IPIP Blog

The Evening of Excellence showcases outstanding works of fine art created by students representing public high schools throughout Sarasota County.

More than 330 student works, including paintings, photographs and sculpture, will be on display in the Roskamp Exhibition Hall at Ringling College of Art and Design.

Some works in the exhibit will be available for purchase by sealed bid.

The exhibit is free and open to the public from noon to 4 pm Saturday and Sunday. Free campus parking is available on either side of the Selby Gallery, one-half block east of 2700 N. Tamiami Trail on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Sarasota.

Each year, high school art instructors submit their students finest original art for consideration at the Juried Art Show. A panel of art professionals reviews the entries and selects 25 original pieces as the Best of the Best.

The top 25 will be announced at a special reception sponsored by US Trust on Wednesday at the Roskamp Exhibition Hall.

The winning student artists donate their artwork to the Education Foundation. The art is professionally framed by local galleries and framers, who donate their materials and services. Each piece will be available for bidding at an auction at a gala dinner next month.

In return, students receive recognition for their talent and generosity and well as monetary awards.

Private donors are invited to present Student Art Awards of $500 or more named for themselves or to honor someone else.

Evening of Excellence has grossed more than $250,000 per year. Proceeds benefit the 41,000 students in Sarasota Countys public schools through the work of the Education Foundation.

Meg Mahoney and Chris Cremer are co-chairmen of this years event committee.

The annual dinner and student art auction will be Feb. 24 at Michaels on East, 1212 East Ave. S., Sarasota. Festivities begin at with a cocktail hour at 6 pm Sponsor tables are available at $2,500 and up.

Premium patron pairs, including two seats and a named art award, start at $1,000.

Individual tickets are $200, and patron ticket are $250 each.

To request an invitation, or for more information, call 927-0965 or visit the Education Foundations website at EdFoundation.net.

Masterpiece sponsors as of last week are Al Weis and Bob Harris of Advanced Network Services and the Herald-Tribune Media Group. Maestro sponsors are Bank of America and Mills Gilbane.

Connoisseur sponsors include Fawley

Bryant, Jeff and Cindy Kaiser, Jon F. Swift Inc. and The Swift Family Foundation, McIntyre Elwell Strammer General Contractors Inc., Shumaker, Loop Kendrick, LLP, Tandem Construction, Lakewood Ranch and Willis A. Smith Construction Inc.

Virtuoso sponsors are Engineering Matrix Inc., Norton Hammersley Lopez Skokos, PA, Ringling College of Art and Design and SchenkelShultz Architecture. Artiste sponsors include Advanced Masonry Systems, Bruce and Lisa Beckstein, Gene and Anne Beckstein, Florida Power Light, Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Helios Education Foundation, Matthews Eastmore, George W. McGonagill, SCENE Magazine and WilsonMiller-Stantec.

US Trust is sponsoring the Ringling Art Show reception on Jan. 18. IDS – Interior Design Society is the invitation sponsor.

Arkansas civil rights figure to speak at Sarasota event

Dr. Terrence Roberts, one of the nine African-American students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in 1958 at the height of the Civil Rights struggle, will speak in Sarasota.

He will speak at a luncheon at 11:30 am Feb. 11 at the Sarasota Hyatt, 1000 Boulevard of the Arts, Sarasota.

Roberts will talk about his experiences as a 15-year-old during that troubled time and the lessons he was able to take away. A question-and-answer session will follow his talk.

Roberts and his family live in Pasadena, Calif., where he is the CEO of a management consultant firm devoted to fair and equitable practices.

He also maintains a private psychology practice and is a lecturer and presenter.

BookStore1Sarasota will handle the sale of Roberts book, Lessons from Little Rock, which he has agreed to sign.

The luncheon is a collaborative effort among various local nonprofit organizations and individuals, including Sigma Phi Phi Fraternity, Gamma Xi Boule; The Association of African American Life and History, Manasota Branch; Carol M. Poteat-Buchanan; Dr. and Mrs. Bernard Watson; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Lambda Omicron Omega Chapter; Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Pi Beta Beta Chapter; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Sarasota Branch; and the Alpha Phi Alpha Foundation of Manasota Inc.

The lead corporate sponsor is First Security Investments.

Tickets to the luncheon are $50 per person or $100 for a gold patron with a name in the program. Other sponsorships are also being accepted.

For more information, contact Poteat-Buchanan at twocb@verizon.net or 379-0232.

