VERO BEACH – The art work of prominent area artists Bob Berran, Suzanne Berran, Sheila Lougheed, and Aksel Sand Pedersen will be featured at the Gallery at First Presbyterian exhibit opening Sunday, Jan. 14, at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Vero Beach, 520 Royal Palm Boulevard (enter the gallery through the Gietz Music Center).
The artists will be available to discuss their work, and light refreshments will be served in the E. T. Smith Lounge. The entire event is open to the public at no charge. Peter and Carol Coe are curators of the exhibit which will run through March.
Bob Berran is an award-winning artist and illustrator who grew up in Scarsdale, New York. Following his studies at The Arts Students League in New York City, he painted movie posters as a freelancer, then joined The Illustrators Group.
He worked for several art studios and painted paperback book covers for major publishers, magazine covers, and advertising art. Although he enjoys painting portraits of adults, children, and animals, religious artwork has always been his first love. His work can be seen at http://www.bobberran.org.
Suzanne Berran, who grew up in Manhasset, New York, also attended The Arts Students League where she studied anatomy and fashion illustration. She specialized in black and white fashion drawings.
The Berrans have lived in Vero Beach since 2004.
A painter from the age of two when she found a can of red paint and gleefully applied it to the garage, the dog, and anything else she could find at her family’s new home in Danbury, Conn., Sheila Lougheed grew up to be a fine artist in oil, acrylic, and collage. She studied art therapy at the College of New Rochelle and Springfield College. She has been associated with Frits van Eeden Studio and Gallery since 2015; her work is also featured in Gallery One in Naples, Fla.
Two of her murals depicting The Pentecost and The Ascension into Heaven can be seen at Saint Sebastian Catholic Church. Many of her ebullient paintings can be seen at her website, www.sheilalougheed.com/.
Brooklyn native and Vero resident Aksel Sand Pedersen has been a teacher, an exhibiting artist, and an art historian and lecturer. His education includes the School of Industrial Arts, United States Army Band, Pratt Institute, and SUNY Binghamton.
He is an award-winning artist who has worked as a commercial artist, illustrated several books, designed 70+ stage play sets, and written and produced radio dramas and murder mystery events. His exhibitions include 80 one-man shows. After a stroke in 2009, he learned to paint left-handed. Each piece of his latest still life work is developed to capture the essence of a specific place and transcendental moment. His website is http://www.akselsandpedersen.com.
Jacob Craig is Director of Music and Arts at the First Presbyterian Church. He received his bachelor’s degree in music education and performance from Shorter University in Rome, Ga., and his master’s of music in choral conducting and literature at Florida State University. He is currently studying for his doctorate in sacred music performance. He also serves as Headmaster of PRIMO School of Performing Arts, the Director of the Silver Tones community choir, and Pipe Major of Vero Beach Fife and Drums.
For further information about this exhibit, contact Peter Coe, curator, at 772-464-6712.
