11th Annual Exhibit of ISSA
Call the ArtCenter at 941-746-2862 for more information or to purchase a piece of art.
We reserve the right to correct any errors we might have made.
Fine Tuned & Spring Forward
An Open, All Media, Juried Show
On Display Jan 4-Jan 27
Opening Reception Jan 5, 5:00-7:00
Juror: Heather Rippert
Painting is my medicine. There is a union that occurs when the brush is in my hand and the page beneath my brush. Art is a devotional practice for me. Watercolors and acrylics are my primary mediums. When I sit down to do my work, intensity builds slowly. I start with soft and subtle layers of color on top of an initial sketch. The act of painting ignites vitality within me. The further I move into a piece, the more pulsating light, fluid and gestural marks, deep color
and contrast, emerges like a visual symphony. Aliveness translates on the page, in my work.
My artwork and process are an extension of all the things that matter to me. My life experiences inform my work. Spiritual growth and development as a way of life is a major force in my creative expression. Walking through life, perpetually seeking the ‘lighted path’ is a theme that can be felt in my paintings. I find inspiration in the beauty of the natural world and am particularly drawn to light and the mood created from the source. My work dances between representational and atmospheric abstraction.
Kellogg Gallery
On display: February 2, 2023 – February 24, 2023
Opening Reception: February 2, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
ArtCenter Manatee and the West Coast Florida Society of Goldsmiths proudly present this juried metals exhibit that will be complimented with a curated 2D body of metal work by Ralph Berger.
This exhibit will be displayed in our gallery and on our website
1st Pace Beth Lonsinger Lotus Study Necklace
2nd Place Paulette Werger Gleanings Salad Servers
3rd Place Wendy Thurlow Golden Confetti Stack Ring
Honorable Stephanie Savic Polk Precious Found Metal
Mention
Many of my pieces are made from found objects which I transform and re-purpose. My metal art explores the beauty of positive and negative space. Lao Tzu speaks eloquently about the importance of
negative space:
”Thirty spokes share the hub of a wheel; yet it is its center that makes it useful. You can mould clay into a vessel; yet, it is its emptiness that makes it useful. Cut doors and windows from the walls of a house; but the ultimate use of the house will depend on that part where nothing exists. Therefore, something is shaped into what is; but its usefulness comes from what it’s not.”
Florida Society of Goldsmiths Gallery
To purchase any of the pieces from the online gallery, please call 941-746-2862.
Ralph Berger Gallery
To purchase any of the pieces from the online gallery, please call 941-746-2862.
An Open, All Media, Juried Show
On Display Nov 30-Dec 30
Reid Hodges Gallery
An all media open juried show with a twist or two. An entry requirement is that all pieces must be 12” x 12” or smaller (framed or unframed). Another twist, buyers will be able to take their newly acquired artwork right off the wall and will not have to wait for the exhibit to end to receive their purchases!
This exhibit will be shown with the International Society of Scratchboard Artists and the Holiday Extravaganza. Opening Reception will be Dec 1, 5:00-7:00. We will also kick-off the Artful Holidays sale.
AWARDS | ARTIST | TITLE | MEDIA |
1ST PLACE | Carolyn Witschonke | On Stage | Encaustic Mixed Media |
2ND PLACE | Cheryl Kinderknecht | Dali Does Taos | Mixed Media |
3RD PLACE | Martha Ippersiel | Night Vision | Acrylic |
MERIT | Flint Gennari | In The Lumberyard | Slow Exposure Photography |
HONORABLE MENTION | Jean Cormier | Take Off Little Gee Bee | Oil |
HONORABLE MENTION | Cecile Moran | Wilderness Gifts | Acrylic Resist |
HONORABLE MENTION | Tamara Durst | Empty Nest | Watercolor |
Juror: Leslie Jeffery is an award-winning contemporary abstract artist born in Florida. She became aware of “art” at a young age painting with her grandmother, an accomplished oil painter. She studied painting, art history and constructive design at Florida State University. Her paintings are widely exhibited and have received numerous awards. She now works from her studios in FL and Highlands, NC where she spends the summer. B.S. in Art Education | FSU
NAWA – National Assn. of Women Artists and NAWA-FL
ISAP – International Society of Acrylic Painters – Signature Member
FLAG – The Florida Artists Group and numerous other art organizations.
She is a Member and Past President of Las Damas de Arte, a Tampa-based group of women who exhibit together and raise money for art scholarships. She was co-founder of former The Carolina Gallery of Fine Art in Highlands, NC and twice Presenter for the Art League of Highlands-Cashiers at The Bascom in Highlands, NC.
Recent Solo Exhibitions:
“JOY of ART” Sep 15-Oct 12, 2022, Featured Artist, Ann Lea Fine Art Gallery, Cashiers, NC “SOUNDSCAPES” Mar-Apr 2021 at Mirella Cimato Gallery, St. Pete Opera Co, St. Pete “SOUNDS OF THE SIXTIES” Nov-Dec 2020, Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg, FL “ADIOS 2020” Dec 2020 Carrollwood Cultural Center, Tampa, FL “
Recent Awards:
1st Place – Art Center Sarasota “UNCHARTED” July 2020 for “Taste of Honey”
1st Place – Dunedin Fine Art Ctr “MAPPED OUT” Feb. 2021 for “Highways & Byways”
Nov 1-Nov 28
Opening Reception Thursday, Nov 3, 5:00-7:00
Artist Statement
I was born in Connecticut during the Second World War. Other than visiting relatives in Long Island I never left the state until I joined the Navy in 1963. That experience turned me into a traveller want-to-be. Fortunately, after getting 2 academic degrees, I satiated my ambition to be. I have lived, worked, or travelled in more than 84 countries around the globe. And, I got paid for most of it.
