Center for the Arts Featuring New Exhibits for August

Photos by Larry Richardson | La Petite Galerie features Larry Richardson’s amazing Night Light photographs.

Photos by Larry Richardson | A sample of Larry Richardson’s fascination with the power of nature: Lightning!

In July, the Marco Island Center for the Arts kicked off the post quarantine season with new exhibits while applying the CDC guidelines of wearing a mask and social distancing for the safety of everybody. 

Be Awed!  

The New Exhibit for August 10th – September 1st at the La Petite Galerie will feature Nature Photographer Larry Richardson with his amazing Night Light photographs. According to Richardson, “As a nature photographer, I have always been fascinated with the natural world around me. And as a scientist, I am forever curious. Together, these two occupations make the camera a tool—a portal to discovery.”  

For Richardson, “Night Lights has been a quest to find what glows, what sparks, what strikes and what lurks under the heavens that I actually must illuminate. ‘Night Lights’ is a quiet and peaceful world that few people experience. You will find stars uncountable, see the Milky Way as a lighted interstate, a forest ablaze yet good for the earth, and lightning that reveals the awesome power of the universe.” 

For Richardson, however, sea turtles are his favorites; females returning year after year to nest. Instinctively emerging from the surf to lay their eggs on a remembered beach so that their young can remember for themselves where they came from three decades in the future. Appropriately, it is sea turtle season and Richardson has captured the amazing loggerhead sea turtle and shares his amazing photographs. 

Be Inspired!  

In this emerging phase and for August 10th – September 1st, The Center for the Arts is getting back to business with the New Exhibits which will feature the Call to Artists (CTA) with Art created while sheltering reflecting local, national and global events including changes, challenges and the “New Normal.” Each artist was invited to submit a maximum of three pieces of art. According to Patricia Mills, Communications Director for The Center for the Arts, there are 33+ artists participating in this exhibit. 

Photos by Maria Lamb | David Fuller’s exhibit is also part of the Call to Artists “New Normal” exhibit.

Be Nostalgic!  

For its July exhibit at the Petite Galerie, Pam Shudes, graphic artist of Marco Island, was featured with her stamp collection. It was a display of an enlarged version of stamps she has collected when she was young. Her father suggested that she enlarged the pieces and it was not till much later that this advice made sense. Pam used a silk–screen and block printing process and the die–cut method to create the true stamp look complete with the perforated edges. 

At the Le Petite Galerie, Pam’s stamps came to life as each stamp carried its own story. Remember when postage stamps cost 2 cents?  

Come discover the hidden artistic talents at the Center for the Arts. The Center was founded in 1969 by a dedicated group of artists and patrons and it has developed into a place to gather, learn and become inspired. Marco Island Center for the Arts is open M-F from 9 AM – 4 PM and is located at 1010 Winterberry Drive. 

Photos by Maria Lamb | Part of the Center’s Call to Artists New Exhibit from artist Jean Mau.