Art Center Sarasota celebrates its members for centennial celebration

Art Center Sarasota celebrates 100 years

Art Center Sarasota has been serving the Tampa Bay area for 100 years. To celebrate, members took center stage in all four of its galleries. FOX 13 Photojournalist Barry Wong reports. 

SARASOTA, Fla. - To celebrate a centennial milestone, Art Center Sarasota is shining a light on the work of its members. 

"The importance really is about celebrating the people that are part of our community every day," Art Center Sarasota Curator & Exhibitions Director Christina Baril said. "Our members are volunteers. They take classes. They also participate in the shows, and they really showed up for the Art Center, so we wanted to make sure to show up to them."

Dig deeper:

The center currently has more than 700 members, and 228 of them have pieces featured in the exhibition. The show encompasses all four of the center's gallery spaces. 

"When I come in, I get to experience different artists doing different things," Becky Coleman said. "There are so many different varieties of mediums. It's beautiful to see their passion for art and for a community center."

Coleman painted ‘Sunset Study No. 2’, a small piece showcasing a scene from Lido Beach. 

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"I just think it's this beautiful representation of humanity, and I think a lot of what I'm looking at in my work is like that nostalgia, that memory. What makes us human?" 

Husband and wife Art Venti and Jen Fox-Venti both have artwork in the show, but their pieces vastly differ. Art Venti created a surreal color-pencil piece, a much smaller-represented piece compared to his larger work. Jen Fox-Venti combined her two passions, art and animals, to paint a lizard. 

"I would like them to experience what I experience, how fascinating these creatures are," Fox-Venti said. "The details of their color and skin, and just to appreciate the natural world."

What they're saying:

With four rooms of a variety of mediums, many of the artists say seeing the creativity of others inspires their own creativity. 

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"Just walking around and really spending some time with some of the pieces, It makes me so itchy to get into the studio to be like, oh yeah, we're all creating something here, and it's so beautiful to have everyone's voice being heard," Coleman said. 

What's next:

The members' show will be on display until Feb. 21.