Arts Center programs promise to make waves

This season is guaranteed to make waves.

Sure, we’ll get waves from the Gulf of Mexico. But the Longboat Key Center for the Arts, a Division of Ringling College of Art and Design, will host Malcolm Robertson’s “Making Waves” exhibit from Jan. 15 through Feb. 11. And, on Monday, Jan. 11, Robertson’s “Wave 2 Me” sculpture will be installed in the Arts Center’s courtyard, where it will remain until May. The sculpture stands at approximately 10 feet tall and was displayed two years ago on the Sarasota bayfront in the “Season of Sculpture” exhibition.

“It will change the whole look and feel of the courtyard,” said Jane Buckman, executive director of the Arts Center.

The exhibit will feature Robertson’s “Making Waves” and “Pathways” sculptures set in steel and stone. Robertson’s sculptures are typically featured in an outdoor setting, but he has scaled down his pieces for the Arts Center show, which will be his first gallery exhibit.

And Robertson’s show is just the beginning of this season’s creative wave at the Arts Center. The Arts Center will feature its “Annual Juried Members’ Exhibition” from Feb. 19 through March 19, which will be followed by a survey of the works of Lido Key artist Florence Putterman from March 25 through April 22. And the Arts Center will hold “Point of View,” a juried photo exhibition from April 30 through May 27, which will include still-life, nature and human categories. The show will raise money to develop a digital-photo classroom at the Arts Center.

Also, the Arts Center will hold its monthly “Jazz at the Center” concerts, the first of which is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 12, featuring Pepper & Fine Thyme. That show will be dedicated to former “Jazz at the Center” series Chairman Paul Mortell, who died Dec. 31.

In addition, the third annual “En Plein Air Affair” takes place Thursday, March 4, at the Longboat Key Club and Resort Harbourside Dining Room. Tickets are $175 per person and are currently available. For information, call 383-2345.

“We encourage anyone who wants to support the Arts Center and creativity on Longboat Key to buy their tickets,” Buckman said.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected].