BACKSTAGE AND ART TOURS

Backstage and Art Tours are conducted by the Fine Arts Society of Sarasota and the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. The entire art collection of the Fine Arts Society is on permanent exhibit at the Van Wezel. Tour guides will walk you through the gallery of paintings and sculptures of Florida's most renowned artists with works dating from the 1930s to present day. The guided tour also offers the rare opportunity to go behind the scenes of the Van Wezel for a look at the workings backstage. View the myriad of ropes, pulleys and fly's for creating scenery and special effects, the movable orchestra pit, dressing rooms, hydraulic lifts, and the "Green Room" where performers relax between shows.

Richard Anuskiewicz was born in Erie, PA , and studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art, Kent State University, and Yale University.  He was a leader of the Op Art movement, along with Victor Varsarely and Yaacov Agam.  He has collections at MOMA, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the Corcoran Gallery among others.

Beth Arthur studied at the University of Pittsburgh, The University of South Florida, and the Fine Arts Institute of New College.  She came to Sarasota on a scholarship to Hilton Leech’s School. During the past twenty years she has had over 30 one-woman shows.  She also studied book binding in Italy under the auspices of the University of Georgia Studies Abroad.  A painting which won first prize in Cortona , Italy now hangs in the Northern Trust Bank on Longboat Key.  She has shown at the Ringling Museum and has pieces in collections all over the world. Beth has taught classes in Sarasota in her home and has worked in oils, watercolor and most recently collages.

Beth is quoted in Image Magazine, “I have always wanted my work to have the impact of the lyrical moment.  This feeling has always been with me, the splendid moment that rocks all my senses, whether it is a sun-washed wall in Mexico, a smashing line of poetry or my daily encounter with the extravagantly beautiful island world in which we live.”

Carol Baumgartner studied at the Art Students League in New York City, she has spent considerable time in Japan and that influence is reflected in her painting.  She has had selected shows at National League of American Pen Women, Spring Hill College, and the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts.  She has won a gold medal, Grumbacher Awards, and a first from The Florida Artists Group.

“Seadrift” is an expression of the artist’s feeling about the sea, "not seeing it from the surface but from the depths, looking up, and the water becomes vertical from the effects of the clouds and the sun.”

Ljubo Biro, born in Yugoslavia, came to the United States in 1966.  He lived in Sarasota for years and also maintained a home in Majorca, Spain .  He taught at Carthage College and the Johnson Art Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  His paintings have been shown in China, Japan, Greece, Spain, Yugoslavia, and Canada, as well as in the United States.  

“Sinbad” is done with acrylic paint applied directly to the reverse side of clear Plexiglas, painting in reverse, details first with the background superimposed over the foreground.  The complete painting is then viewed through the Plexiglas, creating images of striking luminosity and vitality.  The artist also works in acrylic paint directly on heavily gessoed canvas or board in a manner that suggests fresco (painting on plaster), and in cast-gesso finished with a great deal of gilding that suggests ancient altar pieces or icons.  His paintings are unique in that they do not reflect or imitate any identifiable style.

Callzada, a Cuban exile, came to Miami in 1960.  His paintings encompass both the memories of his native land, the old culture of Cuba, and his anticipation of the future, exploring both time and space.  He has collections at The Denver Museum of Art, the Lowe Art Museum, Miami University Art Museum (Ohio), Museum of Modern Art of Latin America in Washington DC, and La Romana in the Dominican Republic .  

The paintings of Calzada are islands of serenity with space and color absolute.  The architectural image in space elicits recollection and identity.  A sense of nostalgia or familiarity is felt by the viewer.  In “World Within” what appears at first glance to be a series of slightly askew architectural openings leading to a distant background are really a painting within a painting within a painting, and each is signed.

Robert Chase received his art education at the University of Illinois and The University of Hawaii.  Along with Thornton Utz he opened the Roadside Art Gallery in Sarasota in 1952.  He established the Chase School of Art in Sarasota in 1971, he also taught at The Ringling School of Art and Design.  During the filming of “The Greatest Show on Earth” in Sarasota he sold paintings to the director Cecil B. DeMille, and the actors Charlton Heston and Betty Hutton. He has exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.  

