art&culture magazine v3i1 Fall 2008

A&C_coverFinal:Layout 1

9/22/08

12:36 PM

Page 1

art culture of Palm Beach County

Fall 2008

Art on the Edge

Contemporary Galleries Enliven the County

The Urbane Architect Structures by Joseph Urban Add Character to Palm Beach

By John Loring

A New Way of Teaching

Integrating the Arts in the Classroom

Opening the Book

Five Local Writers Tell Their Stories

PLUS

the Cultural Council’s 30th Anniversary, Renaissance Woman Sharon Koskoff, Galerie des AbilitÊs, a Fresh Face for a Favorite Mural and More

National City A&C Fall 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

8:35 AM

Page 1

R ISK. R ETURN. A ND RATIONALITY. LIFE

IN A TIME OF VOLATILE MARKETS.

The wild pendulum swings of today’s markets can be tough to watch. However, extreme volatility can be rewarding when you’re close enough to the market to exploit rapid changes but far enough removed to discern a larger pattern. Achieving this requires leveraging the expertise of a number of portfolio managers who are able to craft an individually structured portfolio that fits your risk-reward profile.

We think in terms of the A.R.T. of investing – a philosophy that guides our long-term planning by emphasizing an appreciation for After-tax strategies, Risk control and Time horizons. We further distinguish ourselves by our holistic, hands-on approach that relies on a local team of experts supported by independent analysts across all sectors. And with over $32 billion* in assets under management, the Private Client Group has earned an industry-leading reputation for client satisfaction. Perhaps it’s CS-31002 ©2008, National City Corporation ® *As of April 2008

time to ask, “Am I doing the best I can?” We invite you to call Eric Hartman, Market Executive, Private Client Group, at 561.650.1422.

WEALTH PLANNING | PRIVATE BANKING | INVESTMENTS | TRUST & ESTATE A DMINISTRATION N AT ION A LC I T Y.C OM / P RIVATEC LIENTG ROUP

Eaton Fine Art - a&c Fall 08.qxd:efa_fall08.qxd

9/22/08

8:35 AM

Page 1

AMERICAN MODERN&

CONTEMPORARY SELECTIONS AMERICAN, MODERN & CONTEMPORARY SELECTIONS Clockwise: LÁSZLÓ MOHOLY-NAGY, Rothenburg, 1926-28, Vintage gelatin silver print, 15 x 111/8 inches WILLIAM AIKEN WALKER, Jupiter Narrows, Hobe Sound, Fla. Mouth, Apl 13,1899, Graphite on paper, 107/8 x 8¼ inches (verso) ANSELM KIEFER, Johannis-Nacht, 1981, Acrylic and straw on gelatin silver print, 23¾ x 32¾ inches

E AT O N F I N E A R T, I N C .

435 Gardenia St., West Palm Beach, FL 33401 Phone: 561/833-4766 Fax: 561/833-3134 Email: eatonart@aol.com - www.eatonart.net

TOC:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:51 AM

Page 2

{contents}

features

40

48

the written world Local authors and playwrights entertain us with their own stories.

By Christina Wood

48

40

galleries galore Contemporary art galleries cast Palm Beach County in a modern light.

By M.M. Cloutier

54

urban, the urbane architect Joseph Urban’s far-reaching career includes renowned Palm Beach structures.

By John Loring

66 54

fresh perspective Palm Beach County is at the forefront of the arts integration movement.

By Susan Hyatt

66

fall 2008

2

|

art&culture

Roche Bobois A&C FALL 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

8:34 AM

Page 1

ÀV ÌiVÌiÊV iVÌ ÊÉ iÃÊ*À Û V > iÃÊ iVÌ

* Ê Ê Ê

ÌÞÊ* >ViÊÇääÊ-°Ê, Ãi >ÀÞÊ Ûi°]Ê {xäÊ Ì ÀiÊ7>Þ]Ê À> Ê >L iÃÊ £äÓÊÉÊxÈ£°nÎx°{ nÓ Îäx°{{{°££Èn ÎÈäÊ À>V iÊ i]Ê À> Ê >L iÃÊ Îäx°{{{°£ä£È "-/" Ê ÓÊ ÛiÀÞÊ-ÌÀiiÌ]Ê, Ìâ >À Ì Ê Ìi ÊÊ > `Ê,ià `i ViÃÊÊÉÊȣǰÇ{Ó° È££

/ Ê xÇ Ê7 ÀViÃÌiÀÊ, >`]Ê, ÕÌiÊ Ê7°Ê xän°Èxä°xn{{

* -Ê ÎÈä£Ê/> > Ê/À> Ê ÀÌ Ê ÓÎ °{Îx°£ÈäÓ

7 - /" Ê

xÎä£Ê7 ÃV Ã Ê ÛiÊ 7Ê ÓäÓ°ÈnÈ°xÈÈÇ

Ý«ÀiÃÃ }ÊÞ ÕÀÊ ÌiÀ ÀÊÜ À `

£ nää Ç£Ç ÓÇ{Ç ÜÜÜ°À V i L L ðV

TOC:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:52 AM

Page 4

{contents} departments

1 0 welcome letter 87

Palm Beach County’s cultural stature rises as we welcome national cultural and heritage tourism leaders in November.

By Rena Blades

1 2 publisher’s note art&culture covers the incredible breadth of Palm Beach County’s artistic landscape.

By Robert S.C. Kirschner

1 7 upfront

28

• Go backstage with the Boca Symphonia’s principal conductor and music adviser.

• Celebrate the 20th anniversary of Boca’s Gallery Center.

• Give the gift of culture in downtown Delray Beach.

• See the history of Palm Beach County through a pictorial book.

• Learn about the Lake Worth Playhouse’s partnership with For the Children, Inc. • Be inspired by the artist and founder of Galerie des Abilités.

• Peruse the cookbooks at the Cookbook Café in the Delray Beach Public Library.

• Read excerpts from a tribute to traditions at the Providencia Tourism Awards Gala.

• Discover the Cultural Council’s Teacher’s Guide to Art and Culture in Palm Beach County.

3 0 profile The Palm Beach County Cultural Council celebrates its 30th anniversary with pride in its past and great optimism for the future.

By Leon M. Rubin

2 8 portrait 36

Muralist, public art activist, author, tour guide and teacher Sharon Koskoff is a true Renaissance woman.

By Kaci L. Winter

3 6 calendar Plan your schedule with the not-to-be-missed cultural events of the fall, from October to December.

7 1 inside culture

The Cultural Council makes an IMPACT; the Boynton Regional Symphony Orchestra is all about birthdays; Masterworks Chorus reigns in Spain; and much more insider news.

24

Cover Image: Seton Smith, South Gallery, Eaton Fine Art, Installation View, February 1 - March 8, 2008

fall 2008

4

|

art&culture

MH:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:37 AM

Page 6

2008-2009 SEASON Palm Beach County Cultural Council 1555 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd., Suite 300, West Palm Beach, FL 33401 561-471-2901 • www.palmbeachculture.com President & Chief Executive Officer

Rena Blades

561-471-2901 rblades@palmbeachculture.com

Bill Nix

561-687-8727 bnix@palmbeachculture.com

Contributing Writer/Editor

Leon M. Rubin

561-251-8075 lmrubin@palmbeachculture.com

Director of Arts and Cultural Education

Alyx Kellington

561-471-1602 akellington@palmbeachculture.com

Membership Manager

Mary Dunning

561-471-2901 mdunning@palmbeachculture.com

Public Relations Coordinator

Larry Boytano

561-471-1601 lboytano@palmbeachculture.com

Jennifer Lamont

561-471-2901 jlamont@palmbeachculture.com

Grants Coordinator

Margaret Granda

561-471-0009 mgranda@palmbeachculture.com

Marketing Assistant

Jossette Simo-Kieldgaard 561-471-2901 jsimo@palmbeachculture.com

Vice President, Marketing & Government Affairs

Guest Artist Series

2008 Altar Boyz Nov 13 A Tuna Christmas Dec 16 2009 Barrage: High Strung Jan 8 3 Mo’ Divas: Unplugged Jan 30 American Soul & Rock & Roll Choir Feb 10 Footloose the Musical Mar 5 Stig Rossen Mar 17 Sarakasi Mar 24 Romanza Apr 7

Marketing Coordinator

Bookkeeper

3 Mo’ Divas: U nplugged

Family Fun Series

2008 Puss ’n Boots Oct 18 Pinocchio Nov 8 2009 A Kid’s Life!

Feb 21 The Princess & the Pea Apr 25 Box Office

561.993.1160

www.pbcc.edu/dollyhand.xml DOLLY HAND CULTURAL ARTS CENTER Palm Beach Community College at Belle Glade 1977 College Drive, Belle Glade, FL 33430

All dates, artists, and programs subject to change.

No refunds or exchanges unless an event is cancelled.

Secretary to the President/CEO

Volunteer

Jean Brasch

561-471-2903 jbrasch@palmbeachculture.com

Monica Hammett

561-471-2901 mhammett@palmbeachculture.com

Pat Thorne

Cultural Council Board of Directors Officers Michael J. Bracci, Chair Gale G. Howden, Vice Chair Pamela O. Dean, Treasurer Michael D. Simon, Esq., Secretary Directors Clarence Anthony, Esq. John W. Blackmon Carole Boucard Howard Bregman, Esq. Cecile Draime Timothy A. Eaton

Debra Elmore Rick Gonzalez, AIA Kenn Karakul Irene J. Karp Berton E. Korman Raymond E. Kramer, III, Esq. Wendy U. Larsen, Esq. William E. Lewis Milton S. Maltz R. Thomas Mayes, Jr., CFP® Steven E. McCraney Craig I. Menin Sydelle Meyer

Michael Mezzatesta, Ph.D. Jo Anne Rioli Moeller Harvey E. Oyer, III, Esq. Dana T. Pickard Jean Sharf Ex Officios James E. Bronstien Shirley Fiterman Hon. Addie L. Greene Dr. Terry L. Maple Sandra Richmond, Ed.D.

Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners Addie L. Greene, Chairperson Robert J. Kanjian Jeff Koons, Vice Chair

6

|

art&culture

Karen T. Marcus Mary McCarty

Burt Aaronson Jess R. Santamaria

9/22/08

8:35 AM

Page 1

CIRCA, WE’LL TAKE IT FROM HERE AND

ARE TRADEMARKS OF CIRCA INC. © 2007 CIRCA INC.

Circa Jewels A&C FALL 08:Layout 1

WHEN TOO MUCH IS SIMPLY TOO MUCH...

CHANGE IS GOOD. At Circa, we provide an upscale, professional and reliable service for clients who want to sell their fine jewelry. And by paying for each item immediately, we allow you to make your next exciting change.

PALM BEACH TOWERS

44 COCOANUT ROW SUITE L101

N AT I O N A L 8 0 0 . 8 7 6 . 5 4 9 0

561.832.1397

PALM BEACH, FL 33480

W W W. C I R C A J E W E L S . C O M

NEW YORK PALM BEACH CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO WASHINGTON DC HONG KONG

MH:Layout 1

9/22/08

8:53 AM

Page 8

art&culture of Palm Beach County

fall 2008 - volume 3, issue 1

editor assistant editor

editorial staff

catherine russo kaci l. winter

verification specialist

patrick e. gamble

verification specialist

bradley j. oyler

561.472.8763 catherine@passportpublications.com 561.472.8764 kaci@passportpublications.com 561.472.8779 patrick@passportpublications.com 561.472.8765 bradley@passportpublications.com

cultural council editorial staff editorial director executive editor managing editor

rena blades bill nix leon m. rubin

contributing writers

marcie cloutier, susan hyatt, john loring, leon m. rubin, christina wood

contributing photographers

lucien capehart, jim fairman, barry kinsella, robert stevens, studio palm beach

art & design

art director

tomek dziurzynski

production director

angelo d. lopresti

assistant production director

nicole smith

advertising sales

associate publisher

peter d. greenberg

director of publications

simone a. desiderio

director of advertising

richard s. wolff

senior advertising manager

janice l. lindstrom

contract administrator

donna l. mercenit

account manager

nancy kloberg

account manager

nancy noonan

account manager

rachele scholes

publisher & president

publisher

robert s.c. kirschner

561.472.8762 tomek@passportpublications.com 561.472.8770 angelo@passportpublications.com 561.472.8769 nicole@passportpublications.com

561.472.8777 peter@passportpublications.com 561.540.5455 simone@passportpublications.com 561.472.8767 richard@passportpublications.com 561.472.8775 janice@passportpublications.com 561.472.8773 donna@passportpublications.com 561.577.6500 nancy@passportpublications.com 561.650.1277 noonan@passportpublications.com 561.540.5445 rachele@passportpublications.com 561.472.8778 robert@passportpublications.com

on the cover

Seton Smith, South Gallery, Eaton Fine Art, Installation View

art&culture magazine is published by Passport Publications & Media Corporation, located at 1555 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd., Suite 1550, West Palm Beach, FL 33401, on behalf of the Palm Beach County Cultural Council. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the expressed written consent of the publisher. All rights reserved.

8

|

art&culture

Braman a&c AL:Layout 1

9/23/08

12:21 PM

Page 1

2008 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

2008 Audi R8 BRAMAN MOTORCARS 2801, 2815 & 2901 Okeechobee Blvd.

West Palm Beach, FL

1.866.385.9842

www.bramanmotorcars.com

BENTLEY

Rena Welcome:Layout 1

9/22/08

8:46 AM

Page 10

fromtheceo

WELCOME TO

art&culture

We frequently boast—justifiably, of course—that Palm Beach County is “Florida’s Cultural Capital.”

But for a few days in November, we’ll be able to say that we are truly the nation’s capital—at least of the cultural and heritage tourism industry.

From N ovember 5-8, the Palm Beach County Cultural Council will host the 10th Annual Conference of the Cultural & Heritage Tourism Alliance (CHTA) at the Delray Beach Marriott.

This innovative national organization assists its members in developing and implementing successful strategies for the promotion of cultural and heritage experiences to tourists in their towns, cities, regions and states. It’s the first time the conference will be held in Florida.

The fact that the CHTA conference is coming here reflects the success we have had in raising the profile of cultural and heritage tourism in our own county. It is also a tribute to the organizational and individual leadership that has been provided by our own Bill Nix, the Cultural Council’s vice president for marketing and government affairs. Bill serves on CHTA’s national steering committee and will be the chair of the upcoming conference. He is a passionate and effective spokesman for this burgeoning industry.

According to CHTA, heritage tourism in the United States was born during the celebration of the American bicentennial in 1976, when organizers of historical commemorations realized that there was enormous interest in experiencing and learning about American history and heritage. The

Michael Price

10

|

art&culture

trend has continued to gain traction and, in 1995, “Cultural Tourism in the United States, A Position Paper for the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism” was published, outlining the framework for a national cultural tourism initiative. CHTA was born shortly thereafter.

Between 150 and 200 participants are expected to attend the three-day conference, which is also being supported by Visit Florida and the Palm Beach County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

During the gathering, a wide range of arts agency marketers, tourism professionals, consultants, preservationists and others from across North America will explore current trends in cultural and heritage tourism. They will also take part in “mobile workshops” at cultural and heritage tourism destinations in the county and around South Florida.

We are exceptionally proud to host this very important conference. To the participants, we say “welcome.” And to everyone who has played a role in creating an environment that embraces the value of cultural and heritage tourism in our communities, we say “thank you very much.”

We are pleased to be riding the crest of this ever-expanding wave.

Rena Blades President and CEO Palm Beach County Cultural Council

Babor Institute A&C Fall 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

8:33 AM

Page 1

A Dream Comes True: Stay Looking Younger – Longer

HSR ® PLATINUM – The Breakthrough in Anti-Aging BABOR´S research into active ingredients has provided the solution to one of the most essential skincare questions of all time: How do I prevent skin aging?

The precious HSR ® TELOVITIN Complex works to keep the cells younger for longer, while also working to slow down skin aging. With HSR ® PLATINUM you can stay younger – longer.

BABOR COSMETICS • www.babor.com • 888-222-6791

9/22/08

8:46 AM

fromthepublisher

RK Welcome:Layout 1

Page 12

THANK YOU art&culture emphasizes the true cultural mélange that is Palm Beach County. Variety is key, and our community has spoken loudly and clearly that our artistic landscape is a beacon for diversity. This is evident in our loyal readers’ devotion to supporting the vast array of cultural venues, organizations and artists whose stories are told in this magazine.

Simply said, our arts community is thriving. Many relocating businesses choose Palm Beach County, in large part, for the cultural and leisure activities available here. Performing arts events and museum exhibitions once only offered “in season” are expanding to a year-round calendar. N umerous patrons and supporters of the arts are stepping up their pledges. All in all, Palm Beach County continues to reign as “Florida’s Cultural Capital.”

With school back in session and arts integration in the national spotlight, we thought it was the perfect time to present a “Fresh Perspective,” page 66. This article showcases the educational resources available in our backyard, and explains how utilizing the arts to teach core subjects like math, science and history invigorates the way our students learn.

Our renowned mainstay writer John Loring depicts the life and work of the great Joseph Urban in “Urban, The Urbane Architect” on page 54. Through a biographical narrative and vivid imagery, it becomes clear that Urban’s work in Palm Beach has stood the test of time.

Studio Palm Beach

12

|

art&culture

“Galleries Galore,” page 40, highlights Palm Beach County’s colorful collection of contemporary art galleries, while “The Written World” on page 48 gives readers an insider’s look into the lives of local authors and playwrights, including James O. Born, Donna Gephart, Julie Gilbert, Lawrence Leamer and Michael McKeever. Our Portrait, “The Art Lady” on page 28—spotlighting the multitalented Sharon Koskoff, an artist and educator—will inspire many.

For this issue’s Profile, we’re mixing things up and celebrating the Cultural Council’s 30th Anniversary. The impact our cultural umbrella organization has made over the past three decades is tremendous: supporting arts education, organizing grant programs, promoting cultural tourism, recognizing the many deserving artists and organizations of our community … the list goes on.

