As the crazy-busy Season, with its plethora of cultural activities, begins winding down, consider spending a few pleasant, leisurely hours enjoying the newest exhibits at a few of our local art galleries. Here is a trio of suggestions, among many possibilities.
At the Vero Beach Museum of Art: this weekend is your final opportunity to take in “Shadow & Light: The Etchings of Martin Lewis,” which runs through this Sunday, May 13, in the Titelman Gallery. Lewis is widely considered the “most important print maker of the first half of the 20th century.” This celebration of his work includes more than 50 intaglios and lithographs of rural and urban American life. “Paul Outerbridge: New Color Photographs from Mexico and California, 1948-1955” continues in the Schumann Gallery through June 3. According to the Museum website, Outerbridge was a pioneering master of color photography who explored the quirky intersection of two cultures in his photographs of Mexico and California during the ’40s and ’50s. They’re together for the first time in this exhibition. 772-231-0707.
Across the river, in Vero’s Historic Downtown Arts District, the very community-engaged Flametree Clay Art Gallery is dedicated to providing a “home” for local artists to show their work, and, on occasion, a gathering place for poetry reading, which has proved a rich and stimulating combination. Flametree’s current exhibit, “Diversity in Clay,” showcases the works of seven of the gallery’s resident artists: Coco Martins, after three decades as a Vero Beach Realtor, her work is inspired by island life and its many nuances. Porcelain’s her “go to” clay. Kim Mayo fell in love with Native American pottery, and discovered raku in classes at the Vero Museum of Art. Maria Sparsis was born on the island of Cyprus. As a marine biologist, much of her work is inspired by her love of nature and a fondness for the absurd, which she has inherited from her father. Peggy Thomas has been an artist all her life, and clay has always been her passion. Her artwork is almost always a celebration of nature. Rae Marie Crisel’s functional pottery collections reflect both her plains heritage and the ocean environment. Vero Beach native Karen “Keko” Ekonomou is an accomplished acrylic painter whose most recent adventure has taken her back to her true love – working in mud and clay. And Heidi Hill, who focuses primarily on ceramics and painting, and donates her signature wax resist bowls to the annual Samaritan Center Soup Bowl fundraiser. “Diversity in Clay” continues May 28. Gallery hours: Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. 772-202-2810.
Another of the galleries in Vero’s Historic Downtown Arts District, Gallery 14 opened its “POTPOURRI” exhibit on May Day. “POTPOURRI” is a retrospective by Gallery 14 artists, featuring work in a variety of media, by the gallery’s eight artist/owners: Edgardo Abello, Lila Blakeslee, Barbara du Pont, Beth-Anne Fairchild, Mary Ann Hall, Barbara Landry, Deborah Morrell Polackwich and Dorothy Napp Schindel; and the nine artists they represent. If you’ve visited before, you’ll spot some “old favorites,” and get a look at some new work as well. The exhibition will run through May 25. 772-562-5525.