Space Shuttle Atlantis lands for final time -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Atlantis made its final landing at Cape Canaveral today. The Space Shuttle Atlantis, the last manned space craft built for NASA, began flying way back in 1985. She flew 32 missions, carried a total of 135 Astronauts into space and back, spent 282 days in orbit and traveled a staggering 115,770,929 miles. What a record! Atlantis' last voyage carried the art beads, "Beads of Courage" for kids dealing with cancer, a story I blogged about earlier. (That story can be found here) It is sad to think we are now in the process of retiring the Shuttle fleet without a replacement craft ready to take over. The two remaining Shuttles, Discovery and Endeavor, will make their last flights this year. For my entire life we have been sending men and women into space, now we will have to wait and hope for a new program to begin. There are some plans but no firm commitment. And as we wait and see, other countries like India and China are making their way to the moon. It has been 49 years since Alan Shepard took off from Cape Canaveral and started America's manned voyage into space. Let's hope the voyage continues.  GL
Space shuttle Atlantis lands for final time - KOLD News 13

NYC's Whitney to Build New Downtown Museum -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Architect Renzo Piano will be building the new Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The $680 million dollar project is projected to be completed in 2015. Renzo Piano recently completed the spectacular new wing at the Chicago Art Institute (pictured above).  The Whitney holds one of New York's finest museum collections and the new six-story building will allow them to display more of the collection at once. Two questions still remain, will they be able to raise the money and what will happen to the current museum space uptown. The Whitney will break ground in 2011. GL

The Associated Press: NYC's Whitney to build new, bigger downtown museum

Free Museum Visits For All Actice Duty Service Members -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Check out this great program. The National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families have joined forces to bring a great program, Blue Star Museums. From Memorial Day (May 31, 2010) through Labor Day (September 6, 2010) all active duty service members and their immediate family (up to 5 family members, including spouse, child or sibling) can visit the 600 participating Museums free! I am happy to see most Florida Museums are participating. You can find a list of the Florida Museums here. GL

Blue Star Museums Honor Roll | Blue Star Families

Traditional Rome changes course with first modern art museum -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

A new Modern Art Museum in Italy is opening this week. The museum was designed by Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid. Zaha Hadid is a favorite of my wife and I. We saw a wonderful exhibition of her work in 2006 at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Zaha is an architect who consistently pushes the boundaries of architecture and urban design. This is, incredibly, the first contemporary art museum in Rome. From the article; The MAXXI's sleek modern exterior manages to reflect elements of the eternal city. Rome isn't just one city, but many built on top of each other spanning the epochs from Etruscan to Roman to medieval and beyond. "The project emerges in its early phase of as many layers resting on each other," Hadid said in 2008. "The idea is to make a layered space or a layered city almost at once, as if learning from history and how the layering worked." GL


Traditional Rome changes course with first modern art museum | Art & Architecture | Deutsche Welle | 23.05.2010

Arts education key to Florida's future -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Nice opinion piece in this weeks Sun Sentinel By Mindy Shrago. Mindy Shrago is founder and executive director of Young At Art Children's Museum in Davie.

Arts education key to Florida's future - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Florida Artist's Work Sent Into Space -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Wow, three of my favorite things in one story. Florida Art, NASA and Children's Charities.   Port Charlotte glass artist Terri Fout has been making glass beads for Children's Charities. The beads are given as "beads of courage" to mark special milestones for kids fighting cancer .  NASA has decided to take some of the beads up into space on one of the Space Shuttles last missions so the children know that “Astronauts in space were thinking of them and their journeys.”  What a great cause. GL

Local artist’s glasswork hurtles through space | charlotte.floridaweekly.com | Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte Newspaper | News, Business, Real Estate and Arts in Charlotte County FL | Florida

CBC News - World's biggest art thefts -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

CBC News has complied a list of the largest art thefts of the past decade. It seems that art theft is fourth most profitable crime after money laundering, drugs and arms trafficking. The FBI estimates that $6 billion is nabbed annually! Amazing. GL

CBC News - Art & Design - In Depth: World's biggest art thefts

Five paintings worth nearly $613 million stolen in Paris -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Thou shall not steal art! The authorities believe this was the work of one person. There is little chance the paintings could be sold on the open market so the thief must have a private collector already in mind.  Lets hope the paintings have not been damaged and they are recovered quickly.  GL

Five paintings worth nearly $613 million stolen by lone thief in Paris

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT -- A. E. "Beanie" Backus -- by Florida Fine Art Blog

 

A. E. "Beanie" Backus 

Florida's Landscape Master

1906 - 1990

Albert Earnest Backus was born in Fort Pierce, Florida in 1906, two years after his parents moved from New Jersey to the small and sparsely populated town along the south east coast of Florida.  Just after the turn of the century the local economy was based on fishing and agriculture.  The beaches, rivers and backwoods hammocks were of remarkable beauty.  This is much of what we see in Backus’ paintings:  the unspoiled tropical landscapes and scenic countryside that would later be lost to development.