Be sure to take some time to truly enjoy the cultural offerings our county features. Visit a museum on your lunch break, take in a show at the theater over the weekend or escape for a day to bring the children or grandchildren to the zoo—the opportunities are endless.

Please enjoy,

Robert S.C. Kirschner President/Publisher Passport Publications & Media Corporation

Stubbs & Wooten a&c Fall 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

8:33 AM

Page 1

[ party season ]

new york city

palm beach 561-655-6857 www.stubbsandwootton.com

southampton

Contributors:Layout 1

9/22/08

8:48 AM

Page 14

contributors

The Melting Pot is the most unique and interactive dining experience that is perfect for any occasion.

Here you'll enjoy creamy cheese fondues, succulent entrées and our famous chocolate fondue desserts!

Lake Worth 3044 S. Military Trail 561.967.1009

Jim Fairman

An experience awaits you...

“Urban, The Urbane Architect” (page 54) author John Loring is the former New York Bureau Chief and a contributing writer for over 30 years of Architectural Digest. Loring, design director of Tiffany & Co. since 1979, has also written numerous Doubleday and Harry N . Abrams books on style and social history. He graduated from Yale University, completed four years of graduate studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and has an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute.

M.M. Cloutier explores Palm Beach County’s contemporary-art scene in “Galleries Galore” (page 40). The West Palm Beach-based freelance writer has written extensively about art and culture in Palm Beach County and elsewhere. Throughout her career, she has also written numerous profiles and covered business, cuisine, fashion and more for such newspapers as The N ew York Times, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post and Palm Beach Daily News, among others, and for several magazines, including reporting for Time.

Paul Theroux once said, “It has been said that writing is a rat race in which you never get to meet the other rats.” As an award-winning scribbler herself, regular contributor Christina Wood thoroughly enjoyed reaching out to talk about the craft with others of her breed for our story on local writers, “The Written World” (page 48). After attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Oxford University, England, Wood received her bachelor’s degree from Florida Atlantic University.

Recipient of the Cultural Council’s 2008 Muse Award for Arts Educator, Susan Hyatt knows firsthand the importance of arts integration. The Florida Stage director of education, who spent six years as an artist-in-residence at the Center for Creative Education, was able to draw on her resources and expertise while writing “Fresh Perspective” (page 66). Hyatt is currently working on her doctorate in comparative studies with a focus on—what else?—arts education.

www.meltingpot.com fondue coast to coast locally owned and operated

14

|

art&culture

One Thousand Ocean A&C Fall 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

10:15 AM

Page 1

v

OCEAN TERRACE LIVING AT THE BOCA RESORT Your address is the most coveted inlet in South Florida, your home is a private oasis on the beach and your front yard is an endless horizon of sky and ocean. One Thousand Ocean combines the amenities and services of the Boca Raton Resort & Beach Club with the ownership of a one-of-a-kind oceanfront home. Named “Project of the Year” by the Developers and Builders Alliance. Fully financed. Construction well underway.

CALL 561.869.5000 ONETHOUSANDOCEAN.COM EXCLUSIVE MARKETING AND SALES AGENT: CORCORAN SUNSHINE MARKETING GROUP. DEVELOPED BY LXR LUXURY RESORTS.

ORAL REPRESENTATIONS CANNOT BE RELIED UPON AS CORRECTLY STATING REPRESENTATIONS OF THE DEVELOPER. FOR CORRECT REPRESENTATIONS, MAKE REFERENCE TO THE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED BY SECTION 718.503, FLORIDA STATUTES, TO BE FURNISHED BY A DEVELOPER TO A BUYER OR LESSEE. FOR NEW YORK RESIDENTS, THIS ADVERTISEMENT IS NOT AN OFFERING. NO OFFERING CAN BE MADE UNTIL AN OFFERING PLAN IS FILED WITH THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. THIS ADVERTISEMENT IS MADE PURSUANT TO THE COOPERATIVE POLICY STATEMENT NO. 1 ISSUED BY THE NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL. FILE NO. CP 06-0242. THIS ADVERTISING MATERIAL IS NOT AN OFFER TO SELL NOR A SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY TO RESIDENTS OF ANY STATE OR JURISDICTION IN WHICH REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN FULFILLED. ALL PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. SPONSOR: BRE/POINT PARCEL LLC, C/O LXR LUXURY RESORTS, 501 EAST CAMINO REAL, BOCA RATON, FLORIDA 33432.

PROPERTY ADDRESS: 1000 SOUTH OCEAN BOULEVARD, BOCA RATON, FLORIDA 33432. ONE THOUSAND OCEAN IS THE FIRST BUILDING WITHIN OCEAN RESIDENCES AT BOCA BEACH CLUB, A CONDOMINIUM.

Bice a&c Fall 08.USE THIS:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:25 AM

Page 1

BiCE Ristorante • 3131/2 Worth Avenue • Palm Beach, Florida 33480 • (561) 835-1600

Upfront- Art news - fall 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

8:42 AM

Page 17

a m e d l e y o f w h a t ’s h o t o n t h e l o c a l a r t & c u l t u r e s c e n e

{upfront}

S h o w & Te l l

Show & Tell photos: Lisa L. Pariseau

A Promising Partnership Exposure to the arts is one of the greatest gifts that a child can receive. It “will create changed attitudes about the arts and their value and allow the kids to see themselves with a positive self-image as they begin the mastery of dance, theater and performance skills,” says Lisa L. Pariseau, outreach coordinator for the Lake Worth Playhouse (LWP).

Among other organizations, Pariseau works in conjunction with For the Children, Inc. (FTC) with the Multi-cultural Arts Program (MAP) created during spring 2007 by Diane Freaney, acting executive director of LWP at the time, and Reginale Durandisse, founder/CEO of FTC. Currently, 25 children attend free dance and drama classes that are offered three afternoons a week and are taught by LWP teaching artists Nina Vincent and Robert Martes. “A core group of students have been attending our classes since last summer. My students learn jazz, modern and tap choreography … they play theater games and work on scenes in drama class,” says Vincent, the lead teaching artist. They also perform on the Lake Worth Playhouse Main Stage at the end of each eight-week session.

Durandisse explains her hopes for MAP: “The goal of the program is to provide the kids with a variety of art forms, because most of the children do not have access to the arts. They now have experiences that can help them gain acceptance to Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. School of the Arts,” as well as the county’s many other public arts-focused schools.

FOR

more information call (561) 493-1190 or visit www.ftc-osborne.org; (561) 586-6169 or www.lakeworthplayhouse.org.

On The Menu

A Café Meets a Cookbook

On the busy street of Atlantic Avenue, nestled within the confines of the Delray Beach Public Library, is what some call a “local secret”—the Cookbook Café. Home to over 200 cookbooks with recipes to satisfy the most discerning palate or to help a creative cook put a new spin on chicken, the Cookbook Café offers visitors a relaxed environment in which to peruse the books.

Owned by Billy Himmelrich, who trained in Paris at LaVarenne before working in some of the finest restaurants in the world, the café opened in 2006. Visitors can borrow books, read them while visiting the café, make photocopies or trade a book for a book.

The Cookbook Café is the perfect place for anyone who has a passion for the art of cooking.

FOR

more information call (561) 819-6310

art&culture

|

17

Upfront- Art news - fall 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

8:42 AM

Page 18

{upfront}

Showroom B o c a’s G a l l e r y C e n t e r C e l e b ra t e s 2 0 t h A n n i ve r s a r y When Marjorie Margolis opened the doors to Boca Raton’s first art gallery, Gallery Camino Real, in 1972, she didn’t plan on it snowballing into an art super-gallery—but that’s exactly what happened.

In 1988, Margolis teamed up with Habatat Galleries, purveyor of fine contemporary glass, and the pair opened Gallery Center on Banyan Trail in central Boca Raton.

Elaine Baker Gallery soon came on board, bringing modern and contemporary works by critically acclaimed major, mid-career and emerging artists.

While galleries have come and Elaine Baker Gallery gone over the past 20 years, today Gallery Center houses an impressive collection of five galleries, including Habatat Galleries, Elaine Baker Gallery, Karen Lynne Gallery and Rosenbaum Contemporary, all featuring contemporary art, as well as ancient art specialist Griffin Gallery, whose holdings reflect a spectrum of the cultures of antiquity.

Summing up the appeal and diversity of Gallery Center, Deborah Sponder of Elaine Baker Gallery says, “We all get along fabulously and really don’t compete with each other as our exhibitions are so uniquely different … we draw collectors and buyers with very different tastes and backgrounds.”

Elaine Baker Gallery

FOR

more information call (561) 922-5274 or visit www.gallerycenter.org.

To read more about Palm Beach County’s contemporary art scene, turn to “Galleries Galore” on page 40.

Karen Lynne Gallery

In The Classroom N e w Te a c h e r ’s G u i d e D e b u t s For the third consecutive year, the Cultural Council has published its annual Teacher’s Guide to Art and Culture in Palm Beach County—and increased the quantity from 1,000 copies to 10,000. The guide includes cultural organizations’ contact information, programs that meet Sunshine State Standards, costs and details. These guides are a tool that provides art and cultural resource information to teachers at a glance. Distributed within public, charter and private schools as well as to after-school programs and home-school contacts, it is also accessible on the Cultural Council’s Web site at www.palmbeachculture.com under the Education tab.

For more information, call (561) 471-1602.

To read about how Palm Beach County is leading the way in arts integration, turn to “Fresh Perspective” on page 66.

18

|

art&culture

Anushka A&C FALL 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:12 AM

Page 1

ANUSHKA spa • salon • cosmedical where the “a list” does beauty recommended by vogue, town & country, harpers bazaar, InStyle, allure, w

Your welcome gift to the “A List” is @ BeautyPromos.com The babor institute staff now at anushka K. Edward Koger, MD Plastic Surgeon Medical Director

820 0500 anushkaspa.com

CityPlace Private Free Valet

Upfront- Art news - fall 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

{upfront}

8:43 AM

Page 20

For Sale

A Historic Pictorial of Palm Beach County

Turner Publishing Company

South Florida historian Seth H. Bramson explores the enchanting and sometimes tragic history of Palm Beach County in his new book from Turner Publishing, “Historic Photos of Palm Beach County” ($39.95). Bramson unravels the history of the county from the early days of Flagler through the Great Depression and into the prosperous ’50s and ’60s. Nearly 200 rare photographs from the State Archives of Florida, the Library of Congress and the Bramson Archives create a beautiful tribute to our storied paradise.

To pick up your hardback copy, visit Clematis Street Books or the Historical Society of Palm Beach County in the 1916 Courthouse (both in downtown West Palm Beach), the Palm Beach Bookstore or a national book retailer, or call Turner Publishing at (615) 255-2665.

For Sale The Gift of Culture There are many reasons to visit downtown Delray Beach, and the city’s Downtown Development Authority recently unveiled another incentive: the Downtown Gift Card program. Of the more than 140 participating merchants, there are over a dozen arts-related vendors, including many galleries.

From taking in a show at Old School Square’s Crest Theatre to treasure hunting for antiques to uncovering a great read at the Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore, culture and the arts are around every corner. Visitors can even trot off the obvious cultural path and stroll through the Sundy House’s gardens or enjoy authentic cuisine at restaurants like Gol! The Taste of Brazil and La Cigale, A Taste of the Mediterranean.

Gift cards, available in any denomination up to $500, are sold at the Delray Beach Marriott Gift Shoppe (10 N. Ocean Blvd.), Delray Beach Public Library (100 W. Atlantic Ave.) and SunTrust Bank (302 E. Atlantic Ave.).

FOR

more information

call (561) 279-1380, ext. 17, or visit www.downtowndelraybeach.com.

20

|

art&culture

Lynn University A&C Fall:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:11 AM

Page 1

T H E AT R E

MUSIC LYNN PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA * Jon Robertson, guest conductor Sergei Babayan, piano Music of Verdi, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mahler and Rachmaninov OCT. 11 7:30 p.m. $30 OCT. 12 4 p.m. $30 CONCERTO COMPETITION FINAL ROUND Finalists of the annual conservatory concerto competition perform before a panel of guest judges OCT. 19 10 a.m. $10 DAVID COLE AND ROBERTA RUST: ROMANTIC MASTERWORKS FOR CELLO AND PIANO OCT. 23 7:30 p.m. $25 STRING CONCERT OCT. 30 7:30 p.m.

$10

Libby Dodson’s Live at Lynn Series Produced by Jan McArt

LY N N U N I V E R S I T Y presents

2008-2009

Season of the

Art s

MOSTLY MUSIC: BACH Presented in cooperation with the Levis Jewish Community Center Hosted by Marshall Turkin and staged by Jan McArt NOV. 1 7:30 p.m. $25

$10

BEETHOVEN DAY Performances, discussions and presentations Student presentations: DEC. 4 9:30 a.m.

Free Faculty concert: DEC. 4 7:30 p.m. $25 LYNN PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA * Albert-George Schram, music director and conductor Carol Cole, violin and Ralph Fielding, viola Music of Mozart and Brahms DEC. 6 7:30 p.m. $30 DEC. 7 4 p.m. $30 GINGERBREAD HOLIDAY CONCERT ** With the Philharmonia Orchestra Albert-George Schram, music director and conductor Presented by Bank of America Sponsored by the Friends of the Conservatory of Music DEC. 14 3 p.m. $25 ELMAR OLIVEIRA AND FRIENDS FEB. 19 7:30 p.m. $25

The Four Bitchin’ Babes® presents HORMONAL IMBALANCE!™— A MOOD SWINGIN’ MUSICAL REVUE! Starring Sally Fingerett, Debbi Smith, Nancy Moran & Deidre Flint Sponsored by Linda L. Miller and Sue Ellen Winkleblack FEB. 27 7:30 p.m. $45 FEB. 28 2 and 7:30 p.m. $35 MARCH 1 4 p.m. $35

Ticket office: www.lynn.edu/tickets 561-237-9000

LY NN UNIVERSITY

3601 N. Military Trail Boca Raton, FL 33431 DEAN’S SHOWCASE An exposition of solo and chamber works performed exclusively by the conservatory’s finest young musicians OCT. 2, NOV. 6, DEC. 11, FEB. 26, APRIL 9

7:30 p.m.

$10

JOEY DEE & THE STARLITERS IN CONCERT Exclusive production sponsor: Marvin and Marilyn Kimmel DEC. 6 7:30 p.m. $45 DEC. 7 4 p.m. $35

PIAF—LOVE CONQUERS ALL Starring Naomi Emmerson FEB. 6 7:30 p.m. $45 FEB. 7 2 and 7:30 p.m. $35 FEB. 8 4 p.m. $35

BRASS BASH! 7:30 p.m.

IDOLS IN CONCERT! On stage, four American Idol finalists (from Season 1-6) together in concert Exclusive production sponsor: Elaine Wold NOV. 14 7:30 p.m. $45 NOV. 15 2 and 7:30 p.m. $35 NOV. 16 4 p.m. $35

IT HAD TO BE YOU Starring Renée Taylor and Joe Bologna Sponsored by Leon and Ellie Carman and Paul Carman JAN. 9 7:30 p.m. $45 JAN. 10 2 and 7:30 p.m. $35 JAN. 11 4 p.m. $35

LYNN PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA * Albert-George Schram, music director and conductor Music of Beethoven, Schubert, Chabrier and R. Strauss NOV. 8 7:30 p.m. $30 NOV. 9 4 p.m. $30 NOV. 13

SWEET BABY JAMES — THE MUSIC OF JAMES TAYLOR Starring Bob Stillman and featuring Connie James Cabaret reception sponsored by Ron and Kathy Assaf OCT. 3 7:30 p.m. $45 OCT. 4 2 and 7:30 p.m. $35 OCT. 5 4 p.m. $35

For a complete calendar of events, visit www.lynn.edu/tickets or call 561-237-9000

THE MERRY WIDOW Everyone’s Favorite Operetta New York touring company Exclusive production sponsor: Christine E. Lynn MARCH 11 7:30 p.m. $45 MARCH 12 7:30 p.m. $35 MARCH 13 7:30 p.m. $35

Opening night performances include post-show cabaret reception Opening night performances include post-show cabaret reception. All cabaret receptions (except for Sweet Baby James) are sponsored by Linda L. Miller and Sue Ellen Winkleblack.

All events held at Lynn University, unless otherwise noted * held at Roberts Theater, Andrews Center for the Performing Arts, Saint Andrew’s School ** held at The Boca Raton Resort and Club

Upfront- Art news - fall 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

8:44 AM

Page 22

{upfront}

Sound Bites

New Conductor Points Boca Symphonia in Right Direction On the tail of his highly acclaimed South Florida debut at the inaugural Festival of the Arts BOCA and armed with an extensive resume that would impress Leonard Bernstein, Alexander Platt was well-poised to take the reins as principal conductor and music adviser of the Boca Raton Symphonia in fall 2007.

“I fell for Boca, and in some ways Boca fell for me,” says the Yale- and Cambridgeeducated Platt.

In addition to the symphonia, a few of Platt’s other current ventures that “leave very little time for a personal life” include The Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, N.Y., the Chicago Opera Theater, Waukesha (Wisconsin) Symphony Orchestra and Marion (Indiana) Philharmonic. Indeed, Platt’s dedication to his craft has pushed him far along the road to classical music stardom—and Palm Beach County is honored to be along for the ride.

After spending most of the last 15 years growing regional institutions in the Midwest, what attracted you to Palm Beach County?

Well, it’s very simple: after 15 years on the cold, frozen prairie, the climate was intoxicating! ... But really from the moment I got here, it felt wonderful. And the musicians—and the audiences— are fantastic; they give a lot back.

How would you describe Palm Beach County’s cultural landscape?