This scene of outdoor life with brilliant golden foliage and a jacketed figure suggest the cool crisp air of autumn. Serenity prevails as the lone figure and his boat are dwarfed by the awesomeness of nature.  

Shirley Clement attended the Ringling School of Art and Design and Hilton Leech’s Amagansett Art School, where she later taught.  In 1953 she was elected a member of the American Watercolor Society and she is a founding member of the Petticoat Painters.  She is known for her work with figures and portraits. She has received the Salmagundi Award, 100^th Annual Exhibition of the American Watercolor Society, The William A. Paton Award, 149^th Annual Exhibition of The National Academy of Design, The McCraken Young Award and First Prize, American Watercolor Society 1977.  

In “White Dress,” crisp-edged blocks and sharp angles of both color and untouched white paper, which are normally considered hard, aggressive and threatening in a composition, have been masterfully combined to create a result almost opposite in effect, that of great delicacy and fragility.

Frank Colson studied at Scripps College and received an MS degree from Syracuse University in 1959.  He has served in many capacities in the community including the Public Art Advisory Board of the City of Sarasota and as juror, judge, or curator of numerous major art shows and collections.  He has taught at Florida State University, University of Tampa, and Penland School of Crafts as well as at his own Colson School of Arts in Sarasota .  In 1993, the Community Video Archives chose him as one of the first two artists to be included in the Arts & Artists Anthology, an on-going project to videotape the personal histories of Sarasota area artists.

His landmark home, studio and school, originally built by Hilton Leech, was remodeled by Colson in 1963 to serve as Sarasota ’s first pottery school and studio.  The historic designation commemorates the Amagansett School built in 1941 as part of the Hillview Art Colony.  

The expression in silver and bronze, “Shinto” shows Colson’s affinity for working with the elements of the earth (clay, fire and bronze) and provides an insight into the artists range and control.  The result is a silver and bronze mask on wood that both provokes and delights the viewer with its ancient Oriental simplicity and feeling of cutting edge technology.

Coppin is well known for his oil portraits, among them Sir Alec Guiness, Henry Ford, Governor George Romney, General Motors President James Roche, General William Knudson, and Edgar F. Guest.  Coppin lived in Sarasota for 17 years where he was inspired to do a series of ten paintings on a circus theme.  As a muralist he is especially well known for the large triptych “Man’s Mobility” in the Detroit Public Library.  He is a fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters and a member of the American Federation of Artists.  He is in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC and The Detroit Institute of Arts.  

“Crescendo” was painted after Coppin attended a symphony that was mechanically directed.  His artistic emotions were disturbed and he was eager to put his feelings on canvas.  The painting was donated to The Society by the artist.

Born in Sicily, Jon Corbino attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Art Students League in New York City where he later taught for 18 years.  He received two Guggenheim fellowships and was elected to membership in the National Academy of Design.  Awards won include the first grant ever awarded to a visual artist by the National Academy of Arts and Letters (1941), Saltus Gold Medal (1944) National Academy of Design, and in 1945 the Salmagundi Club Purchase Prize.  He is exhibited in selected collections in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum of Art, Brigham Young University, Brooklyn Museum, National Academy of Design, Art Institute of Chicago, Toledo Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, University of Oklahoma, Wellesley College Museum, and Mount Holyoke College.

Although “Refugees” is from the artist’s early period (1937), his unmistakable style had already been developed.  The drama, motion, and undefined lines are there.  Color tone highlighted with white intensifies the perilous drama of man upon a stormy sea.  It is one of a series of “disaster” paintings done in the 1930s.

The first piece of art every visitor to the Van Wezel sees is “Applause”, a sculpture by David Davis.  The three differently shaped columns represent the performing arts of Drama, Music and Dance.  Seen together, the shapes resemble arms with cupped hands in the act of clapping.  The echo of applause is suggested by repeating the column shapes in tubular forms – circle, rectangle and triangle which hang like bracelets on each arm.  

Davis created 21 outdoor sculptures in Florida and Ohio .  