At an early age, “Bean” as he was called by his family, and “Beanie” to friends, had an affinity towards art.  First working with watercolors; painting small pictures of local points of interest and portraits of friends, he soon began to paint backdrops and signs of coming attractions for a local Fort Pierce theater.  Requests for more pictures followed.

Port Everglades worker arrested in art theft -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Thou shall not steal art!   Especially an Angel painted by the great Peter Max.  GL


Port Everglades worker arrested in art, sports memorabilia theft

Graffiti art tour in Wynwood on Bikes! -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

This Saturday, bike through Wynwood Art District with a tour of the graffiti art. Some of the best and biggest walls of graffiti are in Wynwood. Sounds like a fun event. GL


To find out more - emergemiami.com

Graffiti art tour in Wynwood brings cyclists, communities together free of charge - Upper Eastside - MiamiHerald.com

Tour 10 galleries this Saturday for "Beaches Gallery Tour" -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Ponte Vedra Beach, FL is having a fun event this Saturday, the annual "Beaches Gallery Tour". From 10am to 5pm ten galleries will be having openings. This self guided gallery tour follows the beach near Ponte Vedra Beach, Fl just south of Jacksonville, FL. Many of the galleries will have demonstrations by local artists. Great free event for the whole family. GL

Tour 10 galleries from Atlantic Beach to Ponte Vedra Beach | jacksonville.com

Anonymous donor gives Georgia O'Keeffe painting to Florida Museum -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, FL just got a new Georgia O'Keeffe painting from an anonymous donor. "The donor is not even a museum member but she loved visiting and her favorite painting was O'Keeffe's Poppy, one of the collection's most beloved works, and wanted the museum to have the one she owned." What an impressive gift to be included with this already substantial art collection. Museums do make acquisitions of their own but it is the generous gifts from donors that make up most museums' collections. GL


Anonymous donor gives Georgia O'Keeffe painting to Museum of Fine Arts - St. Petersburg Times

Miami Gallery & Bar Showing Local Artist -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

In a great area of Miami, downtown on Brickell, is a gallery/bar named RedBar. The owners show local artists! I've never been myself but will check it out next time I'm in Miami. The Brickell area has some of the best new restaurants and amazing bars, especialy the rooftop bars in the big trendy hotels. Very Cool! GL

RedBar Website

Come for the art, stay for the drinks at RedBar on Brickell - Downtown / Brickell / Overtown - MiamiHerald.com

Arts starved of state funds -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Funding for the Arts in Florida are being cut again. The recession in Florida has made a dramatic difference where we spend our money. In 2007 the state allocated $32 million to the Arts or $2.26 per person, putting us in 7th place for states' art spending. This current fiscal year ending June 30th, Florida ranks in at 49th per capita spending with just 14 cents per person being spent. Next year's $70.6 billion dollar budget has just $950,000 dollars allocated for all the hundreds of non-profit art organizations throughout our state. That's a 65% cut from this year. It's obvious that you can't run an organization properly with funding being so chaotic. The art organizations will have to find new revenue sources to survive. The government can no longer be relied on for much help. Community outreach is the key. Organizations should focus on the needs of the community they serve and come up with new ways to attract a larger audience. The next patrons of the arts need to be cultivated; the younger generations in Florida are art savvy and need to be included in the discussion process. Thanks to the new social media, the younger generations are already organized and send each other far more information every day than any previous generation. Very few art organizations in Florida have taken advantage of these new incredible possibilities that are free and very effective. The organizations that tap into Florida's next leaders and patrons will flourish. 

To those who have a museum or organization in their city that they love, now is the time to show your support. Now is the time to write that check. We have some of the best art organizations in the world in Florida and today they desperately need your support. GL

Arts starved of state funds | HeraldTribune.com