The sense of the culture here is one of immediacy. On the one hand, that produces a sense of excitement, and it honestly makes classical music feel more alive and new. On the other (hand), it makes it harder to really establish something with a sense of permanence. Hopefully, at the symphonia we can straddle both worlds, providing truly exciting performances of truly great music—and the critics seem to have agreed!

From leading the majority of the Connoisseur Series and artistic planning to fundraising, education and outreach, what is your favorite aspect of working with the symphonia?

Obviously my favorite role is actually conducting the music, but I also love actually planning a season—something far more difficult than people realize. And I love the outreach aspect too, from talking to the audience before I am to conduct, to connecting with people at parties and schools.

Your brothers also have high-profile careers in the arts (Composer Russell Platt is a music editor at The New Yorker and Spencer Platt is an award-winning photojournalist). Did you grow up in a very arts-focused home in New York City?

No, not at all; my father was a businessman, my mother in antiques. They were just part of a community in which the arts were taken very seriously in the public schools—something for which there is no replacement, despite the unending efforts of school boards around the country to cut back such “inessentials” from the growth of our children—inexcusable.

Can you describe your two hugely successful appearances What advice would you give to a budding conductor? with the symphonia at the 2007 Festival of the Arts My first advice would be what it would have been a century ago— BOCA? get to Europe. They have a system there that we lack: an opera-house It was magical, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced— system, a radio-orchestra system … compared to the States, it is a systo be brought in on 48 hours notice, to have thrown at me tem that essentially sustains itself. … a colossal James Galway program, half of which I didn’t My hope and passion is that in Boca, know, and then three days later that electric afternoon we can create something both exciting, with Arturo Sandoval … the performance I gave with the immediate and yet sustainable too. If I symphonia of Mendelssohn’s “Italian Symphony” on call (561) 736-3848 didn’t feel that we could do that, I almost no rehearsal was not just special, it was one of or visit www.bocasymphonia.org or wouldn’t be here. the greatest moments in my life. www.alexanderplatt.com.

FOR

more information

22

|

art&culture

Lawrence Moens A&C FALL 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:35 AM

Page 1

“For Over Thirty Years Specializing In Palm Beaches Finest Residential Properties”

LAWRENCE A. MOENS ASSOCIATES, INC. 245 Sunrise Avenue • Palm Beach, Florida 33480 • Tel: (561) 655-5510 Fax: (561) 655-6744 • moens@earthlink.net

Upfront- Art news - fall 08:Layout 1

{upfront}

9/22/08

8:44 AM

Page 24

Spotlight On

Painting, Inspiring and Motivating One Brush Stroke at a Time “My first painting, ‘The Island,’ was inspired by thoughts of Robinson Crusoe’s deserted paradise … I had always dreamed of being a ‘castaway,’” says Mark Sotak, a Palm Beach Gardens artist and founder of Galerie des Abilités (GDA), or The Gallery of Abilities.

Looking at Sotak’s oil on canvas or panel paintings can truly evoke a feeling of awe when one realizes that all of his works are mouth paintings. Sotak, who became paralyzed at 18, was a foursport varsity athlete who hoped to play professional baseball.

Today, he has transformed his passion for sports into an advocacy campaign for artists struggling with physical and mental disabilities. “It is always the art that should define the artist, not the disability,” he says.

Prior to becoming an artist, Sotak was a lawyer and now utilizes his legal prowess in running the nonprofit GDA. As he explains, “with my experience in law, marketing and promotions and as an artist, I can help guide others through the maze of competing in the ‘mainstream’ without fear of losing copyrights or compromising artistic integrity.

“My basic concept is to open a nonprofit gallery to display the fine art of professionals with either a disability or some major ‘life-altering’ experience,” says Sotak of GDA’s future. For now, the organization provides artists with a Web site on “The Island” which to display and sell their works. “GDA will offer art education and therapy programming to the entire community but zero in on those who are disabled, underprivileged or otherwise underserved,” he explains.

Sotak will be exhibiting and demonstrating November 22 and 23 at the 3rd Annual Art in the Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens, as well as “working very hard to paint myself into full membership status with the visit www.sotak.net or International Association of Mouth and www.galleryofabilities.org.

Foot Painters.”

FOR

more information

Award Show P r o v i d e n c i a To u r i s m S p e e c h H i g h l i g h t s P a s t a n d Fu t u r e Tr a d i t i o n s

... So here we are at the 20th occasion of the Providencia Awards Gala, an event designed to celebrate National Tourism Week and honor exceptional leadership in this industry we all love.

As I struggled with my short message for this evening, I kept looking at past programs and invitations and it suddenly struck me that the event’s very name, based on that Spanish ship that sank off our coast in 1878, would be the key to my opening remarks.

Ironically, “providencia” stands for good fortune, for luck, for something highly beneficial or advantageous.

The tragedy of those poor Spanish seamen became the good fortune of the brave souls living in the Florida wilderness; the good fortune of those pioneers who cleverly planted a coconut grove; and the incredible fortune for the thousands who would eventually visit or settle in this world-class resort destination. Had those coconut palm trees not been there, Flagler might have ended up in Fort Lauderdale

24

|

art&culture

or Key Biscayne. Providential destiny, no doubt.

This is indeed a ountyand a destination blessed in so many ways … that the word “providencia” … is truly applicable at many levels.

In order to reignite Jorge Pesquera (far right) presents the 20th Anniversary our pursuit of mission, we must Providencia Award to the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts officials. (See page 84) reinvent our traditions—by living in the future and focusing our energy on what is next— instead of living in the past and dwelling on what has been. A new tradition of curiosity inspires us to learn as much as possible and consider ideas that challenge our perspective. A new tradition of imagination is an essential prerequisite to innovation. A new tradition of courage will result in increased openness, leading to even greater transparency and authenticity. Most importantly, a new tradition of responsibility will imbue all contributors … with a strong sense of stewardship. And stewardship, ladies and gentlemen, is simply a commitment to leave the organization better than it was found, even when the stewards don’t own it.

Lucien Capeha rt Photograp hy

Jorge Pesquera, President and CEO of the Palm Beach County Convention and Visitors Bureau, made the following remarks at the 20th Anniversary Providencia Tourism Awards Gala in May. His vision calls for a return to our roots and traditions in Palm Beach County, a vision that rings true to the arts and cultural community and bodes well for our tourism industry in the future.

Jewish Federation of PB A&C FALL 08:Layout 1

9/23/08

12:52 PM

Page 1

A World of Good ...

The Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County’s Annual Campaign and Endowment provide

young

families with a lifelong journey of Jewish engagement and education. Our beneficiary agencies provide a wide

services and activities to help you make

range of

the connection.

Help us strengthen and build our Jewish world.

Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County

Live Generously.® (561) 478-0700 JewishPalmBeach.org

Art in Unexpected PlacesRK:Layout 1

9/22/08

8:57 AM

Page 26

Virginia

Sells Sea Shells…

While Eva

Paints the Past and Present

by Rena Blades

Imagine yourself in February 1987, driving south on U.S. 1 — a tourist enjoying the southward journey to see Gilded Age houses and soak up some Florida sun—when on your left you spot a mecca for anyone escaping ice and snow: a huge shell shop that beckons your attention with its colorful, cartoonlike murals. That store, Sea Shell City, is where Virginia Merchant and her late husband set up business over 20 years ago and where she still sells thousands of shells, shell-encrusted objects and some of the kitschiest shell jewelry to be found anywhere.

comes from California State University, N orthridge, and she’s completed hundreds of portraits over the years. Her entrepreneurial spirit compelled her to barter for some supplies through a small printing shop, where she began creating temporary murals on the store windows. It was there one fateful day that she met Virginia, who described her need to spruce up the 20-year-old murals at her shell shop. Eva, who had long admired the fading murals of happy vacationers at the seaside, readily agreed.

I make this drive on U.S. 1 at least twice a week every week on my way from home to work and back again. I’d been watching the murals on these long walls change and turn to Technicolor for the past month, wondering what dedicated soul would take on such a project. One day, seeing an artist covered in paint and sporting a wide-brimmed hat under the brutal Florida sun, I made an abrupt U-turn to meet this Michelangelo of the shell shop. That’s when I encountered Eva Bilinski. Eva moved from California to Singer Island years ago to be closer to her parents. Her Master’s of Fine Arts

Four months, gallons of paint and dozens of brushes later, her task is definitely a labor of love and, as Eva says, “sort of an obsession.” She was surprised how quickly the rough, porous surface chewed up brushes and drank in gallons of paint. But the rewards are outstanding. As she paints, those passing by regularly stop to tell her how much they appreciate the murals and her hard work. She mentions that she’s met some interesting characters through the weeks and months; people from all walks of life. Once again art has become the great leveler; a form of human expression for all to experience.

26

|

art&culture

Art in Unexpected PlacesRK:Layout 1

9/22/08

8:58 AM

Page 27

{upfront - ar t in unexpected places}

Virginia says she originally had these murals painted by Omeara as a way to attract business and differentiate her shop from others. Virginia says, “I was extremely lucky to run into artists who helped with the mural. This old mural lasted 20 years and so if this one does too…” She hopes to be in her Riviera Beach location for many years to come, although the neighborhood has changed dramatically all around her over the years.

These stunning, bright, upbeat murals represent so many of the best things about artists, public art and community—economic development, revitalization of a neighborhood, public commentary, a sense of community. Eva pays homage to the original artist, staying true to his designs and story, but she’s added to the paintings as well. She views her work with humility and with pride. She knows she is part of the continuum of this work of art and she respects the weighty responsibility of improving what’s there, for Virginia’s sake and for the sake of the community. So, when you see it, look for the myriad sea creatures like jellyfish, rays, puffer fish, and turtles—these are Eva’s inventions. And look closely at some of the faces. Eva brings her portraiture ability to the murals with likenesses of Virginia and her sister from years ago.

I find these images nostalgic, harkening back to another era, and the style reveals that history. The images compel you to stop, flip flops covered in sand, and search for your own Florida souvenir, a treasure from the sea that doubtless will bring you as much joy as the people in the murals express.

I can almost close my eyes and imagine my family driving in my dad’s old two-door Fiat, me at age 5 curled up in the back—an area euphemistically referred to as a seat but actually so small it was only fit for a small child or canine the size of a Chihuahua. We’d been driving two days from Texas to get to Florida so we might visit Phil and Lucy Nazro and their kids; especially Francie, my best friend. No one told me that smart people visit Florida in the winter, and Texans don’t care anyway. We can fry eggs on the sidewalk in the summer, so the ocean breezes are a great surprise. And, like most kids, I am certain I uttered those dreaded words, “Are we there yet?” At which point, dad would have pulled over at a shell shop, much like Virginia’s, to give some much-needed relief to the road-weary. And, there I’d find a treasure, a dried starfish I preserved and loved for many years.

I wonder where that darn thing went? I’ll have to stop at Shell City soon for a replacement—and an infusion of memories, like a cleansing breath of fresh ocean air, brought on by art in yet another unexpected place.

art&culture

|

27

portrait_new:Layout 1

9/23/08

11:51 AM

Page 28

The Art Lady Sharon Koskoff paints a picture of the five big things in her life: Art Deco, murals, the community, kids and needlepoint

By Kaci L. Winter

S

haron Koskoff wears many hats; she is uncategorizable and refuses to fit into any one box. Artist, preservationist, author, teacher, tour guide, entrepreneur—the list goes on.

Although she founded the Art Deco Society of the Palm Beaches (ADSPB) in 1987, this Renaissance woman does not play the role of administrator. “Physical working artist, murals, scaffolding, risking,” she explains. “That is how I chose to make money—through my physical labor.”

Koskoff grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude with an emphasis in

28

|

art&culture

sculpture and photography from Brooklyn College and then earned a master’s in color theory from the New York School of Interior Design.

Working at a needlepoint store for eight years allowed Koskoff to hone her skills as a colorist. Her designs there soon began to reflect the Art Deco architecture present in her surroundings (i.e., the Chrysler Building and Empire State Building), leading her to join the Art Deco Society of New York in the early 1980s.

portrait_new:Layout 1

9/22/08

8:56 AM

Page 29

While Miami is a mecca of Art Deco, when Koskoff relocated to Florida in 1985, she made her new home in Delray Beach. A year later, she became affiliated with the Miami Design Preservation League and its president, Barbara Capitman, who convinced Koskoff to create a preservation society, saying, “You have to start the Art Deco Society of the Palm Beaches.”

“I was always an artist … I painted my first mural at 14 … I only knew how to make art and sell art,” Koskoff says. However, with the help and guidance of Capitman, Koskoff learned how to start and run a not-for-profit successfully. “People responded to the call to begin an Art Deco society,” she says, and they have been working to preserve buildings in Palm Beach County ever since.

Creator of ADSPB is but one legacy Koskoff has imparted on Palm Beach County. Author of “Art Deco of the Palm Beaches”—a book that takes readers through the county and not only shows them local Art Deco landmarks, but teaches them the tell-tale signs of the era’s architecture and art—

Door Project with the Cultural Loop of Delray Beach is taken down after its six-month contract.

Going hand in hand with her passion for murals, Koskoff is known for spearheading many public arts programs and rallying the support of other artists and volunteers. Currently she is the chairperson for the Public Arts Advisory Board of Delray Beach, and she was a recipient of the Cultural Council’s Neighborhood Artist in Residency Program (NARP), now the Category A Grant, for eight consecutive years. During the first season in 1993-94, Koskoff, along with 75 volunteers and 20 sponsors, brought to life a 14-foot-high by 67-foot-wide mural titled “Love’s Drug” in Delray Beach. “It was where I really learned how to involve the community through volunteers, sponsorship, meeting places, donations … the goal was to organize the community in a multicultural area,” she explains.

Koskoff has also spent the last 20 years teaching youths every Saturday—15 years at the Armory Art Center and the past five

Koskoff is known for giving tours throughout the county of Art Deco locales, her murals and other artistically oriented regional treasures. It is Koskoff’s hope that when her days as a mural artist are over, she can focus her life on art and architecture tours, even utilizing the book for location-specific tours.

As a mural artist, Koskoff has adorned the walls of many Palm Beach County schools as well as the Palm Beach International Airport with artwork that ranges from tropical oases to the celebration of Art Deco. Koskoff explains, “I love when things develop right on the wall. It’s not finished until it is finished.

Everything changes as you go along.” These words illustrate her acceptance of how life as a mural artist and community artist works. “Murals get destroyed. Art can be forever or it may not be.” This Zen-like approach allows Koskoff to be content when one of her murals is painted over or the Open

years at Old School Square. “I love the kids’ energy and now … after painting all week and running an organization and volunteering, I have to have my time with the kids,” she explains.

Teaching and inspiring kids in her classrooms is but one way of engaging their young imaginations. Koskoff also gets them physically involved when she is working on a school mural or at a public arts event such as the annual Lake Worth Street Painting Festival, where she is known to pull kids off the street to help create these temporary works of art.

At heart, Koskoff is a communicator—it is why she loves giving the tours and teaching people about Art Deco and painting murals in schools and working on public art projects and with the kids. Art inspires conversations and even when it involves controversy, Koskoff says, “controversy over art increases dialog and that’s OK, too.”

Pictured on opposite page: A female merchant mariner painted on a fire hydrant by Sharon Koskoff as part of a collaborative effort for the Veterans Day Parade in Lake Worth. Pictured above, from left to right: Mural at YMCA in Boca Raton, book signing at Lake Worth Playhouse, Pineapple Grove’s Take it Easel art event with Old School Square youths and the new Lake Worth Playhouse marquee designed by Koskoff.

