Through the Collector’s Eye
Exhibition Dates: May 7, 2011 – July 10, 2011

Five collectors who call Florida home shared art from their collections in “Through the Collector’s Eyes”.   The selected art from the collections of Charlotte Everbach, Ed and Jean
Harris, Margery Pabst, Linda Pinto, and Judy Thompson gave insight, not so much into the qualities of what defines “fine art”, but more into what type of art stirs their soul, brings them joy, and subsequently became a part of their daily living environments.

This show was packed with variety and includes paintings, mixed media, graphite drawing, photography, encaustic and sculpture out of wood, clay, glass and other objects. In addition to the pieces from the collections the artists were invited to exhibit new works for the public’s enjoyment and consideration.

The exhibit included a work by Helen Frankenthaler, who was one of the originators of colour-field theory used in abstract painting, and paintings, prints and sculptures by Doris Leeper who is credited as the founder and visionary of Atlantic Center for the Arts, an internationally recognized arts facility located in New Smyrna Beach.  Other powerhouse artists in this show are found in many major collections and are consistent award winners.
They are: Beryl Bayer, Carol Bechtel, Jagoda Buic, Donne Bitner, Jill Cannady, Mindy Colton, Rainee Demmitt, Bethanne Hill, Carol Fitzsimmons, Rene Guerin, Melissa Hosfelt Mason, Shelley Muzylowski Allen, Mary Proctor, Trish Thompson, Barbara Tiffany, Anna Tomczak, Jeanne Schubert, and Barbara Sorensen.

On collecting: You can spend as little or as much as you like on art. You can find art in fine galleries, artists’ studios, and art festivals.  The places are endless but you have to be watching and know what you like. These five collectors offer a bit of “advice” on collecting art in their comments which follow:

“My advice to collectors is LOOK, LOOK, and LOOK AGAIN. Look at art festivals, museum openings, gallery openings and when you take a trip LOOK AT ART on your vacations. LISTEN to artists, lectures, television coverage of art events. It will enrich your life and enrich your collecting experience immeasurably.” – Charlotte Everbach

“Collecting art is serious fun. Serious, because of what it adds to our lives and brings inside our home – peace, joy, mystery, creativity, energy. You should experience art, talk with people who collect art if you like, but understand that this journey is yours to take. It is as creative a journey as those the artists take when making art.– Ed and Jean Harris

“When I look at a piece of art, it provides me with memory and legacy of the time when I first met the artist. I love thinking about the context in which the painting was made and the moment I saw it and bought it!” So my advice is “Buy what touches your heart and provides meaning, memory, and resonance for you.” – Margery Pabst

“Buy what you like. Be aware of why you like or dislike something so you learn from that evaluation process. You might consider a focus or theme for acquisitions. Attend lots of exhibitions at museums to educate your eye on the variety of art and the quality of work that is available.” – Linda Pinto

“My rules of thumb are: 1) never pass up an opportunity to see art, whether in a museum, someone’s home, a gallery; or an art show 2) buy only what you love; and 3) display it where you can enjoy it every day.” – Judy Thompson

– Margaret Schnebly Hodge, Curator –

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First Ovation Exhibition -Dorothy Gillespie
Exhibition Dates: February 12, 2011 – May 1, 2011

Dorothy Gillespie’s illustrious career in art spans over 50 years during which time she has created and exhibited her art work nationally and internationally. At 90, splitting her time between her Orlando and NYC studios, Gillespie’s career continues at a dizzying pace. Gillespie’s colorful paintings, collages, murals and sculpture will vividly transform the Museum. Click here to read exhibition article by on “View Magazine”   

