Gallery Installation
Featuring:
George Dann
Anne Briggs
Adonis Muiño Romero
Opening Reception:
Sunday, October 6, 2024
1:00-3:00pm
Simulacro by Adonis Muiño Romero
Hoopoe by Anne Briggs
by George Dann
The Galleries at First Pres began in January of 2017 and was founded by Dr. Jacob Craig, with Peter and Carole Coe as curators. Their mission is to feature a wide variety of works by local artists, on rotation quarterly throughout the year. The Galleries are located throughout the campus of First Presbyterian Church. They are open for viewing from 12pm to 3pm, Monday through Thursday. Guided tours can be made available upon request. Admission is free and open to the community.
Our current curator is Mrs. Susan "Suze" Lavender. Suze was born and raised on the south shore of Long Island, NY. Her two loves were always Art and the Sea. She loves to draw and paint moments to release emotions. Although she has never been formally trained in Art, except for the odd class in a variety of different mediums, her art shows a natural talent and beauty that exhibits a deep love and the heart and soul she puts into her work. Since meeting and studying under Frits Van Eeden in the last five years, she feels that he has opened up a window of what could be. Suze’s art now has the energy, emotion, color, and passion that she’s always strived to put on canvas. Suze says, “I have been an artist my entire life, but I have had no formal training until recently. I knew I had so much to say and had no idea how to transfer my thoughts onto canvas. There was a time when I viewed photographic and detailed production as the epitome of artistry. Gratefully, that is no longer the case. My New York upbringing is especially present in my cityscapes, and I've discovered how to communicate my ideas emotionally through textures, color choice, and subject. I've yet to travel the world however my paintings have created a world for me.”
Our Artist in Residence, Sheila Lougheed, has some of her artwork displayed throughout campus. Her most recent religious-inspired works can be found lining the stairwell of the Center for Christian Life- a 7-painting series that was created live during Sunday services in the Lenten Season of 2018. Each piece represents a different theme during the period of Lent. The final work of this series is a 12-foot tall painting of a dove to represent to resurrection and rebirth of Christ.
Anne Briggs
Anne had the great fortune of growing up in a family that lived and traveled all over the world. This amazing life gave her an early exposure to and appreciation for the diversity and beauty of many cultures and forms of art. One of her favorite art forms were the Roman and Byzantine mosaics that were plentiful in some of the countries where she lived, they told stories and some glittered with gold. When she settled down in the USA, she became a Middle School foreign language teacher. In retirement, she found a new calling in making her own mosaics. She is influenced by the places she has been and things she has seen and experienced. She learned to Scuba dive, which unveiled an incredible underwater world that she loves to portray. Mosaics are a natural medium for her need to create, from serious portraits to light-hearted fun pieces, garden stepping stones to representative art. For Anne, each piece is a joy to make and a learning experience. She says the mosaic medium lends itself to all sorts of materials: glass, stone, shells, found objects, broken dishes...almost anything goes! And once you begin this journey, you see the world around you as an endless source of material to play with.
George Dann
George Dann grew up in a traditional hard working family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended John Carroll Univ. in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from Western Michigan Univ. in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He served four years in the U.S. Air Force first as an instructor of photo intelligence and then on a reconnaissance team in Japan. His working career included General Motors, Textron, and 25 years with Westinghouse Electric primarily in manufacturing and industrial relations positions. He served as the Westinghouse Corporate Director of Industrial Relations and as the Plant Manager of the Westinghouse Turbine-Generator Manufacturing and Service Plant in Charlotte, North Carolina. While in Charlotte he served on the Board of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and the Charlotte Symphony. George has been married to Penny for 54 years. Together they have lived and participated in many communities as his career advanced. He and Penny enjoy traveling, especially in Italy.
George and Penny retired to Vero Beach in 1997 where he began his interest in the visual arts by enrolling in a variety of classes at the Vero Beach Museum of Art. His most active areas of interest have been sculpting and painting. He has studied sculpture with George Paxton, and painting with Judy Burgarella and Dawn Miller.
George's work primarily focuses on painting people and scenes from his travel photos. He says that for him, painting is an opportunity to freely travel into a world of imagination bringing it to a reality. An interest in art is an interest in people - what they are doing, what they are wearing, their eyes and the colors of nature.
Adonis Muiño Romero
He graduated from Escuela de Instructores de Arte (EIA). His work has been exhibited in solo and group shows since 2004 in Cuba, Latin America, and the USA. Adonis's work has been recognized with various awards and mentions.
Adonis feels that explaining his work is a difficult task for him. However, he says: "What I like more about my art pieces (speaking as a spectator) is the way in which the visual elements correlate and how they contribute to shape a story within a piece."