The Vero Beach Art Club is launching a brand-new juried exhibition that at last showcases works by a segment of its members long left out of its Art by the Sea exhibition.
Opening Friday in a stunning island venue, the Marsh Island Club, “Art on the Island” is designed to showcase sculpture and three-dimensional objects in a variety of media.
The idea for the show was launched about a year ago, according to the event’s co-chairs, Joan Earnhart and Sheila Vislocky.
“Last April the board of directors of the Art Club determined that a lot of the exhibition opportunities available to artists in the area did not apply to 3-D art,” says Vislocky.
A poll of the club’s members showed a lot of interest in a 3-D show, says Earnhart. She and Vislocky volunteered to co-chair the event after attending an initial planning meeting.
Both women are sculptors who plan to show their work in the exhibition; Vislocky will exhibit her glass sculptures; Earnhart will show mixed media assemblages.
To say that the two have high hopes for “Art on the Island” would be an understatement.
“We believe we’ve chosen an opportune weekend for the event,” says Vislocky, who hopes that the combination of high season and the Valentine’s Day weekend will make “Art on the Island” as well attended as the Art Club’s popular “Art by the Sea” exhibition. That show is presented annually on the third weekend of January at the Vero Beach Museum of Art.
“There are 60 artists with 105 pieces in the show,” says Earnhart, who adds that ribbons and cash awards – the latter provided by the Robert E. and Lillian M. Becker Family Foundation – will be presented in seven categories: sculpture, ceramic, glass, mixed media, fiber, jewelry and “2-D Art with Pizazz.”
“We didn’t want the 2-D artists to feel left out, so we challenged them to add a 3-D element to their pieces to enter the show,” says Earnhart.
Artists who felt so challenged include Lee G. Smith, who will exhibit a painting of a window with a three-dimensional flower box, complete with sculpted polymer clay blooms, and Mary Ellen Koser, who will show “Singing Off-Key,” a painted gourd in the semblance of a roly-poly female in a red kerchief and apron.
A Best of Show Award will also be presented.
The juror for the exhibition is Dr. John Wilton, who has taught digital media classes at Stetson University and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. A mixed-media artist, Wilton is a past recipient of an Individual Artist’s Fellowship from the State of Florida who has presented his work in 40 solo exhibitions. Wilton’s last jurying gig for the Vero Beach Art Club was its 2014 Art by the Sea exhibition.
But Wilton will not be the only judge of the show. Patrons’ Choice awards will be determined by “Art on the Island” visitors, who will select three audience favorites by secret ballot. The winning pieces will earn ribbons and prize money for their artists.
Proven award winners in the show, including figural sculptors George Paxton and Christiane Casella and kinetic sculptor George Beckman, will present their colleagues with some tough competition, but Earnhart feels that the overall quality and variety of work in Art on the Island will give the judge something to ponder.
One of the artworks in the show that especially intrigues Earnhart is “Saved by the Bell” by contemporary surrealist Charles Blake.
“It’s a little frightening,” she says.
Housed in a deep shadowbox frame, the artwork is part painting and part assemblage. It depicts a toothy, snarling Samoyed menacing a chick. From the right side of the box, a mannequin hand holding a brass school bell projects into the picture; the word “RRRING!” is painted in jarring comic-book style behind it.
Not everything in the show is that edgy; Earnhart’s favorite entries include a couple of silver cuff bracelets by Susan Hale. Art lovers may know Hale for the gem-like watercolors that she has shown in past “Art by the Sea” exhibitions, but Hale says that she was making jewelry long before she started painting. When she wanted to start using enameling on her jewelry, she took up painting to learn about color.
“Then I fell in love with painting,” she says.
Hale uses a variety of hand-fabrication techniques in her jewelry, including hammered textures and fusing. The larger of her two bracelets for “Art on the Island” combines fine and sterling silver with gold accents; the smaller one, of fine silver, was worked with pliers to create textural folds in the metal.
In addition to the exhibiting artists in the show, upwards of three dozen people have stepped forward as volunteers for the event, according to Earnhart. A number of local businesses have signed on as sponsors of Art on the Island, including car dealerships, physicians and restaurants. Orchid Island Brewery will be giving out free samples at the opening reception.
Music at the reception will be provided by a chamber ensemble from the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra.
The show opens at Marsh Island Club with a reception from 5 p.m. to 8 pm. Friday, Feb. 13, and continues Saturday, Feb. 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Both reception and exhibition are free and open to the public.
Marsh Island Club is located on the north side of the Wabasso Causeway at 9190 Marsh Island Drive.