Woodcarvers' Show

As I post this, April is coming to an end and May is fast approaching (tomorrow!), and we at the Sebastian River Art Club have been enjoying Joe Miller, et. al.'s, show so far.  More of his colleagues' work will be added before his opening reception, which is scheduled May 11th, 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm.  Come see the Woodcarvers' work and all the wonderful works of art in our Art Center, and enjoy some refreshments with us at the Reception.

Most of the work on view is Joe's, peppered with the works of Francesca Pratten, Paul Whelan, and a single piece by Joe's student Danny Bell.  This writer will add more names as Joe brings in additional works. 



Walking Sticks in a variety of wood types, by Joe Miller

Walking Sticks in a variety of wood types, by Joe Miller

Zentangle Wood Purse by Francesca Pratten

Woodcarvings by Paul Whelan

The SRAC Art Center's new sign, compliments of the City of Sebastian ... Thank you!

Just a quick "Thank You" to the City for our spiffy new sign, which matches the sign for the new Senior Center across the courtyard from us.  Makes us feel very much a part of this City which all we members love.  It is an honor to have a part in enhancing the City's profile, using our art and our efforts to beautify, educate, and contribute to the betterment of our town.  One of our missions is to help to make art part of the magnet that attracts people to our town.  And now we're official ... with this beautiful sign!

CELEBRATE THE ARTS

April 27th was the last event planned for the Sebastian River Art Club's contribution to "Celebrate the Arts," which was the second in a 2-part plein air painting session.  Pictured below is plein air painter and Club member Grace Savage, painting a lovely oil of the park entrance in back of our Clubhouse.  Below that is a photo of this writer's works-in-progress of the riverbank.

Grace Savage painting "En Plein Air"

Judy Burgarella's oil painting in progress

Our session was interrupted by this curious visitor below.  The wonderful walkway overlooking the pond out back of the clubhouse is such a photo-op.  Lolling in the water below us like he didn't have a care in the world, this gator was a perfect poser as I snapped away ... and so close you could see the dragonfly on his forehead.  That dark spot to the right is his eye--what a close-up!

Dragonfly on gator's head

Lazy gator

As we head through Spring and onto the lazy summer days, things will slow down for the Art Center a bit, but not completely.  The Club will have one more Business Meeting on May 14th at 12:30, which is a good time to come see what we're all about.   There is social time and refreshments afterwards, so come and introduce yourself.  We're a friendly bunch.

May's theme for select works hanging in the Art Center space is "Storms-Skies-Clouds," so plese vote for your favorite.   We're open Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00-3:00.  Classes in all mediums are offered:

Judy McNamara - watercolors, First & Third Tuesdays of the month - 321-724-9857

Judy Burgarella - Acrylics & Oils - 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month - 772-581-8281

Richard Gillmore - Drawing - 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month - 772-228-9066

Let us help you find out the joys and challenges of painting and drawing.

Coming soon ~ Woodcarving workshops!

One more thing ~
Just had to post this picture below ... the renowed Dorothy Starbuck who gave a dynamite workshop for the SRAC in January - she now holds the honorable distinction of being awarded 2nd place in oil/acrylic at the Melbourne Historic Downtown Art Show last weekend (pic taken April 29th).  A tremendous honor since there are so many wonderful artists to compete with.  And we had her here teaching at our little club.  We sure were lucky to get her.  Here she is pictured with the painting that earned her 2nd place (incidentally, an $800 prize to boot!)

Dorothy Starbuck with her 2nd place prize at the Melbourne Art Show

See that . . . sometimes it really does pay to be an artist, especially if you're an outstanding one like her.  So keep on painting!

Judy Burgarella

Blogger for the

Sebastian River Art Club's

Art Center

"Celebrate the Arts" at SRAC!

Kick-off for Indian River County-wide "Celebrate the Arts," (CTA) organized by the Cultural Council of Indian River County, was Friday night, April 19th, in Downtown Vero Beach's Arts District.  14th Avenue was closed to traffic from 19th Street to 23rd Street, and in spite of the sometimes inclement weather there was a decent turnout for this first annual event.