Anna, a 5th grade student at Thomas Fitzwater Elementary, recently won first place in an online voting contest for her piece Purple Night Trees on the popular website Artsonia.

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Each week, students from across the nation submit pieces in four age categories. For the week ending January 7, Anna accumulated 1,361 votes for her work, winning first prize in the 4-6 grade category.

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The painting, which depicts the perspective of looking up at a winter moon, with bare trees silhouetted along the edges, garnered the most votes of any category for the week.

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TFES art teacher Crystal Dunn takes pictures of each students artwork and submits it to the website. Dunn was honored with the Leadership Award, from the website last September, after the schools gallery ranked third in the state and 35th in the nation, with over 6,000 pieces of artwork garnering over 13,000 visits in 2011.

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Artsonia is a simple yet effective way to get parents and family members more involved in art education at the school, said Dunn in September. “And, my students love it. It is a way to connect the parents and families to the program and a way for the students to build pride in what they have accomplished. “

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In addition, visitors to the website can purchase copies of the artwork, with 15 percent of the proceeds returning to the school. Dunn says that school received about $200 last year from the website, which went to new art books.

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To see or purchase Purple Night Trees, click here.

Paul also likes bowling and old movies. He works at a local hospital, and his painting of a blue crab graves the month of August.

This year, STARC celebrates its 40th birthday.

Through services, like the art program, STARC offers residents with developmental disabilities living in St. Tammany, Livingston, St. Helena, Tangipahoa and Washington parishes the opportunity to develop, function and live to their fullest potential. STARC provides daycare, job training and therapeutic services.

A high priority is placed on enhancing the quality of life for these residents through enrichment programs, job training and programs that build friendships and teach daily living skills.

STARC fosters self-reliance and in an effort to reduce its dependence on state and federal funds, has developed several income producing programs.

Through these programs, STARC is also able to employ some of its clients, providing them with an opportunity to be productive wage earners.

STARC ART is an enrichment program that allows individuals with disabilities an opportunity to earn money as they enjoy personal growth and share their creativity.

Donna Henry, marketing facilitator for STARC, said the program is a form of therapy.

The clients in this program show no inhibitions and their talents and abilities are able to shine through.

I am so proud to see what they can accomplish, she said.

The clients that participate in the program, which are lead by professional artists, use a variety of mediums to explore their talents.

The works they create are matted or framed and displayed and sold at various outlets.

The artwork is also made into note cards, which are also sold in the community.

A portion of the money made for these sales is given to the artist and a portion goes to fund the program.

Late last year, STARC decided to use the artwork to create a new revenue source, a calendar.

Twelve pieces of art were chosen to be included in the calendar.

Henry said pieces where chosen to coincide with the themes of the month, and the painting chose for the month of December was also the one used for STARCs 2011 Christmas card.

A short biography of each artist is included on the back of the calendar.

The calendars are on sale at the STARC office in the east at 700 Gause Blvd., Suite 104, Slidell, and at M and D Imaging on Gause Boulevard in Slidell.; the STARC office in the west, 1704 Viola Street, Mandeville. For more information, call Henry at 641-0197.

The bulldozers are set to move in shortly and tear down the entire structure that once housed the Culver Plaza Theater complex on Washington Boulevard and Hughes Avenue.

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As Culver City residents bid farewell to the landmark theater and its array of surrounding restaurants including Choppe Choppe, Mezza Grill and Mrs Garcia’s to make way for NMS Properties mixed-use development, the city will also lose the vibrant, colorful artwork that stood proudly above the buildings.

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Ed Massey’s ‘Syncopation’ mural, however, will be spared the bulldozers.  Instead, the painting – which stands at 241 feet long and 35 feet high – will be removed in sections to Del Rey’s Westside Neighborhood School and installed piecemeal on the campus over the next few weeks.

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Massey created the bright, bold shapes specifically for the Culver Theater Plaza complex in 2004, using mops as giant paint brushes on all-weather material, according to a press release. The completed painting was then installed onto the buildings curved exterior walls in 11 separate sections.

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Massey said he was pleased with the choice of the mural’s new home.

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“I hope that once the painting is installed at its new location that it will invigorate viewers and encourage a spirit in young and older students, campus visitors and passersby to think and act boldly, innovatively and creatively in everything they do,” he said.

Canon-Mac Students Artwork Featured in Calendar

Marissa Theodores artwork is featured in the state Attorney Generals drug-free themed calendar for 2012.

