Artists Who Made Sarasota Famous & The Story of the Sarasota Art Association

JANUARY 19, 2012 – March 10, 2012
Art Center Sarasota

Artists That Made Sarasota Famous exhibition will be on display in the Center’s Gallery One, recognizing over 40 artists who established Art Center Sarasota as a dynamic and vital community art center. These creative pioneers were the artistic force responsible for putting Sarasota on the map as one of Florida’s most vibrant cultural destinations. The exhibition offers a rich sampling of works by artists who settled into Sarasota and were active in the Sarasota Art Association during its early heyday. These works are on loan from the artists, their families, and local collectors. Among the varied subjects are portraits, landscapes, still life, non-representational and circus themes.

The legacy of early Sarasota artists John Armstrong, Jack Cartlidge, Julio De Diego, Jerry Farnsworth, William Hartman, George Kaiser, Robert Larson, Hilton and Dorothy Leech, Frank Rampolla, Guy Saunders, Syd Solomon, Eric von Schmidt, Ben Stahl and others will be honored. Many of the artists on exhibit still reside in the Sarasota area today, including Beth Arthur, Judy Axe, Robert Chase, Fiore Custode, George Fox, Marty Hartman, Roy Nichols, Craig Rubadoux and Jan Silberstein.

The Story of the Sarasota Art Association 1926 – 1966 (today’s Art Center Sarasota) exhibition on display in the Center’s Gallery Two chronicles the Art Association’s formative years through photography and unique memorabilia. The focus of the exhibition is to tell the story of the vital connection between Sarasota’s Community Art Center, the artists’ community, the Ringling School of Art (today’s Ringling College of Art and Design), the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and the Sarasota community, providing insight into the sensibility of the time. This exhibition will feature a series of bold and richly illustrated graphic displays telling Art Center Sarasota’s colorful story from its inception in 1926 through 1966. The exhibition includes an illustrated historical timeline and accompanying photographs. These exhibitions pay tribute to Art Center Sarasota’s success and spirit while celebrating its past achievements.

This exhibition is curated by Heidi Anderson Connor, and co-curated by Mark Ormond. Connor is a certified archivist and Historical Collections Manager. She is a freelance archivist working with the Sarasota County History Center and the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. She studied at Ringling College of Art & Design in the 70s, and spent 12 years as assistant to the American sculptor John Chamberlain. Connor was the Curator/Archivist for the Museum of Television and Radio exhibition, The Gentleman Giant: Leonard H. Goldenson, and the executor of the estate of artist David Budd. She completed her graduate work at USF and has a BFA from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL.

Mark Ormond is currently the Curator of Exhibitions for Ringling College of Art and Design, has over 30 years of experience in the art world, and has organized, coordinated, designed and installed numerous museum exhibitions. Ormond has also edited, authored and contributed to many brochures, catalogues and publications on artists including Robert Rauschenberg, Francesco Clemente, Robert Thiele and Yayoi Kusama. He has held positions at the Miami Art Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. As an independent curator, author, lecturer and consultant since 1999, Ormond remains engaged in a broad range of contemporary art projects.