Dorothy Gillespie is a creative individual who can see herself within a classical tradition and still produce art that is both alive and significant.  She creates with full awareness of tradition but without being in any way entrapped or limited by it.  She has a way of suggesting that whatever is “new” is also timeless and has been known, inone form or another, by every true creative spirit.  And finally, she sees art and her own unique contribution to it as part of a dynamic continuum and not as brilliant pieces of isolated individualism.  In other words, she knows what art is all about.  What strikes one most about the art of Dorothy Gillespie is its diversity and its cohesion. Throughout her oeuvre, there is an ever-present, profound entanglement with humanity, and I refer here to “humanity” in its broadest sense, which seeps through the entire range of her production from one end to another, and from one work to another.  The deeper one delves into the output of this artist, the more original, singular and complex it appears.  In a word, it is through the unity and the force of it all, seen in its entirety with its broad and magnanimous human signification, that we are able to perceive the true importance of the art created by Dorothy Gillespie.  Her paintings and sculptural objects do not derive from nature but grow out of a concern with color and space relationships.  Works progress in series, in the sense that each work grows out of the one that came before.  Images start simply, gradually pick up a momentum of complexity, incorporating succeeding themes almost like music into a more highly developed statement, and then return at the end to a restatement of the simple form from which still another theme begins to emerge.  The work moves back and forth between the three-dimensional objects and flat paintings in which color alone creates the space relationships.  The sculptural objects are as simple as curled paper or metal, but their proportions have been carefully studied, and their color chosen to create the most subtle and ephemeral interplays.  In the works destined to be installed outdoors, in particular, the color relationships are well thought out, so that the cool light from the sky, the local color of the object itself, and the reflected light from the environment are always in harmony.  The artist welcomes the challenge of designing works for specific public and private sites.  In designing these projects, form and color are related from the beginning to the entire setting.  Here the work seems to emerge from the pre-determined surface as sometimes integral to it.  Visually, it does not merely rest on it but becomes a part of it.   Just as she is able to move easily from one material to another, she likewise moves between painting, sculpture and object with equal freedom.  However, these diverse expressions relate so closely in form and content that they are clearly all part of the same creative vision, with the result that paintings can be envisioned three-dimensionally and sculpture seen in painterly terms.  They are two aspects of the same unity rather than opposing sides of a coin, for they are firmly interrelated and the one never excludes the other.  The function of color in space is the unifying factor in both, as is the discerning and meticulous talent of the artist. By George S. Bolge, Executive Director- Boca Raton Museum of Art.  Click here to read exhibition article by “On View Magazine”

  Click here to view the fun – Florida Museum for Women Artists’ Photo Albums

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First Annual Florida Juried Exhibition
Exhibited: November 20, 2010 – February. 6, 2011
Experience this significant statewide exhibition of contemporary Florida Women Artists.  The Annual exhibition coincides with the Museum’s First Anniversary and offers a variety of styles and materials from artists currently working and living throughout Florida. From over 1200 submitted images, jurors Dr. Leslie Hammond, John W. Streetman III, and Trish Thompson selected works by: Rosemarie Adcock of Leesburg, FL.,   Barbara Balzer of Tallahassee, FL.,   Jean Banas of New Smyrna Beach, FL.,   Margaret Bayalis of St. Petersburg, FL.,   Kyra Belan of Hollywood, FL.,   Donne Bitner of Orlando, FL.,   Cheryl Bogdanowitsch of Winter Park, FL.,   Cid Bolduc of Gulfport, FL.,   Janis Brothers of Live Oak, FL.,   Peggy Brown of Eustis, FL.,   Carolina Cleere of Tampa, FL.,   Pamela Daum of Altamonte Springs, FL.,   Marie Yoho Dorsey of Lutz, FL.,   Barbara Ery of Orlando, FL.,   Heather Forman of Stuart, FL.,   Kathleen Giddens of Lake City, FL.,   Judy Gilmer of Edgewater, FL.,   Elaine Hahn of Holiday, FL.,   Caroline Jasper of Rotonda West, FL.,   Barbara Kennerly of St. Augustine, FL.,   Candace Knapp of Brandon, FL.,   Grace Leal of Cocoa, FL.,   Martha Lent of  Winter Park, FL.,   Carolann Mancuso of Largo, FL.,   Susan Martin of Merritt Island, FL.,   Amy Miller of Venice, FL.,   Betsy Orbe Lester of Treasure Isle, FL.,   Julia Owens of Sanford, FL.,   Rose Marie Prins of St. Petersburg, FL.,   Florence Putterman of Sarasota, FL.,   Olan Quattro of Orlando, FL.,   Kim Radatz of Valrico, FL.,   Karen Richter of DeLand, FL.,   Stuart Riordan of Tallahassee, FL.,   Randel Rogers of Palm Harbor, FL.,   Suzie Seerey-Lester of Osprey, FL.,   Nancy Seib of Cocoa Beach, FL.,   Rebecca Sexton Larson of Tampa, FL.,   Rebecca Skelton of St. Petersburg, FL.,   Jo Sinclair of St. Augustine, FL.,   Antoinette Slick of Ormond Beach, FL.,   Vivian Spencer of Pensacola, FL.,   Sarah Stead of Winter Park, FL.,   Susan Stelzmann of Tallahassee, FL.,   Mary Stewart of Tallahassee, FL.,   Leslie Stokes of Ft. Pierce, FL.,   and M. Laine Wyatt of DeLand, FL.  FMWA 1st Annual Gallery Guide   