I currently live in Florida, with two cats and Wonder Woman. I have been, at various times a logistics consultant, photojournalist, sculptor, writer, and currently an award-winning artist.
I am primarily a self-taught. At 3 years old I was the happy recipient of a box of Crayola’s from my grandpa. My first work of art reached about 3 feet high and extended along all 4 walls of my bedroom. My mother was furious and was going to give me a good whooping. Grandpa came in just in time and yelled. “Don’t touch that boy. I guess I should have given him some paper too.” About 3 weeks later I was probably the youngest kid in my neighborhood with his own drafting table. I started painting by numbers at 5 and completed a free hand painting of Saint Thaddeus at 7. Why? Because he had a huge beard that was easy to draw and paint. At 13 I completed a detailed pencil drawing of the “Ben Hur” chariot race after viewing the movie 10 times. (It was ultimately stolen off my mother’s wall some 25 years later by an intruder.) Subsequently, I illustrated both my high-school class year book and my squadron cruise book during the Vietnam War.
On display November 30 – December 30, 2022
Kellogg Gallery
We end the calendar year with three exhibits, including the exquisite scratchboard work by members of the International Society of Scratchboard Artists (ISSA).
This exhibit will be featured in the December issue of American Art Collector Magazine in an ad and editorial. Cathy Sheeter, MSA, who specializes in wildlife and western art, is the president of the group and one of only 16 living Master Scratchboard Artists in the world.
Scratchboard, often called direct engraving or subtractive art, can be black and white or colored using inks, watercolor, acrylic or markers.
The ISSA has over 110 active members from eight countries. We are pleased to welcome them to our Gallery.
AWARD WINNERS
The International Society of Scratchboard Artists (ISSA) was launched in 2011. ISSA is dedicated to the promotion of scratchboard as fine art, providing support to artists, and education to the public about this amazing medium! The organization offers membership levels for all artists from supporters, to beginners, to professionals. It hosts an annual juried Exhibition, and demonstrations, and creates friendships that last a lifetime.
Scratchboard is a fine art form that uses a surface covered with white clay and then a layer of black India ink. Artists use abrasive tools to remove the black ink to create an image. Artists may choose to keep their boards black and white or proceed to color them with a variety of mediums. Any area that is white will accept color. White boards are also used, in this case, the artists adds ink or color and then uses various tools remove the ink/color. Please visit this page for more information and a demonstration of the process on black scratchboard.
An open, all media, juried exhibit
On display October 11-October 28
All Galleries
Pick-up Oct 29
Award Winners
1st Place | The Plan by Carla Rudolph | |
2nd Place | Reservations by Elaine Anagnos | |
3rd Place | Lancaster County Barns by Victoria Wortley | |
Best in 3d | Seahorses by Nancy Dubin | |
Merit | Crossing the road Will Change Your Life by Jean Cormier |
|
Honorable Mention | Patio Flower Garden by Marjorie Crawford | |
Honorable Mention | Taos Teal by Elise Manieri | |
Honorable Mention | Morning Comes Karen de Leon Stuart |
Juror: Janet Mishner ARTIST STATEMENT
“On and Off the Grid” is a series initially inspired by the perimeters of isolation necessitated by the pandemic and the nature of human need for connection, two conflicting ideas. As the pandemic continues, my interest in grids that represent boundaries and my enjoyment of obliterating them in some way with lines, mark making and shapes, I have continued this series and renamed it from its original “Connection v Isolation.”
I am enjoying this self-imposed “rule” followed by playful subversion. Sometime in my childhood, I enjoyed the mischievousness of doing something “bad” while no one was looking. The grid still represents the boundary (parental limits) while the obliteration is the chance to ignore or rebel against them sometimes. As my mentor, Gladys Goldstein said many times, “Just have fun!”
March 9 – April 9, 2021
Kellogg Gallery
An ArtCenter Manatee curated exhibition featuring master watercolor artists from around the world. The International Watercolor Society has chapters in over 110 countries, and gathers together one of the largest and most diverse group of watercolor artists and art lovers alike. Being of many nations, cultures, and backgrounds, it provides a platform for the continual development, learning, and sharing of the art of watercolor. In addition to the exchange of ideas between artists in the field and industry, it advocates and supports the next generation of artists with the events and exhibitions that are difficult to come by for many.
This is the inaugural exhibition of the recently formed IWS Florida USA Chapter at ArtCenter Manatee.
Read: ACM Creates IWS Florida Chapter
Artists from the following countries are represented: Albania, Australia, Bulgaria, China, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czech Republic, Germany., India, Iran, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam
We offer a preview below:
MFS 9-5, TWTh 9-6. Closed Sunday
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