Photography exhibit…Walking though the Retrospective, I was so very proud and in awe of my own achievements…My only wish was that my parents were alive to share it with me!

In April 2023, the ADSPB was host to the International Coalition of Art Deco Societies Post-World Congress, a biennial event since 1991. The theme was named Modernism: Florida’s Hidden Treasures and successfully brought Art Deco-philes from around the globe for walking tours, museum visits, residential Art Deco tours, a Mayor’s Reception, and even an Egyptomania Costume Party and Swing Jazz Gala Finale… I connected with non-profit organizations as the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, who presented Palm Beach Moderne. Other, Art Deco and Mid-Century Moderne exhibits throughout the county for were on display for residents to enjoy! Even “Plen Aire Palm Beach” artists created paintings of Art Deco architecture for the world travelers to experience.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a self-employed, professional female artist who has supported herself through the arts her entire life! Also, I always try to involve others in what I do… why work alone when you can collaborate? I mentor others and encourage artists and students to use their creativity. Connections and Inclusivity is empowering.

The key to my success is my versatility… I am a mixed-media collage teacher, lecturer, and author. I am an architectural historian, photographer, and graphic artist. I also, a well-known needlepoint designer, interior designer and creator of installations. As an environmentalist, I support and favor the use of recycled materials. Sky’s the limit!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If ART is my religion, then the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach is my TEMPLE. Every Friday night is Art After Dark from 6-10 pm where they have musical performances, lectures, art tours, a creative open studio art class, and always something different that dazzles me! Then a dinner at Howley’s Fifties Diner, drinks at The Ben Rooftop Bar, or Cuban food at Don Ramon’s.

In Lake Worth Beach, the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, in the former Historic Art Deco Lake Avenue Theatre, built in 1939 by Roy A. Benjamin, has a great Art Gallery featuring Local Artists with cuttings edge themed exhibitions. As a tour-guide, I organize walking-tours of Art Deco Art & Architecture of Lake Worth Beach entitled Landmarks of Lake Worth … Yes, a walk downtown to show off the local treasures as the Art Deco Neon Marquee I designed for the Lake Worth Playhouse, now celebrating its 100th Anniversary 1924 -2024… it’ the oldest building on the Historical Registry of the ADSPB.

Then onto Delray Beach, the place I call home for 39 years. Our Downtown is the “hotspot” of the Palm Beaches! When I first moved here it was a ghost town, but through Art & Culture & preserving architecture this Village by the Sea is now booming with restaurants, bars, shops, interesting people and open till the wee hours every night.

My favorite place in Delray Beach is the Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square complex which anchors the entire downtown from East Atlantic Avenue straight to the Beach. The mixed-use campus has everything… an amphitheater with weekly outdoor concerts, a Green Market, community events like Art & Jazz on the Avenue, the tallest Christmas Tree and more… I also love to teach Mixed Media Collage at their Creative Art School!

Don’t miss a drive through Art in the Alley in the Southeast section of Delray Beach called Osceola Park. Visit www.ArtintheAlley.org for the map where you will find mural panels painted by volunteer artists in the community hung on individual fences for a public art display. Since 2010, Community Activists James & Lisa Quillian, and myself, have organized the arts community for a true Art Happening where we revitalize neighborhoods… One day we Paint, and One day we Party. Approximately 50 artists each year paint on 3’ x 5’ panels with themes like Art in the Alley Goes Green: Save the Earth, Renaissance in the Alley (after COVID), Heart in the Alley (Valentines Day) etc.

See you there!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have tremendous gratitude for my Family and Friends.

Papa Ruby worked with me painting public murals throughout Palm Beach County for over three decades. Although my mother wanted me to be a public-school teacher, my parents supported my efforts throughout my lifetime. While they might not have completely understood my passion, they were extremely proud of my accomplishments.

I am a two-time award-winning author. In my first book, Art Deco of the Palm Beaches, I wrote the dedication to my parents, Shirley and Papa Ruby and special thanks to the Queen of Art Deco in Southbeach, Barbara Baer Capitman.

In the late 1970s, Barbara Baer Capitman identified the Art Deco architecture in Miami Beach, started the Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL), began the legendary Art Deco Weekend festivals, and listed the country’s first urban 20th Century Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. Palm Beach Photographer Joel Cohen dubbed me as the “Duchess of Deco” continuing Barbara Capitman’s legacy in the historic preservation of Art Deco Modernism.

I was a member of the Art Deco Society of New York before I moved to Florida. Then in Miami Beach, I met with Barbara. She encouraged me to spearhead the Art Deco Society of the Palm Beaches (ADSPB) and the historic preservation organization was born, concentrating on the significance of Art Deco architecture for future generations.

The oldest structures erected in South Florida were built in the 1930s. Barbara was delighted when I discovered, identified, and documented dozens of Streamline Modern hidden gems — specifically many that emphasized arts and cultural institutions in the Palm Beaches. Visit www.ArtDecoPB.org.

In 2018, I dedicated my second book, Murals of the Palm Beaches, to my sister Cheryl Kerner. When I was 14, Cheryl married and commissioned me to paint my very first mural. It was then I discovered my zeal for large-scaler painting and never looked back… Bigger is Better! My sister recently passed away, and my new mantra is “Art Heals All Wounds” …As a memorial, I created the “Dragonfly Visitation Mural” that symbolically captures her essence.
For the past 15 years, a shout goes out to my friends Lisa and James Quillian who are always there to help me with an installation, move equipment, event planning, hosting of the Post-Congress parties and most of all, Art in the Alley… the public art revitalization project in our community. In fact, I just told James “Wow, your always there to make my efforts look really GOOD”!

Website: www.ArtDecoPB.org, www.BySharon.com , www.ARTintheALLEY.org

Instagram: @artdecopalmbeach

Linkedin: ArtDecoSharonKoskoff

Facebook: BySharon Koskoff

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC627yKy-KUfy58IJ2bQDpAg Sharon Koskoff / Public Arts & Architecture

Image Credits
Sharon Koskoff (7 photos)
Mike Stocker, South Florida Sun Sentinel Photo (last photo from Sun Sentinel Newspaper)