An artwork in the German parliament including Adolf Hitler in a list of freely and fairly elected members has been attacked. Its ignited a debate about whether the dictator has a place there at all.

The Orlando community can treat itself to the works of modern-day Michelangelos at a new exhibit in Casselberry City Hall.

The paintings and sculptures of Joacute;hann Eyfells, 88, Cecil Herring, 80, and Henry Berkowitz, 78, are displayed in the lobby and throughout the building. The exhibit is open to the public and free of charge. All of the artwork presented at the exhibit is available for purchase.

Recreation coordinator Linda Moore heads the exhibit and expresses the importance of the community cultivating these artists.

They are truly ahead of their time, and it is important to pay tribute to them now instead of after they have passed, Moore said.

Eyfells sculptures, one of which is displayed at the entrance of the Casselberry City Hall lobby, include an array of heavy metals that have been melted and shaped into various forms. The Difference as Essence theme in his artwork was inspired by the many creative personalities in his life.

Eyfells taught sculpture at UCF for 30 years before his retirement in 1999. Although Eyfells is known in the UCF community as a professor, he considers himself an artist who teaches, rather than the other way around.

The artist now lives in Texas and is working on his next piece by compiling rocks and spiral structures made of iron and Hill Country rocks.

I believe I am doing my best work now, Eyfells said.

Eyfells is not the only sculptor in the exhibit; Herring, a former student of Eyfells, has paintings on display, and her Spacescapes sculpture hangs from the ceiling. Her Moon Dog bronze sculpture is displayed on the second floor of the City Hall.

Herring is a 1986 UCF alumni and a mother of four. She said that balancing her work with her family has always been a challenge and that the world has made being an artist a struggle, but that she wouldnt change a thing because she loves making art.

I think the world should accept the artist and give us more opportunity and not be so hard on us, Herring said.

Herring lives in Deltona and no longer makes sculptures because of the rigorous labor and heavy lifting required, but she still paints.

As you walk through the exhibit, youll see various paintings by Berkowitz.

Berkowitzs paintings are abstract arrays of color made cohesive by stripes and borders around and inside the paintings. Berkowitz describes his paintings as unrecognizable.

The Brooklyn native originally had plans to become an ichthyologist and to paint saltwater fish, but he decided to go in a different direction after serving in the Navy and attending art school.

He said to himself, Let me do something that Im creating, not that nature is creating. This concept of sheer originality is the thesis behind his work.

These days, Berkowitz has trouble walking and lives in a Melbourne nursing home; he does not paint anymore.

I simply dont have it in me anymore, he said.

Berkowitz considers himself very lucky to have earned a name as an artist within his own time.

The exhibit is available for viewing Monday through Thursday from 7 am until 6 pm through Feb. 8.

These three artists have paved the way to really make art grow, Moore said. They were never scared about trying new things; they always pushed the limits.

City Hall Notebook: Artwork in City Hall created by special-needs residents, detained juveniles

• By Brennan K. Peel

• Abilene Reporter-News
• Posted January 11, 2012 at 6:45 pm

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PhotoshopCAFE.com / Software Cinema Announces Solutions for Photographing Artwork Video by Randy Hufford.
Solutions for Photographing Artwork from PhotoshopCAFE.com / Software Cinema is a training video featuring 3.5 hours of photography instruction.

The university is offering a $500 reward for the sculptures return in its original condition, with no questions asked said Dean of Students and Director of Security Angela Wingo. It is worth $8,500, is by Brother Mel Meyer and was donated to the university by Fournie Construction. The artwork was bolted to a concrete base and was installed three months ago.

Campus security cameras captured two individuals walking up to the sculpture, taking it down, carrying it off to a ditch and then loading it into a pickup truck. Wingo said those tapes were turned over to Belleville Police.

Police spokesman Capt. Don Sax was not immediately available.

Were just very, very disappointed. Were trying to create a wonderful environment here. And to have one of those elements of our community destroyed, tampered with and stolen is very, very disappointing, campus Vice President Jerry Bladdick said.

The Lindenwood sculpture was purchased for the university during an art show by Brother Meyer, which is continuing. It was not part of the Sculpture in the City program that has placed more than 15 donated sculptures in public places.

That program is an outgrowth of the annual Art on the Square art fair, which returns for its 11th season on May 18-20 and recently was named the nations top art show for the fourth time by Art Fair Source Book.

An interactive map with the program sculptures#x92; locations, photos and other information can be found below.