SEBASTIAN — The Sebastian River Art Club could not have planned its first show of the season any better – hold it inside the Art Center on a weekend that happened to be rainy. Of course, when the members planned the first show, they didn’t know what the weather would be like.
“We’d have nobody” if the show had been at Riverview Park, club president Richard Gillmor said.
The club, for years, would have its first show of the season at the park, but didn’t attract many visitors. Two years ago, they decided to change it up and hold it at the center on Main Street, next door to the Old Sebastian School.
“It was pretty successful,” Gillmor said of the earlier shows at the center.
Attendance was about expected, given Saturday’s rainy weather, members said.
Artist Beve (pronounced “Bev”) Bruffey said the Sebastian River Art Club is good group of people.
“I love the club,” she said. “The club is so friendly.”
Artists don’t compete or squabble, instead they work together, pushing each other to improve in their art, Bruffey said.
“It’s so refreshing,” she said.
Bruffey had several pieces of art on display for the Fall Colors show Saturday, including that of an old barn farm scene.
“I have plenty of references in my head,” she said, explaining she grew up on a farm.
Her work is mostly acrylics and depict animal and nature scenes.
Elaine and Mike McBride took Saturday’s show as their opportunity to visit the Art Center for the first time.
Their neighbor, Jeanne Dunphey, is a long-time Art Club member and they took her up on an invitation.
“I came to see what the artists are doing,” Elaine said, adding that she and her husband might find a piece they’d want to take home. “It’s possible. I love art.”
Dunphey said she likes the art shows because it gives her and the other artists an opportunity to share their passion with non-artists.
“I love it,” she said of talking to people and looking at her fellow artists’ works.
The next Sebastian River Art Club show will be held at Riverview Park on Nov. 19 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Small Works exhibit – featuring art 12 inches square or smaller – runs through Dec. 31 in the Sebastian River Art Center gallery and can be seen when the gallery is open, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The center is located at 1245 Main Street, Sebastian.