For more information, visit www.bysharon.com or www.artdecopb.org.

art&culture

|

29

Profile - Cultural Council 30 yearsRK.AL:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:16 AM

Page 30

1916 COURTHOUSE - RICHARD & PAT JOHNSON PALM BEACH COUNTY MUSEUM • ACADEMIC HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS • ACADEMY OF DANCE, MUSIC & THEATRE • ADOLPH AND ROSE LEVIS ARTS • ALLIANCE FOR COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT AT THE BORLAND CENTER • AMERICAN GERMAN CLUB OF THE PALM BEACHES • AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS - PALM BEACH COUNTY CHAPT • ARMORY ART CENTER • ART & CULTURE GROUP • ART DECO SOCIETY OF THE PALM BEACHES • ARTHUR R. MARSHALL FOUNDATION • ARTISTS OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • ARTISTS SHOWCASE OF FLORIDA • AUDUBON SOCIETY OF THE EVERGLADES • BAK MIDDLE SCHOOL OF THE ARTS • BALLET FLORIDA • BANYAN SPRINGS ART CLUB • BELLE GLADE BRANCH LIBRARY • BELLE GLAD CONSERVANCY • BOB CARTER’S ACTOR’S WORKSHOP & REPERTORY COMPANY • BOCA BALLET THEATRE • BOCA MUSEUM ARTIST’S GUILD • BOCA RATON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE • BOCA RATO SYMPHONIA • BOCA RATON PUBLIC LIBRARY • BOCA RATON THEATRE GUILD • BOYNTON BEACH CITY LIBRARY • BOYNTON BEACH CIVIC CENTER • BOYNTON BEACH HISTORICAL SOCIETY • REYNOLDS AND FRIENDS MUSEUM • CALDWELL THEATRE COMPANY • CARIBBEAN-AMERICAN FOR COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT • CASON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH • CATHEDRAL OF ST. IGN CENTRO CULTURAL LATINOAMERICANO • CERAMIC LEAGUE OF THE PALM BEACHES INC. • CHILDREN’S COALITION • CHILDREN’S MUSEUM • CHILDREN’S SCIENCE EXPLORIUM - SUGAR SAND PAR PRINCE THEATRE • CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS/GARDENSART • CITY OF WEST PALM BEACH COMMUNITY EVENTS DIVISION • CLARENCE E. ANTHONY BRANCH - PALM BEACH COUTNY • CLUB S • CUILLO CENTRE FOR THE ARTS • CYMPOZIUM • DAGGERWING NATURE CENTER • DANCE ACADEMY OF BOCA RATON • DANCE UNLIMITED • DELRAY BEACH CHORALE • DELRAY BEACH CU PUBLIC LIBRARY • DELTA HERITAGE FOUNDATION • DOLLY HAND CULTURAL ARTS CENTER • DUNCAN THEATRE AT PALM BEACH COMMUNITY COLLEGE • EBONY CHORALE • EISSEY CAMPUS THEATRE A • FAU- LIFELONG LEARNING SOCIETY • FELLOWSHIP OF RECONCILIATION • FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH • FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH LAKE WORTH • FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF TEQUESTA & LETTERS • FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY/WILKES HONORS COLLEGE • FLORIDA CLASSICAL BALLET THEATRE AT THE ESTHER CENTER • FLORIDA STAGE • FLORIDA SUNSHINE POPS ORCHESTRA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION • GLOBAL STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS • GOLD COAST CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL • GRASSY WATERS FESTIVAL - PAHOKEE CHAMBER OF CO PIANO COMPETITIONS • GUMBO LIMBO ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLEX • HAITIAN CULTURAL SOCIETY OF THE PALM BEACHES • HARID CONSERVATORY • HENRY MORRISON FLAGLER MUSEUM • H FLORIDA • IKENOBO IKEBANA SOCIETY OF SOUTH FLORIDA • IL CIRCOLO/ITALIAN CULTURAL SOCIETY • INNISFREE IRISH THEATRE COMPANY • INSPIRIT, INC. • INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S MUSE SOCIETY OF PALM BEACH • JEWISH ARTS FOUNDATION • JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF THE GREATER PALM BEACHES • JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN SERVICES • JEWISH FEDERATION OF PALM BE AND RECREATION • JUPITER TOWN HALL GALLERY OF ART • KIDS IN NEW DIRECTIONS (KIND) • KLEIN DANCE • LAKE PARK COMMUNITY AFFAIRS • LAKE PARK PUBLIC LIBRARY • LAKE WORTH A METHODIST CHURCH • LANTANA PUBLIC LIBRARY • LANTANA RECREATION DEPARTMENT • LATIN AMERICAN IMMIGRANT & REFUGEE ORGANIZATION (LAIRO) • LEVIS JEWISH COMMUNITY CEN LOXAHATCHEE NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION • LOXAHATCHEE PRESERVE NATURE CENTER - GRASSY WATERS PRESERVE • LYNN UNIVERSITY - CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC • LYRIC THEATRE • MA BALLET • MIDDLE SCHOOL OF THE ARTS • MILAGRO CENTER • MORIKAMI MUSEUM & JAPANESE GARDENS • MOUNTS BOTANICAL GARDEN • MUSEUM OF LIFESTYLE & FASHION HISTORY • MUSE ARTISTS • NATIONAL LEAGUE OF AMERICAN PEN WOMEN - BOCA RATON BRANCH • NATIONAL MUSEUM OF POLO AND HALL OF FAME • NEW GARDENS BAND • NEW SYNAGOGUE OF PALM BEA COMMUNITY CENTER • NORTH PALM BEACH LIBRARY • NORTH PALM BEACH RECREATION DEPARTMENT NORTHERN PALM BEACH COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE - ARTIGRAS • NORTHERN PA

By Leon M. •Rubin • OLD SCHOOL SQUARE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER • OLYMPIC HEIGHTS PERFORMING ARTS THEATER • ORGANIZACION CULTURAL CHILENA • OUR SAVIOR LUTHERAN CHURCH • PAHOKEE PARKS BALLET CENTER • PALM BEACH CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL • PALM BEACH COUNTY ART TEACHERS ASSOCIATION • PALM BEACH COUNTY FOLK CLUB • PALM BEACH COUNTY LITERACY COALITION COUNTY PARKS AND RECREATION • PALM BEACH COUNTY QUILTERS GUILD • PALM BEACH COUNTY REGIONAL PRESERVATION OFFICE • PALM BEACH DRAMAWORKS • PALM BEACH ENAMEL GUI • PALM BEACH JAZZ FESTIVAL • PALM BEACH MARITIME MUSEUM • PALM BEACH OPERA • PALM BEACH PHOTOGRAPHIC CENTRE • PALM BEACH POETRY FESTIVAL, INC. • PALM BEACH POPS • SOCIETY, INC. • PALM BEACH ZOO AT DREHER PARK • PALM SPRINGS PUBLIC LIBRARY • PALMBEACH3 • PALMS WEST CHILDRENS THEATRE • PICCOLO OPERA COMPANY • PINE GROVE ELEM PLEASANT CITY FAMILY REUNION COMMITTEE • POETS OF THE PALM BEACHES • PRESERVATION FOUNDATION OF PALM BEACH • PROCER ORGANIZATION • PUERTO RICAN CULTURAL SOCIETY O PARKS AND RECREATION • RIVIERA BEACH PUBLIC LIBRARY • ROOTS CULTURAL FESTIVAL • ROSARIAN ACADEMY • ROYAL PALM BEACH BRANCH LIBRARY • ROYAL PALM BEACH PARKS AND REC CHURCH • SALLY BENNETT BIG BAND HALL OF FAME MUSEUM • SANDOWAY HOUSE NATURE CENTER • SCHMIDT CENTER GALLERY & RITTER ART GALLERY • SCHOOL OF THE ARTS FOUNDATION (SO OF THE FOUR ARTS • SOGETSU IKEBANA SCHOOL • SOL CHILDREN THEATRE TROUPE • SOUND ADVICE AMPHITHEATRE • SOUTH FLORIDA FAIR AND PALM BEACH COUNTY EXPOSITIONS • SOUTH FLO GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH • STEINWAY PIANO GALLERY • STREET PAINTING FESTIVAL • SUGAR SAND PARK • SUNCOAST HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION • SUNFEST OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • S RECREATION DEPARTMENT • THE ARTISTS’ GUILD, INC. • THE CAREING FOUNDATION • THE COLONY HOTEL, ROYAL ROOM CABARET • THE HARRIET HIMMEL THEATER FOR CULTURAL & PERFORMIN URBAN LEAGUE OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • VILLAGE ARTS ACADEMY-NORTHWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH • VILLAGE OF ROYAL PALM BEACH CULTURAL CENTER • VILLAGE PLAYERS • VOICES OF PRID • WEST ATLANTIC AVENUE BRANCH LIBRARY • WEST BOCA THEATRE COMPANY • WEST BOYNTON BRANCH LIBRARY • WEST PALM BEACH PUBLIC LIBRARY • WEST PALM BEACH RECREATION • BEACHES • YOUTH ORCHESTRA OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • YWCA OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • 1916 COURTHOUSE - RICHARD & PAT JOHNSON PALM BEACH COUNTY MUSEUM • ACADEMIC HIGH SC • AFRICAN CARIBBEAN ENTERTAINMENT • ALEXANDER W. DREYFOOS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS • ALLIANCE FOR COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT AT THE BORLAND CENTER • AMERICAN GERMAN CLUB OF TH GARDENS • AQUA TONES VOCAL ENSEMBLE • ARGENTINA ARTS ORGANIZATION • ARMORY ART CENTER • ART & CULTURE GROUP • ART DECO SOCIETY OF THE PALM BEACHES • ARTHUR R. MA • ARTSTART, INC. • ASOCIATION URUGUAYA DE WEST PALM BEACH • ASPIRA OF FLORIDA • AUDUBON SOCIETY OF THE EVERGLADES • BAK MIDDLE SCHOOL OF THE ARTS • BALLET FLORIDA • BLOWING ROCKS MUSIC FESTIVAL • BLOWING ROCKS PRESERVE/THE NATURE CONSERVANCY • BOB CARTER’S ACTOR’S WORKSHOP & REPERTORY COMPANY • BOCA BALLET THEATRE • BOCA MUSEUM OF ART • BOCA RATON PARKS & RECREATION • BOCA RATON PHILHARMONIC SYMPHONIA • BOCA RATON PUBLIC LIBRARY • BOCA RATON THEATRE GUILD • BOYNTON BEACH CITY • BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • BRYANT PARK BANDSHELL • BURT REYNOLDS AND FRIENDS MUSEUM • CALDWELL THEATRE COMPANY • CARIBBEAN-AMERICAN FOR COMMUN AND HOLISTIC APPROACHES (CETHA) • CENTRE FOR THE ARTS AT MIZNER PARK • CENTRO CULTURAL LATINOAMERICANO • CERAMIC LEAGUE OF THE PALM BEACHES INC. • CHILDREN’S COALIT (C.R.O.S.) • CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH RECREATION DEPARTMENT • CITY OF PAHOKEE PRINCE THEATRE • CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS/GARDENSART • CITY OF WEST PALM BEACH COMMUNI CENTER OF COLEMAN PARK • CORE ENSEMBLE • CRESTWOOD PERFORMING ARTS LEAGUE • CUILLO CENTRE FOR THE ARTS • CYMPOZIUM • DAGGERWING NATURE CENTER • DANCE ACADEMY • DELRAY BEACH HISTORICAL SOCIETY • DELRAY BEACH PLAYHOUSE • DELRAY BEACH PUBLIC LIBRARY • DELTA HERITAGE FOUNDATION • DOLLY HAND CULTURAL ARTS CENTER • DUNCAN THEAT • EXPANDING & PRESERVING OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE (EPOCH) • FANTASMA PRODUCTIONS • FAU- LIFELONG LEARNING SOCIETY • FELLOWSHIP OF RECONCILIATION • FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH • CHURCH OF JUPITER-TEQUESTA • FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY SCHMIDT COLLEGE OF ARTS & LETTERS • FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY/WILKES HONORS COLLEGE • FLORIDA CLASSICAL BALLET DANCE SCHOOL • GLADE HISTORICAL SOCIETY - LAWRENCE E. WILL MUSEUM. • GLADES COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION • GLOBAL STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS • GOLD C GRUPO FOLKLORE LATINO • GUATEMALAN-MAYA CENTER • GUILD FOR INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITIONS • GUMBO LIMBO ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLEX • HAITIAN CULTURAL SOCIETY OF THE • HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • HORTICULTURE SOCIETY OF SOUTH FLORIDA • IKENOBO IKEBANA SOCIETY OF SOUTH FLORIDA • IL CIRCOLO/ITALIAN CULTURAL SOCIETY • JAMAICANS OF THE PALM BEACHES • JAMES E. BUFFAN GOLD BAND • JAZZ ARTS MUSIC SOCIETY OF PALM BEACH • JEWISH ARTS FOUNDATION • JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF THE GREATER PA • JUPITER DANCE ACADEMY • JUPITER INLET LIGHTHOUSE & MUSEUM • JUPITER PARKS AND RECREATION • JUPITER TOWN HALL GALLERY OF ART • KIDS IN NEW DIRECTIONS (KIND) • KLEIN DANC WORTH PUBLIC LIBRARY • LAKE WORTH RECREATION DEPARTMENT • LAKESIDE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH • LANTANA PUBLIC LIBRARY • LANTANA RECREATION DEPARTMENT • LATIN AMERIC THEATRE • LOGGERHEAD MARINELIFE CENTER • LOULA V. YORK BRANCH LIBRARY • LOXAHATCHEE NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION • LOXAHATCHEE PRESERVE NATURE CENTER - GRASSY WATERS PR COMMITTEE • MASTERWORKS CHORUS OF THE PALM BEACHES • MIAMI CITY BALLET • MIDDLE SCHOOL OF THE ARTS • MILAGRO CENTER • MORIKAMI MUSEUM & JAPANESE GARDENS • MOUN NATHAN D. ROSEN MUSEUM GALLERY • NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN ARTISTS • NATIONAL LEAGUE OF AMERICAN PEN WOMEN - BOCA RATON BRANCH • NATIONAL MUSEUM OF POLO A INSTITUTE INC. • NORTH COUNTY REGIONAL LIBRARY • NORTH PALM BEACH COMMUNITY CENTER • NORTH PALM BEACH LIBRARY • NORTH PALM BEACH RECREATION DEPARTMENT • NORTHE ART • OKEECHOBEE BOULEVARD BRANCH LIBRARY • OKEEHEELEE NATURE CENTER • OLD SCHOOL SQUARE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER • OLYMPIC HEIGHTS PERFORMING ARTS THEATER • ORGANIZA BEACH ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY - SCHOOL OF MUSIC & FINE ARTS • PALM BEACH BALLET CENTER • PALM BEACH CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL • PALM BEACH COUNTY ART TEACHERS ASSOCIATION • PAL • PALM BEACH COUNTY MUSIC TEACHERS ASSOCIATION • PALM BEACH COUNTY PARKS AND RECREATION • PALM BEACH COUNTY QUILTERS GUILD • PALM BEACH COUNTY REGIONAL PRESER GARDENS PARK AND RECREATION • PALM BEACH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL • PALM BEACH JAZZ FESTIVAL • PALM BEACH MARITIME MUSEUM • PALM BEACH OPERA • PALM BEACH PHOTO STEELPLAN FESTIVAL • PALM BEACH THEATER GUILD • PALM BEACH WATERCOLOR SOCIETY, INC. • PALM BEACH ZOO AT DREHER PARK • PALM SPRINGS PUBLIC LIBRARY • PALMBEACH3 • PAL GROVE MAIN STREET • PLEASANT CITY COMMUNITY/MULTICULTURAL CENTERS • PLEASANT CITY FAMILY REUNION COMMITTEE • POETS OF THE PALM BEACHES • PRESERVATION FOUNDATION OF PA CENTER FOR THE ARTS • RESOURCE DEPOT • RIVIERA BEACH PARKS AND RECREATION • RIVIERA BEACH PUBLIC LIBRARY • ROOTS CULTURAL FESTIVAL • ROSARIAN ACADEMY • R 30 PERFORMING art&culture CHAPEL • ROYAL POINCIANA PLAYHOUSE • SAINT GREGORY’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH • SALLY BENNETT BIG BAND HALL OF FAME MUSEUM • SANDOWAY HOUSE NATURE CENTER • SCHMIDT CENTE • SOCIETY OF CHILDRENS BOOK WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS • SOCIETY OF THE FOUR ARTS • SOGETSU IKEBANA SCHOOL • SOL CHILDREN THEATRE TROUPE • SOUND ADVICE AMPHITHEATRE • LIBRARY • SPADY CULTURAL HERITAGE MUSEUM - E.P.O.C.H. • ST. CATHERINE’S GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH • STEINWAY PIANO GALLERY • STREET PAINTING FESTIVAL • SUGAR SAND PARK • SU

