Arts Center to celebrate 60th anniversary

The Longboat Key Center for the Arts was founded Dec. 2, 1952, and it will be celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. In January 2013, an exhibit in the Cultural Media Room will showcase work from community leaders, instructors and artists who made a significant contribution to the arts culture on Longboat Key.

The group is headed by Village residents Carol Weiss and Winnie Nelon, whose grandmother was the second president of the center, in conjunction with Executive Director Jane Buckman. The group hopes to collaborate with the Longboat Key Historical Society and the Longbeach Village Association.

The group also hopes to encapsulate historical photos in the exhibit that tell the history of the Arts Center.

“In the ’50s, there wasn’t much else in this area (other than the Arts Center),” Buckman says.

When the Arts Center was founded, it was a community center as much as a center for the arts. There were parties, book sales and concerts — and it was also a cultural center for jazz and art.

“We want to capture some of the magic in the Village over the years,” says Weiss.

They have started digging through the boxes of archives the center has kept over the years. They are also seeking community assistance in finding works of art from exhibitors at the Arts Center between 1952 and mid 1970s. See box for a complete list of artists.

ART WANTED
The Longboat Key Center for Arts if looking for work from the following artists:

Painters:  Marilyn Bendell, Ruskin Williams, Robert McFarland, Charles McCurry Mel Stark, Oretta Williams, Leono sherwood, William De Garthe, Eliot O’Hara, Roy Nichols, Russell Flory, Leona Sherwood, Patti Terri, Herb Stoddard, Emile Gruppe and Elaine Hartley
Pottery and ceramics: Leslie Posey, Jarogoske, Harriet Goddard, Mirian Cary, Ruth Hollander and Margo Allen
Metal craft: Hazel Ridyard, David Lawton, Andrew Whyte and Barbara Joiner
Lapidary:  Gordon Whitney and Einar Johnson
Glass collage: Jewell Meridith
Wood carving:  Victor Schaus
Enameling: Jeanne Garrison
Weaving: Evelyn Marx