The Sebastian River Art Club's tent was manned by Ray Ground and several other volunteers who volunteered their time and energies to display works by members and hand out information about the Club.

PLEIN AIR FOR CTA
Saturday brought a plein air session for CTA at SRAC's Art Center, on the edges of the beautiful park out back of the Clubhouse.  Although it was a day without shadows, as the sun never showed up, the day was cool and pleasant for painting, and several of us enjoyed the day.  Another session will be offered to the public to enjoy, or try painting it themselves, next Saturday, April 20th 11:00-3:00.  Extra easels, paints and brushes will be provided by the Club for the public to try.  Below is pictured a beautiful scene this blogger painted, one of many beautiful scenes at this lovely meandering park.  And this little duck came a-begging for a treat, which I happily provided for him.  Can't get that experience painting in a cluttered ol' studio!

JOE MILLER, WOODCARVER, FOR CTA
Ongoing in the Art Center for CTA, and throughout the month of May, in the Hume Gallery (SRAC's Guest Artist Gallery) will be works by Joe Miller, et. al, who is the president of the Indian River Woodcarvers.  He maintains a studio gallery at Art Mundo in Fort Pierce. 

Joe is a master woodcarver whose work has been exhibited all over Indian River County and beyond.  Canes, cranes, faces, wildlife and other beautiful woodcarvings will be on display through May.  Joe plans to have a carving workshop for the public at the Art Center in the near future--look for news of that.

VOTE FOR SRAC'S ART CENTER THEMES
In the exhibit rooms of SRAC's Art Center are works on view in all mediums and subjects, but pay particular attention to this month's theme - Gardens - and vote for your favorite.  At the end of each month there will be ribbons given out to the most popular works.  Also vote for last month's theme, "House pets" which missed the mark because of a water problem we had which forced us to remove many works from the walls.  So two votes please for our dedicated artists.

STAY TUNED THROUGH THE SUMMER!
As we all in the SRAC look forward to laying back a little on art-related endeavors for the summer, stay tuned for continuing exhibitions in the Art Center as we paint away and come up with more ideas for the public to enjoy.  Stop by any Tuesday, Thursday and most Saturdays 11:00-3:00 and take a peek at what's going on.  Maybe even join in and take up the brush.  It's a great bunch we have here, we have a good time, do some good work, help the community, share ideas, and find ways to help each other through the creative process.  Have a cup of coffee with us and we'll tell you about it.

Have an "Artsy" day!
Judy Burgarella
VP, and blogger for the
Sebastian River Art Club

CELEBRATE THE ARTS COMING!!!

Lots has happened since the last February blog entry - had some trouble with a busted pipe under the Art Center which also feeds the wonderful newly-opened Senior Center.  Well, that's fixed, and now we're back both back in business. 

Many new paintings have been created by our talented members in February and March, and although we skipped awarding ribbons for March because of the mishap, we ask our members and guests to please vote for their favorite animal portraits for March, and "Garden" painting for April.

Guests can now see studio painters within our gallery space at times during the day, in the DaVinci and Rembrandt Galleries, Tuesdays, Thursdays and most Saturdays 11-3:00. 

Our scholarhsip winner - watch for news of that!

CELEBRATE THE ARTS - A County-wide celebration of the arts, which the SRAC will be participating in.  April 19th to the 28th.  More news to come.

PICNIC - The SRAC Annual Picnic is tomorrow, Tuesday April 2nd, and we all look forward to getting together in a social setting outdoors at our lovely Riverview Park here in Sebastian.  Lots of food, laughs and good artsy conversation, overlooking the Indian River Lagoon, in view of Paul Krogel's bronze statue which resides there, and was created by our own member the late Rosalie Hume.

Rosalie Hume

Well, that's all for now.  Stay tuned for more news about the Sebastian River art Club's Art Center