Place

at theTable th

Observations on the

Anniversary of the

Palm Beach County Cultural Council

|

Profile - Cultural Council 30 yearsRK.AL:Layout 1

9/23/08

12:20 PM

Page 31

OLPH AND ROSE LEVIS JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER • AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL ARTS ORGANIZATION • AFRICAN CARIBBEAN ENTERTAINMENT • ALEXANDER W. DREYFOOS SCHOOL OF THE EACH COUNTY CHAPTER • AMERICAN ORCHID SOCIETY • AMERICAN POLISH CLUB • ANN NORTON SCULPTURE GARDENS • AQUA TONES VOCAL ENSEMBLE • ARGENTINA ARTS ORGANIZATION • ARTISTS SHOWCASE OF THE PALM BEACHES • ARTISTS’ GUILD • ARTS FOR A COMPLETE EDUCATION • ARTSTAGE • ARTSTART, INC. • ASOCIATION URUGUAYA DE WEST PALM BEACH • ASPIRA RARY • BELLE GLADE PARKS & RECREATION • BETHESDA-BY-THE-SEA EPISCOPAL CHURCH • BLACK GOLD JUBILEE • BLOWING ROCKS MUSIC FESTIVAL • BLOWING ROCKS PRESERVE/THE NATURE MERCE • BOCA RATON COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT • BOCA RATON HISTORICAL SOCIETY • BOCA RATON MUSEUM OF ART • BOCA RATON PARKS & RECREATION • BOCA RATON PHILHARMONIC STORICAL SOCIETY • BOYNTON BEACH LEISURE SERVICES • BOYNTON REGIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • BRYANT PARK BANDSHELL • BURT ATHEDRAL OF ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA • CENTER FOR CREATIVE EDUCATION • CENTER FOR EDUCATION, TRAINING AND HOLISTIC APPROACHES (CETHA) • CENTRE FOR THE ARTS AT MIZNER PARK • M - SUGAR SAND PARK • CHORAL SOCIETY OF THE PALM BEACHES • CHRISTIANS REACHING OUT TO SOCIETY (C.R.O.S.) • CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH RECREATION DEPARTMENT • CITY OF PAHOKEE CH COUTNY • CLUB SINGERS • COASTMEN CHORUS - PALM BEACH COUNTY • COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER OF COLEMAN PARK • CORE ENSEMBLE • CRESTWOOD PERFORMING ARTS LEAGUE • DELRAY BEACH CULTURAL ALLIANCE • DELRAY BEACH CULTURAL LOOP • DELRAY BEACH FILM FESTIVAL • DELRAY BEACH HISTORICAL SOCIETY • DELRAY BEACH PLAYHOUSE • DELRAY BEACH EY CAMPUS THEATRE AT PALM BEACH COMMUNITY COLLEGE • ETTA RESS CENTER FOR LIFETIME LEARNING • EXPANDING & PRESERVING OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE (EPOCH) • FANTASMA PRODUCTIONS CHURCH OF TEQUESTA • FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF BOCA RATON • FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF JUPITER-TEQUESTA • FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY SCHMIDT COLLEGE OF ARTS E POPS ORCHESTRA • FRIENDS OF WESTERN COMMUNITIES CENTER FOR THE ARTS • FUJIMA JAPANESE DANCE SCHOOL • GLADE HISTORICAL SOCIETY - LAWRENCE E. WILL MUSEUM. • GLADES KEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE • GREATER PALM BEACH SYMPHONY • GREENACRES BRANCH LIBRARY • GRUPO FOLKLORE LATINO • GUATEMALAN-MAYA CENTER • GUILD FOR INTERNATIONAL AGLER MUSEUM • HIGHLAND BEACH LIBRARY • HISPANIC FEST • HISPANIC HUMAN RESOURCES COUNCIL • HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • HORTICULTURE SOCIETY OF SOUTH AL CHILDREN’S MUSEUM • INTERNATIONAL FINE ART EXPOSITIONS • INTERNATIONAL ORCHID CENTER • JAMAICANS OF THE PALM BEACHES • JAMES E. BUFFAN GOLD BAND • JAZZ ARTS MUSIC ERATION OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • JOHN D. MACARTHUR BEACH STATE PARK • JUPITER BRANCH LIBRARY • JUPITER DANCE ACADEMY • JUPITER INLET LIGHTHOUSE & MUSEUM • JUPITER PARKS RY • LAKE WORTH ART LEAGUE • LAKE WORTH PIONEER ASSOCIATION • LAKE WORTH PLAYHOUSE • LAKE WORTH PUBLIC LIBRARY • LAKE WORTH RECREATION DEPARTMENT • LAKESIDE UNITED SH COMMUNITY CENTER • LIGHTHOUSE CENTER FOR THE ARTS • LION COUNTRY SAFARI • LOCOMOTION THEATRE • LOGGERHEAD MARINELIFE CENTER • LOULA V. YORK BRANCH LIBRARY • YRIC THEATRE • MAE VOLEN SENIOR CENTER • MALTZ JUPITER THEATRE • MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. COORDINATING COMMITTEE • MASTERWORKS CHORUS OF THE PALM BEACHES • MIAMI CITY ON HISTORY • MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF LAKE WORTH • MUSIC AT SAINT PAUL’S • MUSIC GUILD OF BOCA RATON • NATHAN D. ROSEN MUSEUM GALLERY • NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN GOGUE OF PALM BEACH • NEW VISTA THEATER COMPANY • NICARAGUAN ASSOCIATION • NONPROFIT RESOURCE INSTITUTE INC. • NORTH COUNTY REGIONAL LIBRARY • NORTH PALM BEACH RAS • NORTHERN PALM BEACHES CULTURAL ALLIANCE INC. • NORTHWOOD UNIVERSITY • NORTON MUSEUM OF ART • OKEECHOBEE BOULEVARD BRANCH LIBRARY • OKEEHEELEE NATURE CENTER H • PAHOKEE PARKS AND RECREATION • PALERMITI OBSERVATORY • PALM BEACH ATLANTIC SYMPHONY • PALM BEACH ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY - SCHOOL OF MUSIC & FINE ARTS • PALM BEACH LITERACY COALITION • PALM BEACH COUNTY MAIN LIBRARY • PALM BEACH COUNTY MUSIC EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION • PALM BEACH COUNTY MUSIC TEACHERS ASSOCIATION • PALM BEACH M BEACH ENAMEL GUILD • PALM BEACH FESTIVAL BALLET • PALM BEACH GARDENS CONCERT BAND • PALM BEACH GARDENS PARK AND RECREATION • PALM BEACH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PALM BEACH POPS • PALM BEACH REPERTORY THEARTRE • PALM BEACH SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL • PALM BEACH STEELPLAN FESTIVAL • PALM BEACH THEATER GUILD • PALM BEACH WATERCOLOR • PINE GROVE ELEMENTARY MAGNET SCHOOL • PINE JOG ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER • PINEAPPLE GROVE MAIN STREET • PLEASANT CITY COMMUNITY/MULTICULTURAL CENTERS • CULTURAL SOCIETY OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • PUPPETRY ARTS CENTER OF THE PALM BEACHES • RAYMOND F. KRAVIS CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS • RESOURCE DEPOT • RIVIERA BEACH EACH PARKS AND RECREATION • ROYAL PALM PERFORMING ARTS THEATRE • ROYAL PLAYHOUSE • ROYAL POINCIANA CHAPEL • ROYAL POINCIANA PLAYHOUSE • SAINT GREGORY’S EPISCOPAL ARTS FOUNDATION (SOAFI) • SCHOOLHOUSE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM • SICKLE CELL FOUNDATION OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • SOCIETY OF CHILDRENS BOOK WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS • SOCIETY SITIONS • SOUTH FLORIDA OPERA COMPANY • SOUTH FLORIDA SCIENCE MUSEUM • SOUTHWEST COUNTY REGIONAL LIBRARY • SPADY CULTURAL HERITAGE MUSEUM - E.P.O.C.H. • ST. CATHERINE’S BEACH COUNTY • SUNSET ENTERTAINMENT GROUP • SUPPORT DANCE • SYMPHONIC BAND OF THE PALM BEACHES • TAKE HEED THEATER COMPANY • TEQUESTA BRANCH LIBRARY • TEQUESTA LTURAL & PERFORMING ARTS AT CITYPLACE • THEATRE WEST • U.B. KINSEY/PALMVIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL OF THE ARTS • UNITED FILIPINO-AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • S • VOICES OF PRIDE - THE GAY MEN’S CHORUS OF THE PALM BEACHES • VSA ARTS OF FLORIDA - PALM BEACH COUNTY • WELLINGTON BRANCH LIBRARY • WELLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS ACH RECREATION • WOMEN IN THE VISUAL ARTS • WRITE NOTE FOUNDATION • YESTERYEAR VILLAGE/SOUTH FLORIDA FAIRGROUNDS • YMCA OF BOCA RATON • YOUNG SINGERS OF THE PALM ACADEMIC HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS • ACADEMY OF DANCE, MUSIC & THEATRE • ADOLPH AND ROSE LEVIS JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER • AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL ARTS ORGANIZATION GERMAN CLUB OF THE PALM BEACHES • AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS - PALM BEACH COUNTY CHAPTER • AMERICAN ORCHID SOCIETY • AMERICAN POLISH CLUB • ANN NORTON SCULPTURE HES • ARTHUR R. MARSHALL FOUNDATION • ARTISTS OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • ARTISTS SHOWCASE OF THE PALM BEACHES • ARTISTS’ GUILD • ARTS FOR A COMPLETE EDUCATION • ARTSTAGE • BALLET FLORIDA • BANYAN SPRINGS ART CLUB • BELLE GLADE BRANCH LIBRARY • BELLE GLADE PARKS & RECREATION • BETHESDA-BY-THE-SEA EPISCOPAL CHURCH • BLACK GOLD JUBILEE • ET THEATRE • BOCA MUSEUM ARTIST’S GUILD • BOCA RATON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE • BOCA RATON COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT • BOCA RATON HISTORICAL SOCIETY • BOCA RATON OYNTON BEACH CITY LIBRARY • BOYNTON BEACH CIVIC CENTER • BOYNTON BEACH HISTORICAL SOCIETY • BOYNTON BEACH LEISURE SERVICES • BOYNTON REGIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA RICAN FOR COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT • CASON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH • CATHEDRAL OF ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA • CENTER FOR CREATIVE EDUCATION • CENTER FOR EDUCATION, TRAINING CHILDREN’S COALITION • CHILDREN’S MUSEUM • CHILDREN’S SCIENCE EXPLORIUM - SUGAR SAND PARK • CHORAL SOCIETY OF THE PALM BEACHES • CHRISTIANS REACHING OUT TO SOCIETY LM BEACH COMMUNITY EVENTS DIVISION • CLARENCE E. ANTHONY BRANCH - PALM BEACH COUTNY • CLUB SINGERS • COASTMEN CHORUS - PALM BEACH COUNTY • COMMUNITY RESOURCE • DANCE ACADEMY OF BOCA RATON • DANCE UNLIMITED • DELRAY BEACH CHORALE • DELRAY BEACH CULTURAL ALLIANCE • DELRAY BEACH CULTURAL LOOP • DELRAY BEACH FILM FESTIVAL ER • DUNCAN THEATRE AT PALM BEACH COMMUNITY COLLEGE • EBONY CHORALE • EISSEY CAMPUS THEATRE AT PALM BEACH COMMUNITY COLLEGE • ETTA RESS CENTER FOR LIFETIME LEARNING T BAPTIST CHURCH • FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH LAKE WORTH • FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF TEQUESTA • FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF BOCA RATON • FIRST UNITED METHODIST A CLASSICAL BALLET THEATRE AT THE ESTHER CENTER • FLORIDA STAGE • FLORIDA SUNSHINE POPS ORCHESTRA • FRIENDS OF WESTERN COMMUNITIES CENTER FOR THE ARTS • FUJIMA JAPANESE OLUTIONS • GOLD COAST CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL • GRASSY WATERS FESTIVAL - PAHOKEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE • GREATER PALM BEACH SYMPHONY • GREENACRES BRANCH LIBRARY • URAL SOCIETY OF THE PALM BEACHES • HARID CONSERVATORY • HENRY MORRISON FLAGLER MUSEUM • HIGHLAND BEACH LIBRARY • HISPANIC FEST • HISPANIC HUMAN RESOURCES COUNCIL ULTURAL SOCIETY • INNISFREE IRISH THEATRE COMPANY • INSPIRIT, INC. • INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S MUSEUM • INTERNATIONAL FINE ART EXPOSITIONS • INTERNATIONAL ORCHID CENTER • ER OF THE GREATER PALM BEACHES • JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN SERVICES • JEWISH FEDERATION OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • JOHN D. MACARTHUR BEACH STATE PARK • JUPITER BRANCH LIBRARY (KIND) • KLEIN DANCE • LAKE PARK COMMUNITY AFFAIRS • LAKE PARK PUBLIC LIBRARY • LAKE WORTH ART LEAGUE • LAKE WORTH PIONEER ASSOCIATION • LAKE WORTH PLAYHOUSE • LAKE ENT • LATIN AMERICAN IMMIGRANT & REFUGEE ORGANIZATION (LAIRO) • LEVIS JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER • LIGHTHOUSE CENTER FOR THE ARTS • LION COUNTRY SAFARI • LOCOMOTION R - GRASSY WATERS PRESERVE • LYNN UNIVERSITY - CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC • LYRIC THEATRE • MAE VOLEN SENIOR CENTER • MALTZ JUPITER THEATRE • MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. COORDINATING E GARDENS • MOUNTS BOTANICAL GARDEN • MUSEUM OF LIFESTYLE & FASHION HISTORY • MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF LAKE WORTH • MUSIC AT SAINT PAUL’S • MUSIC GUILD OF BOCA RATON • MUSEUM OF POLO AND HALL OF FAME • NEW GARDENS BAND • NEW SYNAGOGUE OF PALM BEACH • NEW VISTA THEATER COMPANY • NICARAGUAN ASSOCIATION • NONPROFIT RESOURCE ARTMENT • NORTHERN PALM BEACH COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE - ARTIGRAS • NORTHERN PALM BEACHES CULTURAL ALLIANCE INC. • NORTHWOOD UNIVERSITY • NORTON MUSEUM OF HEATER • ORGANIZACION CULTURAL CHILENA • OUR SAVIOR LUTHERAN CHURCH • PAHOKEE PARKS AND RECREATION • PALERMITI OBSERVATORY • PALM BEACH ATLANTIC SYMPHONY • PALM ASSOCIATION • PALM BEACH COUNTY FOLK CLUB • PALM BEACH COUNTY LITERACY COALITION • PALM BEACH COUNTY MAIN LIBRARY • PALM BEACH COUNTY MUSIC EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION NTY REGIONAL PRESERVATION OFFICE • PALM BEACH DRAMAWORKS • PALM BEACH ENAMEL GUILD • PALM BEACH FESTIVAL BALLET • PALM BEACH GARDENS CONCERT BAND • PALM BEACH PALM BEACH PHOTOGRAPHIC CENTRE • PALM BEACH POETRY FESTIVAL, INC. • PALM BEACH POPS • PALM BEACH REPERTORY THEARTRE • PALM BEACH SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL • PALM BEACH PALMBEACH3 • PALMS WEST CHILDRENS THEATRE • PICCOLO OPERA COMPANY • PINE GROVE ELEMENTARY MAGNET SCHOOL • PINE JOG ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER • PINEAPPLE N FOUNDATION OF PALM BEACH • PROCER ORGANIZATION • PUERTO RICAN CULTURAL SOCIETY OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • PUPPETRY ARTS CENTER OF THE PALM BEACHES • RAYMOND F. KRAVIS RIAN ACADEMY • ROYAL PALM BEACH BRANCH LIBRARY • ROYAL PALM BEACH PARKS AND RECREATION • ROYAL PALM PERFORMING ARTS THEATRE • ROYALart&culture PLAYHOUSE • ROYAL 31 POINCIANA R • SCHMIDT CENTER GALLERY & RITTER ART GALLERY • SCHOOL OF THE ARTS FOUNDATION (SOAFI) • SCHOOLHOUSE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM • SICKLE CELL FOUNDATION OF PALM BEACH COUNTY CE AMPHITHEATRE • SOUTH FLORIDA FAIR AND PALM BEACH COUNTY EXPOSITIONS • SOUTH FLORIDA OPERA COMPANY • SOUTH FLORIDA SCIENCE MUSEUM • SOUTHWEST COUNTY REGIONAL AR SAND PARK • SUNCOAST HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION • SUNFEST OF PALM BEACH COUNTY • SUNSET ENTERTAINMENT GROUP • SUPPORT DANCE • SYMPHONIC BAND OF THE PALM BEACHES

could a lush tropical paradise be viewed as a wasteland?

Three decades ago, that was the prevailing impression of the cultural

landscape of Palm Beach County. Decidedly uncomplimentary phrases like “cultural wasteland” and “cultural desert” were tossed around by transplants accustomed to rich and varied arts communities “back home.”

|

Profile - Cultural Council 30 yearsRK.AL:Layout 1

IT WASN’T EXACTLY TRUE, of course, but as we all know, perception often becomes reality.

Today, anyone using the term “wasteland” had better be talking about the impact of water restrictions on the front lawn. In 2008, we’re teeming with culture in every community throughout our vast and diverse county, which marketers are quick to remind us is bigger than the entire states of Rhode Island and Delaware. We’re proud to state that we are home to more major cultural institutions than any other coastal community from Texas to Virginia.

How did the desert transform into an oasis? Numerous forces have been at work: vision, passion, risk, philanthropy—perhaps even a bit of insanity. And through it all, the Palm Beach County Cultural Council has been a constant presence.

The story of how the Council arrived where it is today has been well documented.

It was founded by Alexander W. Dreyfoos in 1978 as the Palm Beach County Council of the Arts—inspired by the legendary entrepreneur’s need for a calendar of local arts events that he could provide to prospective employees of his growing electronics company.

The organization, which became known as the Palm Beach County Cultural Council in 1992, grew steadily and soundly for its first quarter of a century, primarily under the leadership of former President and CEO Will Ray. The Council’s efforts led to voter approval of a tourism tax in 1982 that has provided millions of dollars in cultural grants. In 2002,

32

|

art&culture

9/22/08

9:18 AM

Page 32

it played a key role in the passage of a $50-million bond issue for cultural and recreational facilities, the impact of which will be felt by residents in every corner of the county for decades to come. And these are just two of the numerous examples of Palm Beach County’s exceptional vision and outstanding support for arts and culture.

Today, the Cultural Council is celebrating its 30th anniversary as a nationally respected non-profit arts agency with a strong reputation for getting things done for—and on behalf of—our local cultural community.

A Major Asset “The Cultural Council has been instrumental in helping the business, government and tourism industries view local cultural opportunities as a major asset in Palm Beach County,” says Mary Csar, executive director of the Boca Raton Historical Society. “The Cultural Council has also played a big role is securing county grant funds for the cultural organizations and in advocating for cultural opportunities/funds on the state and national levels.”

Cora Bresciano, director of foundation and government relations for Florida Stage, observes, “Since our inception as a professional theater company (in 1985), we have seen the veritable establishment of the cultural personality of Palm Beach County.

Most of what now constitutes our cultural landscape either didn’t exist or was in its infancy in the 1980s.” She adds, “The Cultural Council expanded its mandate to

become the primary advocacy organization for the arts in Palm Beach County, to serve as administrator of Tourist Development Council (TDC) funds and to be a major proponent in a vision for strategic planning in arts and culture in Palm Beach County.”

The Palm Beach Opera’s director of marketing, Alexandra Wasil, puts it another way: “An important role for the Cultural Council is to be a ‘cheerleader’ for all cultural organizations in the county while helping to build partnerships that will strengthen the county’s cultural offerings across the board.”

And Michael Hall, artistic director of the Caldwell Theatre Company in Boca Raton since 1975 and one of the county’s most seasoned cultural executives, notes, “There are many more arts organizations now than there were when I was a member of the first (Arts) Council. Over the years the Council has advocated for bed tax monies, created cross-promotional opportunities and developed helpful relationships between business and the arts. Although survival of the arts remains as much a problem as it was 30 years ago, I believe there is a larger percentage of the population aware of the arts than back in the late ‘70s.”

‘Good at What We Do’ Rena Blades—now in her fifth year as president and CEO of the Cultural Council— doesn’t hesitate when asked what the organization does really well. “The key descriptor for me of who we are and what we do is ‘conveners,’ particularly in the areas of making grants, providing training and networking

Profile - Cultural Council 30 yearsRK.AL:Layout 1

opportunities and fostering collaboration.

I think we’re very good at this, and it serves a very important purpose.

“We’re very good at marketing cultural tourism; we’re recognized for that nationally,” she continues, citing the upcoming Cultural and Heritage Tourism Alliance Conference that will take place this N ovember in Palm Beach County as an example. “And we’re becoming very good— again because we’re conveners—at bringing cultural organizations and the educational community together to work collaboratively.”