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Women Painting Florida: Images of the State, 1880 -1960
From the collection of Cici and Hyatt Brown
Exhibited: September 4, 2010 – November 14, 2010

50 major works with Florida as subject form a fascinating overview of the art produced by female artists over an eighty year period. Notable women artists such as Laura Woodward and Jane Peterson came to Florida at the height of their careers. They created an amazingly diverse group of beautiful images in a wide range of mature styles. Their chosen subjects range from gardens and citrus fruit to sweeping wild landscapes, local portraits and urban life. The works are loaned from the large Florida art collection of Cici and Hyatt Brown. Featured Image: “Sea Grapes”,  watercolor on board  by Jane Peterson, 1876 – 1965

Introduction- From the mid-19th century on, artists came from all over the world to Florida where they found the perfect vacation spot or a great winter residence or the place to begin a new career. No matter what their reasons to come, they made art while they were here – art that was a response to their surroundings. In Florida there were new vistas, old structures, contrasting light, lush nature and picturesque characters – all of which were irresistible as subjects. There was beauty in the exotic and colorful around them. It is no wonder that images of Florida became the subjects of their artwork.  The artists were men. But they were also women. The female artists like the males were both the well-known and established, and the talented but unheralded. The women depending on their interests and training made works in various media from oil on canvas to watercolor to prints and drawings. And they created an amazingly diverse group of beautiful images in a wide range of mature styles. Fortunately some of those works remain and are preserved for us to view as an exhibition.  Fifty significant artworks from the Florida Art Collection of Cici and Hyatt Brown were chosen as an overview of the achievements by women artists over an eighty-year period. This exhibition offers a beautiful vision of Florida as it – and the women artists who worked here – developed through time.  Noted women artists such as Laura Woodward (1848 – 1928) and Jane Peterson (1876 – 1975) came to Florida at the height of their careers that included instruction in numerous national and International schools. Those influences were brought with them and can be seen not only, in their works, but also, in the works of artists that followed them.   The eminent art historian, Gary R. Libby, has generously provided the biographies and commentary for the extended labels. He notes the numerous examples in which the schools and influences are visible in the methods of these artists. He has researched the locations of the works adding fascinating information about the subjects including historical and biological details.  For instance, in the painting titled Bulow Plantation – Sugar Mill Ruins, Arrah Lee Gaul (1888 – 1980) has made use of a large iron caldron as a focal point. The site is just north of Daytona Beach. Libby elaborates, “In 1835, this sugar and indigo plantation housed refugees fleeing from rampaging Seminoles in the Second Seminole War which lasted until 1842. Strategically located between planters in the New Smyrna Beach area and St. Augustine, Bulow Plantation was also burned by the Seminole led Chiefs, King Philip and Billie Bowlegs. “Gaul’s vision of the plantation includes native ground cover, large cast iron pots used in a refining process, and a later shelter built contemporaneously to protect visitors from the elements. Her palette is bright and her colors are highly saturated. She pays particular attention to contrast emphasizing the rich greens and bright reds of this topographical location.”  Though inhabited streets and buildings in the prominent population centers of the State provide abundant subjects, the forests and swamps are also locations for the curious artist undeterred by the perils of hiking excursions into thickets and still water. The noted lithographer, Victoria Huntley (1900 -1971), composed swamp scenes with the wild beauty of black water and white egrets. She then masterfully turns her vision into an image on the lithographer’s stone and prints a striking vista in gradations from black to white.  As Florida grew, it became home to a variety of typical human labors and eventually to human entertainments. Topics for art as diverse the nets of fishermen and circus performers drew the attention of women artists. A moment during a horse race at the course at Hialeah near Miami with its infield filled with strutting flamingoes is captured full gallop by Amy Jones (1899 – 1968). Her exuberant brushwork gives liveliness to the competing horses.  In each of the works is a piece of the wonder that is the State of Florida. The artists found which subjects resonated with them and distilled the images of those subjects in the styles and media that they had developed throughout their careers. With this exhibition comes a greater understanding of the contribution of women artists to the glorious chronicle of Florida in art.  By David C. Swoyer, Curatorial Consultant for the Florida Museum for Women Artists.  Introduction to Women Painting Florida: Images of the State, 1880 -1960

Thank you to the Sponsors of Women Painting Florida: Images of the State, 1880 -1960:  Bethune-Cookman University,  Daytona State College Foundation,  Mainstreet Community Bank of Florida,  Rose Villa Restaurant, Ormond Beach,  Stetson University, The Gary R. Libby Charitable Trust, University of Central Florida, Encore Catering of Central Florida, Florida Hospital Fish Memorial, Hall Construction, Daytona Beach, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Foundation, The West Volusia Beacon,

Sept 3rd Membership Preview Reception Photos

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Witness To Creativity:
Installations by – Jean Banas, New Smyrna Beach, Fl; Raina Benoit, St. Petersburg, Fl;Frances Gardner, Lancaster, SC; Grace Leal,Cocoa Beach, Fl; Martha Lent, Winter Park, Fl; Kathy O’Meara, Port Orange, Fl; Beau Wild, Port Orange, Fl
Exhibited: July 16, 2010 – Aug. 29, 2010
 
Watching art being made can be very inspiring. It allows the viewer to see the process in action instead of just the finished product. Six art installations were in-process and open to the public for a week culminating in an exhibition. The concept was to open the Museum to the public while the artists prepare their works. The public can engage the artists about their projects, work methods and messages. Museum curator, David Swoyer “Interesting mix between artists and visitors which is a great way to have art understood. Dialogue about a conceptual work while it is being made actually becomes part of the work”. The Musuem document and posted to the web daily progress and interchange via website and social networks.
Witness to Creativity Photo Albums.

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Illustrating Orchids: Blanche Ames Ames (1878-1969) & Marion Ruff Sheehan (1924-1998)
Exhibited: May 8, 2010 – July 11, 2010

The exhibition presented the art of two botanical illustrators whose work is the epitome, not only of scientific illustration, but also of the creative perfection that makes the works great art. Blanche Ames Ames (1878-1969) and Marion Ruff Sheehan (1924-1998) used their extensive artistic abilities to document the form and structure of the numerous genera of orchids. Working in ink and watercolor the artists made precise renderings of the dissected orchids before them. Each of the women teamed with their husbands – prominent scholars of orchid study. The exhibition included original ink drawings, original watercolors and lithographs made from the originals. Works are from the collections of the Botanical Libraries of Harvard University and the collection of Thomas and Marian Sheehan.  Invitation Back - Membership Preview Opening of the exhibition Illustrating Orchids   Invitation Front – Membership Preview Opening of the exhibition Illustrating Orchids     Photo Album – Illustrating Orchids Membership Preview Reception      Orchid Plant Evaluation Workshop – Sat, June 12

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Almost Alice: New Illustrations of Wonderland by Maggie Taylor
Exhibited: February 20, 2010 – May 2, 2010

Organized by Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida.  Exhibit opened in the same period as the movie “Alice” and was covered by multiple news media.  The exhibition featured 45 digital inkjet prints illustrating Lewis Carroll’s famous work “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”   The composite images usually begin with an original photographic portrait—often a daguerreotype or tintype from the mid-19th century.  The artist then uses 21st century digital processes and Photoshop montage techniques to layer multiple images to create the final prints, which are simultaneously historic and contemporary. Taylor’s radical manipulation of her source images but retention of photographic realism results in an ironic visual surrealism that perfectly complements the verbal wit and irony of Carroll’s writing and are innovative in both content and technique. A fun program coincided with the show called for local GArtNers to provide creative “Alice” plants and allowed anyone to participate no matter the age or gender. Brochure page 1  Brochure page 2   Top Hats & Tea photo album 

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Inaugural Juried Exhibition
Exhibited: Nov 13, 2009 – Feb. 14, 2010

Inaugural Statewide Exhibit of more than 40 contemporary Florida Women Artist. This exhibit included a variety of styles and materials with a something for everyone” appeal.  Two curator presentations were held that included an explanation of artistic styles and creative methods. Included in the selections by Jurors Morgan Lewis, Leslie Puckett, and Janice Hartwell are 38 artists including:  Kristin A. Anderson, Beth Appleton, Barbara Balzer, Connie Bransilver Barrow, Donne Bitner, Leslie Anne Chanove, Terrie Corbett, Jaimie Cordero, Joelie Dietrick, Nancy Baur Dillen, Emily Arthur Douglass, Bettina T. Edwards, Mary Erickson, Kathryn Erickson, M.K. Foltz, Gwenddyn Freyer, Kathleen Giddens, Jean Goddeau, Francie Bishop Good, Julie Guyot, Holly Hanessian, Mary Klein, Grace Leal, Susan Martin, Luisa M. Mesa, Melissa Miller Nece, Lesley Nolan, Terry Tramauer Norris, Florence Putterman, Florence A. Roghaar, Lilian Garcia Roig, Jacquelyn Modesitt Schindehette, Joan Brechin Sonnenberg, Jennifer M. Surgent, Kathleen Wilcox, Charity Wood, M. Laine Wyatt, and Valeria Yamamato.  Inaugural Florida Juried Exhibition Gallery Guide