"Applause" was commissioned by Barbara Hirsch York, a member of the Society and her daughter, Carolyn Michel, in honor of her husband, Maurice Hirsch.  

Lynn Davison says about her work,  “I see my work as enigmatic and I make no attempt to resolve this quality.  Both the artist and the viewer bring something to the experience and their interaction creates meaning.  It is not ordained by me.”  As in all her work, the figures in the painting show her genuine feeling for the expressive capabilities of anatomy.  Joints, knees, knuckles, shoulders and hands are emphasized and forced askew for emphasis.   

Davison studied at the Ringling School of Art and Design and the University of South Florida .  After 30 years of reclusive and disciplined work, far from any art center, she had her first one woman show in 1987 at the University of South Florida Ft Meyers and is now considered by many as an up and coming major art talent. “Pressing Leaves” was one of three Davison paintings in the 1993 statewide juried exhibition, “Featuring Florida” at the John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art.  The Museum purchased one of the pieces for their permanent collection.

Julio De Diego was born in Madrid and came to Sarasota in 1967 where he remained.  During his life as he toured the world from Madrid to Hollywood and Woodstock to Sarasota. He was a painter, poet, performer dancer, and set designer.  He had a reputation as a “ladies man” and his third wife was Gipsy Rose Lee for whom he designed shows, sets, costumes, props and even programs. Julio De Diego has works shown in art museums all over the country including: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, MOMA, Hirshhorn Museum, and Sculpture Garden, Museum of Hispanic Contemporary Art, Walker Art Center IBM, and Abbot Laboratories.  

“Self Portrait” was painted in 1975 to commemorate De Diego’s 75^th birthday. The rich glow of De Diego’s painting is achieved by the use of his renaissance technique where as many as 30 transparent color glazes are applied to achieve the depth and intensity of color. The surface is sealed with a heavy coat of varnish. This technique was learned in the same school in Madrid attended by Goya.   

Frank Eliscu was born in New York City and studied at the Beaux Arts Institute and Pratt Institute.  He is best known for his bronze sculptures: the bust of General Omar Bradley for the library at West Point Military Academy, football’s famous Heisman Trophy, Books, his commission for the Library of Congress, and Astronaut Alan Sheppard for the Mercury Space Project.

“Great Blue Heron” rests on a narrow base of only 9 inches but flows upward 40 inches and expands to a width of 20 inches.  This irregular shape is echoed by the composition of the majestic, slender-necked bird by the bird holding a lizard under one claw.  Relief ranges from the more deeply cut silhouette of the heron to the delicate defining of the soft feathers of the breast.

This bronze reflects a fanciful sea child; it was originally the center of a fountain in another location in the hall.

Jerry Farnsworth, one of the most renowned portrait painters in America, studied with Charles Hawthorne in Provincetown, MA and was married to  artist Helen Sawyer. His portrait of Hitler was the first color cover for Time Magazine. In 1993 he was elected to the National Academy of Design.  He operated two art schools, one on Cape Cod, the other in Sarasota .  He was Carnegie Visiting Professor of Art and Artist in residence at the University of Illinois .  He also taught at the Art Students League in New York . One of his major commissions was the portrait of President Truman and the President’s mother. He also published several books on the technique of painting.

“Night Wind” features a female nude seated in front of an open window gazing at a crescent moon.  The night wind coming into the room disturbs the curtains and caresses her fatigued body.  Her flesh tones are highlighted by contrasting dark shades of grey and red.

Glenna Finch came to Sarasota in 1945 as did many other artists at that time.  From the moment she arrived she was an active and important member of the arts community.  She attended the Ringling School of Art and Design and The Art Institute of New School.  She painted with Syd Solomon, Hilton Leech, Larry Rivers, and Philip Guston among others.  She was included in the Ringling Museum’s “All Florida Show” in 2000.  She has pieces in The Tampa Museum of Art and the Gulf Coast Museum .  

“Untitled” an example of Finch’s abstract expressionistic work, demonstrates key elements in her paintings.  Her works are infused with boldness of form, color, and texture and have a rhythm of composition.  Her many travels and interests in different cultures were strong influences on her work.