From the perspective of Bill N ix, a 10-year Cultural Council staff member who now serves as vice president of marketing and government affairs, the Council’s growth has been constant and methodical—both in terms of size and in the number of people served and services offered. “The Cultural Council has grown in lockstep with the growth of the industry,” he says. “We have blossomed over the last 10 years. We took advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves. We went in and sat down at the table—whether people invited us or not. We’ve made our case and have become a stronger partner in the growth and development of our county.”

Blades and Nix cite several recent Council accomplishments as further evidence of its continuing evolution, including: • The development of a five year strategic plan. “We’re following it and ahead of schedule in many ways,” Blades says.

• Introduction of the Muse Awards program to recognize cultural excellence

9/22/08

9:18 AM

Page 33

in the community.

• Reinvigorating the Council’s membership program with events such as the successful series of Culture & Cocktails conversations in the fall and winter.

• Assembling a staff of highly qualified arts administration professionals, including the Council’s first director of arts and cultural education.

• Ongoing support for individual artists through the five-county South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship for Visual and Media Artists and the Council’s own Artist-in-

a central role in nurturing the growth of many cultural organizations during that time,” says Brian Bixler, Director of Public Relations for the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. “The Kravis Center is a direct result of the formation of a county cultural council. When Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. became founding chairman of the Palm Beach County Council of the Arts in 1978, the organization conducted a ‘needs’ survey. It was determined that a performing arts center was a high priority. A fundraising effort began to build such a facility”—the Kravis—which

proud to state that we are home to more major cultural institutions than any other coastal community from Texas to Virginia.

We’re

Residency grant program, which makes it possible for artists and cultural organizations to work on collaborative projects.

• The extremely positive response to this magazine, art&culture, from readers as well as advertisers.

A Role in Creation Throughout its first 30 years, one of the Cultural Council’s most important roles has been as a facilitator of the creation of other non-profit organizations and institutions that are now part of our cultural way of life.

“The cultural landscape of Palm Beach County has changed tremendously in the last 30 years and the Cultural Council has played

opened its doors in 1992 in West Palm Beach.

Just a few blocks away, there’s a similar story to tell. “The Cultural Council was instrumental in establishing the Armory Art Center,” explains Jim Swope, a 15-year board member. “A group of students and teachers needed a new facility. There was an old Art Deco armory at the south end of Howard Park which was slated for demolition.

The Cultural Council persuaded the city to rent this derelict building at the cost of $10 per year. The Council also persuaded local philanthropist Robert Montgomery to contribute to the venture. This was 22 years ago, and now the Armory building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the

art&culture

|

33

Profile - Cultural Council 30 yearsRK.AL:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:20 AM

Page 34

Economic Impact of the Arts In 2007, Palm Beach County was one of 156 communities that participated in Arts & Economic Prosperity III, a comprehensive study that documented the economic impact of the non-profit

Facilitating Growth

arts and culture industry in 116 cities and counties, 35

Whether or not the Cultural Council was present at the beginning for many organizations, it certainly has been there along the way. “I think the Cultural Council helped to foster the development of many small and emerging organizations—offering guidance and support,” observes Leigh Woodham, theater director of the Dolly Hand Cultural Arts Center in Belle Glade. “I also think the Council has been successful in taking the collective whole of the county’s organizations to create a cultural presence that is strong and marketable.”

Christina Orr-Cahall, director of the Norton Museum of Art, echoes that thought. “With Rena Blades’ and her board’s exceptional leadership, cultural organizations can now be grateful for a better established working relationship with the tourism industry, which is vital to our success.”

N anette W. Lawrenson, executive director of the Loggerhead Marinelife Center (LMC) in Juno Beach, adds, “We credit the Council for playing a significant role in not only the cultural organizations’ opportunities to grow, but more significantly for our ability to grow, which led to a successful $6-million capital campaign and an entirely new campus. The Council continues to support our promotional efforts. Without the initial grant LMC received four years ago, we would never have been able to implement many of our marketing and promotional strategies.”

In fact, the Council’s role in the marketing arena attracts numerous kudos. “The Council has been instrumental in providing affordable opportunities for us to get our message out in a variety of ways, from print and broadcast media to trade shows,” notes Melissa Carter, director of marketing and public relations at Old School Square Cultural Arts Center in Delray Beach. “The cooperative marketing programs supported by the Council have become a model of success.”

multicounty regions and five states—representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia. A few highlights: TOTAL Economic Impact of the Non-profit Arts and Culture Industry in Palm Beach County (Spending by Non-profit Arts and

Culture Organizations and Their Audiences) $209,057,722 Full-Time Equivalent Jobs

4,812

Local Government Revenue

$9,856,000

State Government Revenue

$9,563,000

TOTAL Economic Impact of Spending by Non-profit Arts and Culture Organizations in Palm Beach County $117,112,763 Full-Time Equivalent Jobs

2,752

Local Government Revenue

$6,025,000

State Government Revenue

$5,174,000

TOTAL Economic Impact of Spending by Non-profit Arts and Culture Audiences in Palm Beach County (excluding the cost of $91,944,959

event admission) Full-Time Equivalent Jobs

2,060

Local Government Revenue

$3,831,000

State Government Revenue

$4,389,000

“Understanding and acknowledging the incredible economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture industry, we must always remember their fundamental value. They foster beauty, creativity, originality and vitality. The arts inspire us, soothe us, provoke us, involve us and connect us. But they also create jobs and contribute to the economy.”

—Robert L. Lynch, President and CEO, Americans for the Arts

34

campus boasts three superbly outfitted studio buildings and offers a vital and diversified program of high-quality art instruction.”

|

art&culture

Profile - Cultural Council 30 yearsRK.AL:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:21 AM

Page 35

All About

Also widely acknowledged is the Council’s encouragement of arts education. “The Council has demonstrated extraordinary ability and effectiveness in creating and promoting partnerships among arts and cultural organizations and between them and the school district,” says Reiko Nishioka, director of education for The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens. “Providing the district and the organizations with a central source of information, and an advocate, has substantially reduced the sense of isolation that arts educators previously felt.”

Tribute to the Boards The recipe for the Cultural Council’s success through its first three decades has included many ingredients, but in Rena Blades’ view, there has always been one constant. “Since the beginning, when Alex Dreyfoos and the others sat around and said, ‘Let’s do this,’ we have had the most influential people in Palm Beach County on our board of directors. It’s a board people want to be on. People find the service satisfying and interesting,” she says.

“That helps strengthen the arts and cultural community, because when we need to get something done we have people who are influential and viewed with respect,” she continues. “It’s because of that leadership that we are stable.

Our relationship with county government has always been strong and the board has helped to raise an endowment that allows us to do more programs beyond what the county funds. I think Alex was wise beyond what even he realized at the time.”

As a result, says Bill N ix, “With Rena’s leadership, our outreach into the community and our ability to listen and collaborate across categories—with the school district, the Business Development Board, the county’s economic development structure and others—we are now in a position where we are at the table. As I go around the country, others are doing this too. But I think we as a community are doing it as well as anyone.”

Grants

The Palm Beach County Cultural Council manages four primary grant programs that assist individual artists and organizations: Artist-in-Residency grants, Cultural Tourism Development Fund grants for major cultural organizations, Community Cultural Development Fund grants for small and mid-sized cultural organizations and South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artists Fellowships. In 2006-07, the Council administered grants totaling more than $3.8 million to cultural organizations and artists; the grantee organizations served 3.4 million people.

The Council began making grants in 1984 and has been through 25 grant cycles. During that period, a total of $51,699,785 has been awarded to 178 non-profit cultural organizations through 1,130 individual grants. In addition, $300,000 has been provided through the Artist-in-Residency grant program and another $75,000 has gone to SFCC Fellowship recipients—bringing the total grant dollars awarded by the Cultural Council in the past 25 years to $52,074,785.

The majority of these grants have been made with funds allocated by the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners. The Cultural Council is one of four Tourist Development Council agencies that work collaboratively to encourage tourism in our region. Arts and cultural programs have proven their value in accomplishing this goal year after year.

N ine venerable organizations have received funding from the Cultural Council every year since the beginning of the grants program: Ballet Florida Boca Raton Museum of Art Caldwell Theatre Company Dolly Hand Cultural Arts Center

(Palm Beach Community College) The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens Norton Museum of Art Palm Beach Opera South Florida Science Museum Sunfest of Palm Beach County

art&culture

|

35

CALENDAR-fall 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:14 AM

Page 36

{upfront-calendar} Lynn Ferris, “Joe,” Florida Watercolor Society 2007 award winner

The Florida Watercolor Society’s 37th Juried Exhibition promises a stunning showcase of 100 works by award-winning Florida artists.

Presented in conjunction with the society’s annual conference in mid-September in Delray Beach, the exhibit can be seen from September 4 to November 15 at the Cornell Museum of Art & American Culture. Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave.; (561) 243-7922 or www.oldschool.org.

The rich and full sound of the Palm Beach Atlantic University Symphony will fill the Harriet Himmel Theater at CityPlace during a 7:30 p.m. performance featuring Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 4,” Artunian’s “Trumpet Concerto” with trumpeter Johammee Romero and Benjamin Britten’s “Simple Symphony.”

600 S. Rosemary Ave., West Palm Beach; tickets at (561) 803-2970 or ticketcentral@pba.edu.

Seventy-Seven Dances: Japanese Calligraphy

by Poets, Monks and Scholars, 1568-1868 features two- and three-dimensional objects displaying Japanese calligraphy. On view October 7-November 30 at The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, the works reveal the art of writing during Japan’s Momoyama and Edo Periods.

4000 Morikami Park Road, Delray Beach; (561) 495-0233 or www.morikami.org.

Guest pianist Sergei Babayan and guest conductor Jon Robertson, dean of the Conservatory of Music at Lynn University, will join the Philharmonia Orchestra No. 1 on October 11 and 12 at the Roberts Theatre for concerts featuring compositions by Verdi, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mahler and Rachmaninov. Saint Andrew’s School, 3900 Jog Road, Boca Raton; (561) 237-9000 or www.lynn.edu/tickets.

Richard Morris Hunt Architect (1827-1895), detail from proposed remodeling of State Arsenal for New York Historical Society, New York, NY, 1865; wash on paper, 19 x 24 in.

Prints & Drawings Collection, The Octagon Museum, The American Architectural Foundation, Washington, DC

Parks, Palaces and Public Buildings: Richard Morris Hunt and American Architecture opens the Flagler Museum’s fall season. Continuing through January 4, the exhibit highlights the genius of the man often recognized as “the dean of American architecture”—including his plans for the Southern Entrances to New York’s Central Park.

Cocoanut Row and Whitehall Way, Palm Beach; (561) 655-2833 or www.flaglermuseum.us.

Early Boca Raton resident Imogene Gates plays with toys and friends (c. 1900s).

The Children’s Museum of Boca Raton celebrates the 95th birthday of “Singing Pines”—one of the oldest unaltered structures in the city—with the debut of the museum’s first traveling exhibition. Spotlighting wilderness children of Florida in the early 1900s, the exhibit will be open from October 15-January 10.

498 Crawford Blvd., Boca Raton; (561) 368-6875 or www.cmboca.org.

Join hundreds of volunteers (and student photographers) at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge for a fun-filled morning of harvesting cypress seeds, which later will be germinated and planted to help restore the Everglades. Free admission for harvest participants; RSVP by October 17 to (561) 805-TREE or plantcypress@aol.com. 10216 Lee Road, Boynton Beach; www.artmarshall.org.

36

|

art&culture

Appearance Implant & Laser A&C FALL 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:13 AM

Page 1

Dental Problems on Park Avenue...

Solution found in Jupiter!

Immediate Load Implants by Dr. Wade Harrouff

"I used to play a lot of sports. One day during a game one of my front teeth cracked up to the gum line and had to be taken out. Living in New York City at the time I consulted the best specialist I could find. The doctor gave me a removable partial denture. The false tooth fit on a small flipper partial that I took out when I was sleeping. While flying, I actually lost it twice under the airplane seats!

Frustrated again, I saw a dental surgeon on Park Avenue in Manhattan, and he wanted to file my teeth down for a full bridge, which again I thought was ridiculous. I was spending winters in Florida, and decided the time for a second opinion was now. It was then that I consulted Dr. Harrouff who recommended an Immediate Load Dental Implant. My implant procedure was simple, and done quickly. The implant was surgically inserted and the tooth was attached at the initial visit.

I was out having dinner two hours later!

Dr. Harrouff solved a problem that a Park Avenue Dentist could not! I got what I wanted without sacrificing other teeth. The results are excellent!”

- Jack Casey

Discover Tooth Restoration in a Day with Immediate Placement Dental Implants!

State-Of-The-Art Dentistry and Leading Edge Technology. Our highly trained team provides gentle, compassionate care in all aspects of Cosmetic, Restorative, Implant and General Dentistry.

Visit us for a complimentary consultation and X-rays.

D0150, D0330

Dr. Harrouff has had extensive training in the surgical placement and restoration of dental implants, in the U.S. and Europe. He has placed over 13,000 implants in his 22 years of experience. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee with honors and the Misch Institute of Advanced Implantology. Dr. Harrouff is a member of The American Academy of Implant Dentistry, The American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and The International Congress of Oral Implantologists. He is also an author and lecturer who has appeared on TV, radio, and in published articles about state-of-the-art dentistry. Dr. Harrouff’s appearances include ABC, WPBF Talk Radio, WPTV News and Palm Beach Illustrated.

Dr. Wade Harrouff, D.D.S.

(561) 741-7142 www.harrouff.com

IMPLANTOLOGY IS NOT A RECOGNIZED SPECIALTY BY THE AMERICAN DENTAL ASSOCIATION AND THE FLORIDA BOARD OF DENTISTRY. NEW TREATMENT PROGRAM ONLY. THE PATIENT AND ANY OTHER PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYMENT HAS THE RIGHT TO REFUSE TO PAY, CANCEL PAYMENT, OR BE REIMBURSED FOR ANY SERVICE, EXAMINATION OR TREATMENT WHICH IS PERFORMED AS A RESULT OF AND WITHIN 72 HOURS OF RESPONDING TO THE ADVERTISEMENT FOR FREE, DISCOUNTED OR REDUCED FEE SERVICE, EXAMINATION OR TREATMENT. ANY OFFER OF MONTHLY PAYMENT IS BASE ON CREDIT AND FINANCING APPROVAL.

CALENDAR-fall 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:14 AM

Page 38

{upfront-calendar} Watercolor by Arlene Barton

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the Palm Beach Watercolor Society presents an open juried exhibition featuring diverse works by talented watercolor artists throughout Florida. Opening November 3, the exhibition continues through January 5 in the Crest Theatre at Old School Square Cultural Arts Center. 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach; (561) 243-7922 or www.pbwatercolor.org.

The legendary Judy Collins —who rose to prominence during the folk era—is still going strong. Collins joins Bob Lappin and the Palm Beach Pops on November 6-7 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts (701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach), November 9-11 at FAU’s Kaye Auditorium for the Performing Arts (777 Glades Road, Boca Raton) and November 13 at PBCC’s Eissey Campus Theatre (3160 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens). (561) 832-7677 or www.palmbeachpops.org.

From the creative forces behind Cabaret, Fiddler and Fiorello! comes She Loves Me—an enchanting musical about two bickering coworkers who anonymously write each other through a Lonely Hearts column—and fall in love. The Caldwell Theatre Company’s first production of its 34th season runs November 9 to December 14.

7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton; (561) 241-7432 or www.caldwelltheatre.com.

Deanna Seay in Swan Lake Act II

Miami City Ballet begins its new season

dramatically with the company premiere of George Balanchine’s Swan Lake Act II—the beautiful “White Act” danced to the music of Tchaikovsky. Also on the program from November 14-16 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts are Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments and Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room. 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; (561) 832-7469 or miamicityballet.org.

Boca Raton Theatre Guild

In its continuing effort to encourage and showcase new playwrights, the Boca Raton Theatre Guild performs an original, full-length staged reading of Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One by Judy Klass, directed by Gary Solomons, from November 19-21 at Willow Theatre. Sugar Sand Park, 301 S. Military Trail (just south of Palmetto Park Road), Boca Raton; (561) 347-3948 or www.bocaratontheatreguild.org.

Heidi Mayfield, “The Abstract Woman”

Faculty members at the Lighthouse Center School of Art practice what they teach in a group exhibition that spotlights the diverse mix of techniques and approaches employed by these talented artists. The eclectic exhibition can be seen from November 20 to January 3 with an opening reception November 20 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Gallery Square North. 373 Tequesta Drive, Tequesta; (561) 746-3101 or www.lighthousearts.org.

Boca Ballet Theatre captivates audiences once more with its beloved version of The Nutcracker on November 28-30 at the FAU University Theater. Following both matinee performances of this holiday classic, Boca Ballet hosts a Gingerbread Ball ($6 per person) where children can meet the dancers and receive a goody bag to take home. 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton; (561) 995-0709 or www.bocaballet.org.

38

|

art&culture

CALENDAR-fall 08:Layout 1

9/22/08

10:43 AM

Page 39

{upfront-calendar} A scene from “Where is Moishe?”

Spotlighting a mix of award-winning and acclaimed films from Israel and elsewhere around the world, the 19th Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival celebrates “the ‘reel’ Jewish world through film.” Presented by the Jewish Community Center of the Palm Beaches, this year’s event debuts on December 3 and continues through December 14. Visit www.palmbeachjewishfilm.org for schedules and locations.

In Concertos Revealed at Roberts Theater,

Vadim Gluzman

Principal Conductor Alexander Platt leads the Boca Raton Symphonia in Mozart’s “Symphony No. 38 in D major, K.504, ‘Prague’” and Stravinsky’s “Concerto for Chamber Orchestra in E-flat major, ‘Dumbarton Oaks’” as well as Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto in D major, Op.35,” with violin soloist Vadim Gluzman. Saint Andrew’s School, 3900 Jog Road, Boca Raton; (561) 376-3848 or www.bocasymphonia.org.

