Members of the Vero Beach Art Club lucked out this year with a weekend of picture-perfect weather for their 74th annual Under the Oaks Fine Arts & Crafts Show. Tens of thousands of visitors descended upon Riverside Park during the three-day art extravaganza to view and purchase a vast variety of artworks by some 210 artists.
Eager to get first choice of the exceptional works, crowds were already lining up Friday morning before the artists’ tent flaps were raised, with more than a few returning several times over the weekend. There were smiles all around, as attendees and artists interacted, both sides happy after the many sales.
Although there are usually some 30 percent of artists who are new to the show, many are juried in year after year. Alicia Quinn, Under the Oaks event chair, said she heard numerous comments from returning artists who were shocked by the damage caused by the Hurricane Milton tornadoes, and were pleased that the show could proceed.
Artists are selected through a jurying process each fall to whittle down hundreds of applicants from around the country, and sometimes abroad. As in the past, members of the Art Club who meet specific criteria, such as volunteering, are juried in alongside the whole population of applicants, with the top 15 percent of members accepted.
This year’s judges, tasked with the difficult task of selecting the winners, were Margaret Schnebly Hodge, a large format, abstract artist from Ormond Beach; David Chang, Frost Professor of Art of the Department of Art and Art History at Florida International University; and Pamela Griesinger, a professor in the Fine Arts department at Daytona State College.
And, as always, it was all-hands-on-deck for VBAC members who volunteer their time throughout the entire event, the club’s largest fundraiser. Money raised goes toward scholarships and enrichment programs to encourage the next generation of artists, with a portion also going to classes for veterans.
For more information, visit VeroBeachArtClub.org.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