The Harid Conservatory’s annual Holiday Dance Performances provide a showcase for the world-class students from the ever-prestigious school. Selections from classical ballet, modern and character dances as well as The Nutcracker fill the entertaining program on December 12-14 at the Countess de Hoernle Theater. Spanish River Community High School, 5100 Jog Road, Boca Raton; (561) 998-8038 or www.harid.edu.

Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto weaves the tale of a woman seduced, a father outraged and a curse fulfilled. The lives of a hunchbacked court jester, his beautiful daughter and a lecherous Duke collide in Palm Beach Opera’s performances of this masterpiece of passion and vengeance on December 12-15 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; (561) 833-7888 or www.pbopera.org.

Ralph Goings (American, 1928 - ), “Red Menu,” 1981, watercolor on paper, 9 1/8 x 10 5/8 in. Boca Raton. Museum of Art Permanent Collection2007.5.7. Bequest of Isadore and Kelly Friedman

Acknowledged as a major movement in American art of the 1970s, photorealism remains a vital and engaging form of expression. In Shock of the Real: Photorealism Revisited, from December 16-March 8, the Boca Raton Museum of Art presents more than 70 paintings by 22 artists—from the pioneering masters to the up-andcoming second generation. 501 Plaza Real, Boca Raton; (561) 392-2500 or www.bocamuseum.org.

Hallelujah! The Masterworks Chorus offers a rousing rendition of Handel’s triumphant Messiah on December 21 at Royal Poinciana Chapel in Palm Beach. The concert features a live orchestra and soloists Jana Young, soprano; Angela Horn, mezzo soprano; Marty Marshall, tenor; and Thomas Barrett, bass. 60 Cocoanut Row, Palm Beach; (561) 845-9696 or www.masterworkschorusofthepalmbeaches.com.

Like Clara’s remarkable Christmas tree, Marie Hale’s The Nutcracker promises to be bigger than you could possibly imagine in Ballet Florida’s annual presentation of the classic ballet. With performances from December 23-28 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, it’s a wonderful way to celebrate the holidays.

701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; (561) 659-2000 or www.balletflorida.org.

art&culture

|

39

Marylin Minter, “Twins,” 2005, 86 x 60 inches, courtesy of Gavlak, West Palm Beach

galleries_new:Layout 1 9/22/08 9:11 AM Page 40

galleries_new:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:11 AM

Page 41

Galleries Galore

By M.M. Cloutier

Palm Beach County’s contemporary art galleries meet the needs of local art enthusiasts and collectors.

Kevro’s Art Bar

Winslow Homer, North Gallery, Eaton Fine Art, installation view

After all of the international dealers based outside the Palm Beaches pack up and go home following Palm Beach County’s premier winter contemporary art fair, Palm Beach3, there’s hardly a contemporary-art void left in their wake.

Three-hundred and sixty-five days a year, the county’s museums showcasing contemporary art are underpinned by more than 35 independent art galleries specializing in contemporary art, a field that globally has been red hot.

“It’s an exciting time for contemporary art in Palm Beach County,” says Timothy Eaton, a long-time art scholar and co-owner of Eaton Fine Art in West Palm Beach. “All of the contemporary art galleries we have share great passion and brio.”

And taken as a whole, those galleries— several of which have helped build stellar collections for clients with a dedicated oneon-one approach—blanket virtually the entire spectrum of contemporary art. That’s significant considering the field’s awesome—and some would say mind-boggling—breadth.

art&culture

|

41

galleries_new:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:11 AM

Page 42

Galleries Galore Contemporary art generally refers to artwork produced since the 1950s (which means auction-block-burning icons such as Picasso, Warhol and others are part of the mix) with an emphasis on works created currently by living artists, whether nationally emerging, mid-career or internationally renowned. In addition to

Dan Christensen “Rhymer #3,” 2004, acrylic on canvas, 58 x 40 inches Elaine Baker Gallery

“South Florida’s art-collector base is extremely sophisticated and that helps attract galleries of a high caliber, which in turn builds an impressive art community,” says Fran Kaufman, director of Palm Beach3. “That feeds right into the cultural pipeline, of course, lifting the level of expectation for all things cultural.”

“South Florida’s art-collector base is extremely sophisticated and that helps attract galleries of a high caliber, which in turn builds an impressive art community,” says Fran Kaufman, director of Palm Beach3. “That feeds right into the cultural pipeline, of course, lifting the level of expectation for all things cultural.” that multi-decade span, championed media have expanded far beyond the sculpture-andpainting tableau to include photography, video, glass, ceramics, fiber and much more.

Palm Beach County’s contemporary art galleries cover all the bases (only a representative handful are highlighted here; see the accompanying listing for more) and in many cases with an aesthetic rivaling N ew York or Los Angeles.

“The legitimacy of the Palm Beach (County) art scene has grown exponentially in recent years,” says Elaine Baker, a veteran South Florida gallerist who opened her eponymous gallery in Boca Raton in 1988. “And in a county renowned for its classic antiques and master works, I’ve seen contemporary art emerge at the forefront.”

Elaine Baker Gallery, where recent exhibitions featured works by Boaz Vaadia, Jun Kaneko,

Hangen Thompson Gallery: (left) Sandra Thompson, “Major Alley,” acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 inches; (right) Cecily Hangen, “Cubex,” acrylic on 12-inch birch wood cubes

“The legitimacy of the Palm Beach (County) art scene has grown exponentially in recent years.

And in a county renowned for its classic antiques and master works, I’ve seen contemporary art emerge at the forefront.”

–Elaine Baker, founder, Elaine Baker Gallery

galleries_new:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:12 AM

Page 43

BEHOLDING GALLERIES GALORE A SAMPLING OF LOCAL GALLERIES THAT FEATURE CONTEMPORARY ARTWORK

Arcature Fine Art 320 Worth Ave., Palm Beach (561) 805-9388 www.arcaturegroup.com Blue Gallery 600 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach (561) 265-0020 www.bluefineart.com ClearView Galleries 6000 Glades Road, Suite 1056 B Boca Raton (561) 361-4932 ClearView Galleries 11345 Legacy Ave., Building D-110 Palm Beach Gardens (561) 622-3700 Donna Tribby Fine Art 1700 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach (561) 714-2669 DTR Modern Galleries 345 Worth Ave., Palm Beach (561) 366-9387 www.dtrmodern.com Eaton Fine Art, Inc. 435 Gardenia St., West Palm Beach (561) 833-4766 www.eatonart.net

“Beauty & the Beast” by Larry Rivers Irving Galleries

Lynn Chadwick and his son Daniel, and Henri Matisse and his great-granddaughter/surrealist-painter Sophie Matisse, represents contemporary master, mid-career and emerging artists and is a noted resource for collectors, museums, designers and corporations.

The gallery—which Baker’s daughter Deborah Sponder, formerly a private dealer in California, joined in 2003—is among five galleries located in Boca’s Gallery Center, including such contemporary-art strongholds as Karen Lynne Gallery, Rosenbaum Contemporary and Habatat, the oldest

contemporary art-glass gallery in the country.

In West Palm Beach, Eaton Fine Art, founded in 1995, has set a contemporary-art gold standard with its multidimensional platform. In addition to educational programs and publishing scholarly catalogs, the gallery presents a diverse range of blue-chip exhibitions—often on historical themes and individual artists from the 19th century to the present—and its sculpture garden showcases large-scale, cutting-edge works by such luminaries as Dennis Oppenheim and Bernar Venet.

Eaton is located in West Palm Beach’s Fine Arts

Elaine Baker Gallery 608 Banyan Trail, Boca Raton (561) 241-3050 www.elainebakergallery.com Fourth Dimension Studio 250 Worth Ave., Palm Beach (561) 835-1399 www.princemonyo.com Galeria of Sculpture 11 Via Parigi, Worth Ave., Palm Beach (561) 659-7557 www.galeriaofsculpture.com Gallery Biba 224A Worth Ave., Palm Beach (561) 651-1371 ww.gallerybiba.com Gallery Five 140 Bridge Road, Tequesta (561) 747-5555 www.galleryfive.com Gavlak 3300 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 4 West Palm Beach (561) 833-0583 www.gavlakprojects.com

Continued on page 45

art&culture

|

43

galleries_new:Layout 1

9/23/08

12:05 PM

Page 44

On a fledgling scale, that sort of critical-mass idea has budded in various incarnations over the years, but often without long-term traction. Most recently, three contemporary art galleries opened within doors of each other in 2005 along West Palm Beach’s South Dixie Antique Row, where complimentary design businesses and restaurants engender a one-stop attraction.

Unfortunately, one of those galleries closed this past summer with plans to relocate elsewhere, but Mulry Fine Art and Gavlak continue to thrive. Combined, they feature works in a variety of media by local, regional and internationally emerging and established artists—Jose Alvarez, Lauren Olitski, Marilyn Minter, Ronald Lusk and others—and they hold joint opening receptions and gallery walks during high season.

Other contemporary art galleries in the area, just outside Antique Row, include longpresent Paul Fisher Gallery, well-known for its representation of famed glass artist Dale Chihuly, plus recent shows featuring nameplate Palm Beach County artists, and relative newcomer Present Global Art, which opened last winter with an exhibition of works

by Mikel Glass.

Courtesy of Ronald Lusk and Mulry Fine Art

Says Mulry Fine Art’s Fecia Mulry, who is considering relocating her gallery but is emphatic about it remaining in Palm Beach County, “I have been directing galleries in Palm Beach County since 1999 when I moved District, spawned in the 1990s in the city’s downtown core and anchored by such major cultural institutions as the Norton Museum of Art, Ballet Florida and the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. Within the district, several independent contemporary art galleries have come and gone—a mere vestige of them is left—hampered by rising lease costs and unrelenting downtown road-repair work inhibiting traffic, among other things.

“With independent galleries, it would be nice to see efforts made to invigorate a designated arts district,” says Richard Frank, a nationally known West Palm Beach-based watercolorist and former curator of education at both the Norton and Boca Raton Museum of Art. “Say you had 8 or 12 galleries, a café, a framing shop and more all within three or four blocks with weekly events. It would be a definite attraction and asset.”

44

|

art&culture

John H. Surovek Gallery, 349 Worth Ave., 8 Via Parigi, Palm Beach

galleries_new:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:12 AM

Page 45

Gasiunasen Gallery 415 Hibiscus Ave., Palm Beach (561) 820-8920 www.gasiunasengallery.com Habatat Galleries 608 Banyan Trail, Boca Raton (561) 241-4544 www.habatatgalleries.com Hangen Thompson Gallery 326 Peruvian Ave., Suite 3, Palm Beach (561) 832-1717 www.hangenthompsongallery.com Holden Luntz Gallery 256 Worth Ave., Gucci Courtyard Palm Beach (561) 805-9550 www.holdenluntz.com Hugh O’Neill Gallery 385 Tequesta Drive, Tequesta (561) 744-2787 www.oneillgalleries.com

Holden Luntz Gallery

to Florida from Los Angeles. … Since then, in terms of independent contemporary art galleries, Palm Beach County’s footprint has definitely grown.”

From a historical standpoint, that growth and evolution takes its cue from the affluent island of Palm Beach, which for decades has been a bastion of contemporary art galleries—and certainly a model for a concentrated, synergistic gallery experience for serious collectors, curious art enthusiasts and window-shoppers alike.

Palm Beach, a skinny barrier island roughly 14 miles long and with a commercial center a small fraction of that, has had more than a dozen contemporary art galleries for years, several of them within steps of each other along Worth Avenue and its vias. Some have prospered for years; those that have shuttered continuously are replaced by newcomers with stature that typically dovetails with Palm Beach’s cachet.

As Eaton points out, if you combine Palm Beach’s and West Palm Beach’s galleries, “I would say we have more diversity, depth and quality in contemporary art than any other area of the same size in the country.”

In addition to galleries focused on established and emerging contemporary artists, such as The Liman Galleries, Palm Beach currently is home to numerous galleries specializing in high-end modern and contemporary masters. Among others: Russeck Gallery, Gasiunasen Gallery, DTR Modern Galleries, Gallery Biba and Irving

Galleries, which has been a key player for decades with works by Larry Rivers, Helen Frankenthaler, Picasso and more.

Of note in Palm Beach is Holden Luntz Gallery, solely focused on photography, which ArtN ews a few years ago hailed as “the medium of the moment” in contemporary art. For years, the gallery has showcased vintage black-and-white master photography, but more recently has keenly moved into exhibitions of large-scale, cutting-edge contemporary color photography—often painterly in its execution—including works by Roberto Edwards, Carol Beck and Harry Benson, perhaps best known for his exclusive pictures of the Beatles.

“There’s a very strong body of artists in Palm Beach County and it’s a real gold mine that gets better and better all the time.

Many of the big collectors in the area are overlooking art right under their noses —art that would make their collections more unique.”

—Curtis Kelly, artist

“The thing about contemporary art,” says Holden Luntz, a go-to photography-market expert, “is that it’s very vital and speaks to the culture that is lived presently. … So much of what we do is help build the careers of living artists who are working now.”

Locally based contemporary artists in Palm Beach County would like to see that spirit permeate more strongly in their own sphere.

Many of the aforementioned galleries have

Irving Galleries 332 Worth Ave., Palm Beach (561) 659-6221 John H. Surovek Gallery 349 Worth Ave., 8 Via Parigi, Palm Beach (561) 832-0422 www.surovekgallery.com Joanne Coia Gallery 65 Pineapple Grove Way, Delray Beach (561) 243-8877 www.joannecoiagallery.com Karen Lynne Gallery East at the Gallery Center 608 Banyan Trail, Boca Raton (561) 995-0985 www.karenlynnegallery.com Kevro’s Art Bar 166 S.E. Second Ave., Delray Beach (561) 278-9675 www.kevroart.com Legacy Fine Art 330 Clematis St., Suite 117 West Palm Beach (561) 651-1156 www.johnlennonartwork.com The Liman Galleries Paramount Building 139 N. County Road, Palm Beach (561) 659-7050 www.limangallery.com Mary Woerner Fine Arts 6107 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach (561) 493-4160 www.marywoernerfinearts.com

Continued on page 47

art&culture

|

45

galleries_new:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:13 AM

Page 46

Galleries Galore

Liman Gallery: art by established and emerging contemporary artists

“We have a full range of contemporary art galleries. Someone coming here can expect to find high-quality contemporary art.

And given that, collectors and art enthusiasts who live here are very lucky.”

—Donna Tribby, Donna Tribby Fine Art

46

|

art&culture

galleries_new:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:13 AM

Page 47

and continue to mount exhibitions of locally based artists—including such artists as Frank, Kathleen Holmes, Luis Montoya, Lusk, Sam Perry, Terre Rybovich and others—and have helped gild their robust careers and place their work in prominent collections.

But galleries devoted primarily to locally based artists are in relatively short supply.

That’s in large part due to a feasibility issue, especially when it comes to artists who are not as well know as the aforementioned: Can the prices—and they vary—local artists’ works command support gallery overhead, including commercial-space rents/leases that don’t come cheap in the county?

It can be done with economy-of-scale ingenuity. My Coffee House in West Palm Beach, for instance, a café/gallery led by two visual-art aficionados, has been nurturing and growing a following since it opened about a year ago with local-artist exhibitions, lectures and occasional music performances. And plans have been moving forward for a close-by N orthwood-area contemporary gallery featuring local artists.

Taking a different tack is Donna Tribby Fine Art, formerly a fixed-location gallery in the county that’s now organizing and curating local-artist exhibitions in various commercial spaces, be it in artists’ studios, rented ware-

Sheila Isham, “Cosmic Earth,” Oasis Series 37, 2001, oil on linen, 40 x 48 inches; Present Global Art

houses or other venues for each show.

“I still represent European artists and other artists outside Palm Beach County, but my focus now is on artists from this area,” says Tribby. “Typically what happens with local contemporary artists is that they get grouped into local group shows and they’re never seen by collectors. So if you have a gallery that is featuring them in solo shows, they get so much more deserved recognition.”

Area artists Tribby has featured in past months include Curtis Kelly, who has recently focused on architectural abstracts and also is represented by a N ew York dealer. “There’s a very strong body of artists in Palm Beach County and it’s a real gold mine that gets better and better all the time,” says Kelly. “Many of the big collectors in the area are overlooking art right under their noses—art that would make their collections more unique. We’ve got homegrown, home-nourished exciting work by very exciting artists.”

And it’s all part of the broad brush-stroke mosaic of the contemporary art-gallery scene in Palm Beach County. “We have a full range of contemporary art galleries—someone coming here can expect to find high-quality contemporary art,” says Tribby. “And given that, collectors and art enthusiasts who live here are very lucky.”

Meyerhoefer Gallery, Inc. 608 Lucerne Ave., Lake Worth (561) 533-5332 www.meyerhoefergallery.com Midtown Payson Galleries 11870 S.E. Dixie Highway, Hobe Sound (772) 546-2999 Mulry Fine Art 3300 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 2 West Palm Beach (561) 228-1006 www.mulryfineart.com My Coffee House Gallery 2036 N. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach (561) 853-5748 www.mycoffeehousegallery.com Onessimo Fine Art 4530 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens (561) 355-8061 www.onessimofineart.com Patricia Cloutier Gallery 377 Tequesta Drive, Tequesta (561) 744-5427 Paul Fisher 433 Flamingo Drive, West Palm Beach (561) 832-5255 www.paulfisher.com Present Global Art 5301 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach (561) 588-1965 www.presentglobalart.com Russeck Gallery 203 Worth Ave., Palm Beach (561) 832-4811 www.russeck.com Rosenbaum Contemporary 608 Banyan Trail, Boca Raton (561) 994-9180 www.rosenbaumcontemporary.com RosettaStone Fine Art Gallery 5080 PGA Blvd., Suite 101 Palm Beach Gardens (561) 691-9594 www.rosettastonefineart.com Serendipity Fine Arts 150 Worth Ave., Suite 225, Palm Beach (561) 655-2642 www.serendipityfinearts.com Studio E. Gallery 4600 PGA Blvd., Suite 101 Palm Beach Gardens (561) 799-3333 www.studioegallery.com Wally Findlay Galleries 165 Worth Ave., Palm Beach (561) 655-2090 www.wallyfindlay.com

art&culture

|

47

WRITTEN WORD:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:24 AM

Page 48

By Chris

tina Wo

od

s do writer y h W “ , ho said h Berger w s a m alm Beac o P h , T n e t s h t li e v singly It was no erged .” Surpri e r e h t —has em ’t g n n s i i h t t i y e n s ecau k for a like to write? B em to lac e s ’t n s ed. We’d e e o r b d e h r c i a r h w r this ething County— ground fo dded som a g s n i a d h e e r m able b of who as a verit em, each h t f o e v ndscape. you to fi la e c y u r d a r o e r t t li in o our creative t d n a l fu color

48

|

art&culture

WRITTEN WORD:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:24 AM

Page 49

Donna Gephart Donna Gerphart started her writing career as an editor at a greeting card company. When her children were young, she decided to work from home as a freelance writer. “From greeting cards, I moved on to essays and articles,” she says. Her work has appeared in Family Circle, Parents and Highlights for Children, among other publications.

“It’s important to write honestly for kids. Everything is new and exciting to them,” she says. “They are still forming their opinions and trying to understand the world. You can make more of an impact.”

While the book is her first to be published, it’s not the first she ever wrote. “A few of them are still sitting in my drawer at home and will never see the light of day,” Gephart confesses. “I almost quit many times. In fact, there was one point where I was so discouraged after getting rejection after rejection that I decided that’s it.” She applied for a job as a children’s librarian in Jupiter; fortunately, she didn’t get the job.

Rhea Lewis

Earlier this year, Gephart’s first novel hit bookstores.

She wrote “As if Being 12 ¾ Isn’t Bad Enough, My Mother is Running for President” in 2005, long before Hillary Clinton’s campaign captured the headlines. She sold the novel about Florida’s first daughter and her mom, the governor, in 2006; her publisher, Delacorte Press/Random House, intentionally held off publication to take advantage of the 2008 election cycle.

Advice: “A good story needs a character that people can relate to,” Gephart says, “and the character needs to want something desperately.”

If Palm Beach County were a character…

Gephart says the county would be a character that definitely demands attention. “It’s grown a lot since I’ve been here, especially culturally,” the Jupiter resident says. “I could see it as a person on vacation with a big sunhat, sipping a drink under an umbrella.” art&culture

|

49

9/22/08

9:24 AM

Page 50

Sean Lawson

Sigvision

WRITTEN WORD:Layout 1

Playwright Michael McKeever (as Mr. Pippet) in his world premiere of “Suite Surrender” at Caldwell Theatre Company this January, with Elizabeth Dimon (left) and Kay Brady

Michael McKeever

Advice:

“You have to have conflict. If you don’t have conflict, you have people just sitting there talking. If you want that, you can just go to Starbucks,” he says. “To tell a good story, you also need to write about things that you know and that you understand and that matter to you.”

If Palm Beach County were a character…

Instead of Lilly Pulitzer, McKeever would dress the county in designer jeans for a sardonic, scene-stealing role. “It still has that elegance,” he says, “but it has a whole new vibe.”

50

|

art&culture

“One of the cardinal rules of being a writer is that you write what you know,” Michael McKeever says.

As that rarity—a South Florida native—he has never found himself short of subjects.

The award-winning playwright has a string of productions to his credit that run the gamut from knee-slapping humor to serious drama. His plays have been produced Off-Broadway, across America, in Europe and at every major theater in Palm Beach County. He has written about everything from the Holocaust and tsarist Russia to coming of age on South Beach. The 2007 premier of “Melt,” a provocative tale of family history and hope, won the 2008 Carbonell Award for Best New Work. “Suite Surrender,” a farce set in 1940s Palm Beach, debuted at the Caldwell Theatre earlier this year.

“One of the joys of doing what I do,” McKeever says, “is that it never gets boring. From Palm Beach down to Miami Beach, you’ve got such a variety of cultures and characters and different pockets of society from which to draw.”

Of course, South Florida also offers up sunshine and ocean breezes. “Whenever I find myself getting even the slightest bit blocked, I drive out to the beach and sit there with my notebook,” McKeever admits. “Usually by the end of the day, I’m writing again.”

WRITTEN WORD:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:24 AM

Page 51

Julie Gilbert A good story, Julie Gilbert tells her writing students at the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, is always character-driven. And so, it seems, is Gilbert’s life.

She was born into a literary and theatrical family.

Her mother was an actress, her father worked in publishing and her great aunt, renowned author Edna Ferber, consistently wowed New York. “She was kind of like my fairy godmother,” Gilbert says of her famous relative. “We used to talk about writing. She trained me to sit on a park bench and make up stories about the people who would walk by.”

Gilbert published her first novel when she was 24.

Since then, she has written numerous plays and screenplays but she is best known for her biography of Erich Maria Remarque and Paulette Goddard, “Opposite Attraction,” which earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination, and for “Ferber,” which was nominated for a National Book Critic’s Award. “Handshake,” a play she collaborated on with local neurosurgeon and former Palm Beach County Cultural Council Chairman Robert Brodner, enjoyed an Off-Broadway run, but Gilbert still dreams of making it all the way to Broadway someday. She is currently working on a memoir and a new play, which was recently workshopped at the Actor’s Studio in New York.

Advice: “There’s life and there’s writing,” she says.

“I think you need to fight to write. You kind of have to circumvent life to get in that chair.”

If Palm Beach County were a character…

“It would be a wonderful childhood friend,” she says, “where you’re free and young and you can walk by the water and dance and just go outside and play all day.”

art&culture

51

WRITTEN WORD:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:24 AM

Page 52

JamesO.Born Despite the success of his first five books, James O. Born has no plans to give up his day job. “There’s no reason to,” he says. “I like it.” Born is a 17-year veteran with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Over the years, he has spent countless hours on surveillance. Reading often helped pass the time; at least it did in the days before Born started thinking about writing his own books. Now, he freely admits, many of his story ideas have been hatched in the dead of night as he sat alone on yet another surveillance assignment. “I don’t like to be idle,” the Lake Worth resident says. “I like to be busy all the time.”

If that’s the case, he has probably been pretty happy in recent years.

Since his first novel hit shelves in 2004, Born has published four more mysteries—most recently “Burn Zone” (Putnam 2008). He snagged the inaugural Florida Book Award for Best Novel and penned a handful of short stories. He’s launched a new series of future thrillers under the pen name James O’Neal that will debut next spring. The man is a regular contributor to Florida Monthly, writes a blog and is a popular speaker.

In his spare time, he enjoys karate, wind surfing, scuba diving, mountain biking and running.

Advice:

“There’s no such thing as writer’s block,” Born says with conviction. “It’s the same thing I teach my kids, when you’ve got work to do there’s no fooling around time— you just do the work.”

If Palm Beach County were a character…

52

|

art&culture

Sigvision

As a native and a graduate of Forest Hill High School, Born sees the county as an old friend who may have indulged too much, “one that had gotten a little too heavy and was unsure of himself,” he explains.

WRITTEN WORD:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:24 AM

Page 53

Laurence Leamer Laurence Leamer, the author of a dozen books and countless magazine articles, has earned a reputation as a keen biographer. “In some ways, (biography) is the easiest of literary forms in the sense that chronology is God’s gift to a writer,” he says. Faithfully following a timeline doesn’t ensure a good read, though. “You have to have a great character,” he admits. “You have to choose very carefully who you write about.”

Leamer has made some great choices. His 933-page, multigenerational tale “The Kennedy Women” made it all the way to N o. 2 on the N ew York Times best seller list. He has also written about the men in the Kennedy family and Johnny Carson, among others.

“They have to be people I’m going to learn about something from,” Leamer says. “My last book was on Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is a fascinating character.”

While researching the book, Leamer admits he learned a lot about bodybuilding.

Leamer came to Palm Beach in 1991, while doing research on the Kennedys. Three years later, he surprised himself by purchasing a residence on the island. “It would be more typical of me to buy a place in South Beach or Key West, but for some reason I wanted to live here,” he says. “I’ve been very happy down here; it’s a wonderful place to write.”

Advice:

Love what you do. “I’m genuinely interested in people,” Leamer says. “That is an immense plus in what I do.”

If Palm Beach County were a character…

There’s no if about it: Palm Beach is a character in Leamer’s new book, “Madness Under the Royal Palms” (Hyperion) due out in March. “I have lived all over the world, from the mountains of Nepal to the provinces of France,” he writes in the opening lines, “and Palm Beach, Florida, is as exotic and as hidden a place as I have ever resided.”

art&culture

|

53

loring:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:27 AM

Page 54

Urban, The Urbane Architect Joseph Urban’s stamp on Palm Beach is but one of his lifetime accomplishments.

By John Loring, Photography by Jim Fairman

T

he cultural odyssey of Viennaborn architect Joseph Urban (1872-1933) has epic dimension.

The theatrical design genius and maverick’s scope of work ranges from the intellectual and artistic splendors of imperial Vienna and the patronage of the Hapsburgs and Esterházys at the turn of the century to the sybaritic splendors of imperial Palm Beach and the patronage of Marjorie Merriweather Post and Anthony J. Drexel Biddle Jr. in the mid-1920s. Yet his legacy is largely ignored by the citizenry of Palm Beach, despite the highprofile mark Urban made on the Palm

54

|

art&culture

Beach townscape with his designs of Mara-Lago, the Paramount Building and the Bath & Tennis Club.

The panorama of Urban’s life in architecture, theater, opera and film is a spectacle of prodigious talent coupled with limitless imagination, charm and energy. In America alone that included: the design of the Austrian Pavilion at the St. Louis World’s Fair Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904; three years as artistic design director for the Boston Opera; the design of 16 Ziegfeld Follies productions and 54 Metropolitan Opera productions; the design of the original production of Jerome Kern’s

Show Boat (1927); the design of 30 films for William Randolph Hearst’s Cosmopoltan Pictures; the design of New York’s Central Park Casino, Ziegfeld Theater, St. Regis Roof Garden, the Hearst International Magazine Building and the New School of Social Research; the introduction of Viennese art and design to America at his 581 Fifth Avenue Wiener Werkstætte of America, Inc. store (1922); his three aforementioned monuments of Palm Beach architecture; and, finally, his dazzling coloring and lighting of all the pavilions of the Chicago World’s Fair Century of Progress Exposition of 1933.

loring:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:27 AM

Page 55

Opposite: The Bath & Tennis Club is seen from Mar-a-Lago.

Urban designed the complex to harmonize with Mar-a-Lago, its next-door neighbor.

Above: Mar-a-Lago is seen from the west side of the porte-cochère. Animal sculptures such as the highly stylized parrots, monkeys and rams seen here appear as architectural ornament throughout the house.

art&culture

|

55

loring:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:27 AM

Page 56

In a memorial article in the May 1934 issue of Architecture magazine, Deems Taylor observed: “You could have what you wanted of his gifts—fantasy, realism, abstract decoration, architectural solidity. He could do superbly many things that his contemporaries could not do at all.”

From the Beginning Joseph Urban was born in Vienna on May 26, 1872, into a middle-class family of lawyers and teachers. In 1890 he began his studies of architectural engineering, design and aesthetics at the Polytechnium and the

56

|

art&culture

Imperial and Royal Academy. His exceptional talents a year later inspired his distinguished professor Baron Karl von Hasenauer— architect of Vienna’s Burgtheater and the new wing of the emperor’s residence, the Hofburg—to recommend the 19-year-old Urban to the young Vienna-educated Khedive of Egypt, Abbas II, who wished to add a European wing to his Abdin Palace in Cairo. The very young Urban’s eight months at the royal court of Cairo cemented his lifelong love affair with luxury and opulence, which would 35 years later serve him so well in opulent Palm Beach. His vision of Egypt also cemented his passion for color.

“The strange deep blue of the Mediterranean,” he later wrote, “the white city, the flaming sails of the boats. The riot of color in the costumes and, overall, a purple sky—this enormous impression followed me my whole life and dominated for years my color schemes. I think the indescribable blue of the Egyptian sky created my lifelong love of blue.” (“Joseph Urban’s Philosophy of Color,” Otto Teegen, Architecture, May 1934) After his return from Egypt, Urban entered the office of Ludwig Baumann, official architect of the Emperor Franz Joseph II. There he worked on public

loring:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:27 AM

Page 57

buildings, and in 1898 designed a memorial to the Empress Elizabeth, who had recently been assassinated in Lausanne by an Italian anarchist. This led to the design of the “Emperor’s Bridge” for Franz Joseph’s golden jubilee the same year, as well as the first of three palaces for Count Karl Esterházy, which were all Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) masterpieces. He was three times personally congratulated for his work by the emperor, an unheard of honor in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and in 1908 was commissioned to design the emperor’s pavilion for the

Opposite: Art Deco American eagles alternate with panels of antique Spanish tile on the semicircular second floor loggia of Mar-a-Lago. Like the other birds and beasts used as architectural detail, they were sculpted by Franz Barwig, who Urban brought from Vienna to work on his Palm Beach commissions.

Above: A family of macaws by Franz Barwig ornaments the gardens around Mar-a-Lago’s pool.

art&culture

|

57

loring:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:27 AM

Page 58

celebration of Franz Joseph’s 60 years on the throne. (The emperor, to honor him, invited Urban to sit in his pavilion during the celebration parade of June 12, 1908.)

As well as an architect, Urban’s superb draftsmanship and vaulting imagination made him a brilliant illustrator and set designer. At the great Paris World’s Fair Exposition Universelle of 1900, he won the grand prize for illustration, and also that year was appointed lifelong designer for the imperial theaters by Franz Joseph II. He illustrated Grimm’s “Fairy Tales” in

58

|

art&culture

1902 and Hans Christian Anderson’s in 1910.

In 1911, while discussing a production of Pelléas et Mélisande at Claude Debussy’s home in Paris, he met Henry Russell, impresario of the Boston Opera Company, who on the spot offered him a five-year contract as artistic director. It was the year of Gustav Mahler’s death. The great years of Vienna’s music, theater and architecture’s golden age were ending. Urban accepted Boston.

Urban’s lavish use of color—the intense blues and the sapphire blue skies he

loring:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:28 AM

Page 59

loved in Egypt—his opulent costumes and his innovative suffused lighting that for the first time eliminated footlights revolutionized stage design. Suddenly there was a “new world of the theatre of which Mr. Urban is the prophet,” H.T. Parker wrote in the Boston Evening Transcript on January 11, 1913.

The legendary and colorful Florenz Ziegfeld, the ex-Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show teenage sharpshooter turned theater impresario, took notice of Urban’s sets for Edward Sheldon’s The Garden of Paradise

in 1914 and hired him to design all productions of the Ziegfeld Follies, which he did for 16 consecutive years.

Two years later the Metropolitan Opera made him its principal set designer. In the following 16 years until his death in 1933 he designed 54 productions, several of which were still used into the 1950s until the Metropolitan abandoned the old opera house for Lincoln Center.

In 1922, deeply concerned for the plight of his fellow artists and designers in post-World War I Vienna, he opened a

Above and opposite: The child’s bedroom suite at Mar-a-Lago has a fireplace shaped like a giant beehive and plaster reliefs of climbing roses trailing about the bedroom.

It is America’s greatest surviving example of Viennese “Jugendstil” design.

art&culture

|

59

loring:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:28 AM

Page 60

Above and below: The bed fit for a fairytale princess has bedposts topped with squirrels and carved silver-leafed motifs of cats and birds, which are repeated on other furnishings in the bedroom.

branch of the now so-celebrated Wiener Werkstætte at his own personal expense at 581 Fifth Avenue. And it was there that Joseph Urban gave America its first exposure to the now so-soughtafter and astronomically expensive artists Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Josef Hoffmann, Dagobert Peche and Michael Powolny. Despite the prodigious quality of the works shown at 581 Fifth Avenue, the store was not a success. Americans were not yet willing to accept the work of Austrian artists only five years after the war.

60

|

art&culture

Undaunted, Urban three years later opened new architectural offices in N ew York. Egon Schiele’s tall, narrow, charcoal and tempera “Gerti Schiele in a Plaid Garment” (c.1909)— unsold at his store—was hung beside his desk.

(Since 1969 it has hung in the Minneapolis Institute of Art.)

Urban Influence on Palm Beach Palm Beach had by 1925 become the winter capital of the monied world, re-launched

after the decline of its golden pre-World War I Flagler days by sewing machine heir Paris Singer and Mediterranean Renaissance Revivalist architect Addison Mizner and their Everglades Club.

Urban’s career in Palm Beach was in turn jump-started by Singer, who hired him to refurbish the Everglades Club—where he drew the attention of 27-year-old Anthony J. Drexel Biddle Jr. The Philadelphia and Palm Beach multimillionaire, socialite sportsman husband of tobacco heiress Mary Duke and later career

loring:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:28 AM

Page 61

Above: Nursery rhyme characters such as Puss ’n Boots (left) and the Jack of Hearts (right) bring a fanciful touch to the protective iron bars on the children’s bedroom suite windows.

diplomat hired Urban to build a new beach club on the ocean opposite cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post’s (Mrs. E.F. Hutton’s) palatial Mar-a-Lago. Biddle arranged a luncheon with his newfound architect friend and Mrs. Hutton, where Urban so charmed his hostess that not only did she approve his plans for the new beach club (Bath & Tennis Club), which were modeled to harmonize with Mar-a-Lago, but commissioned him to redesign and redecorate Mar-a-Lago itself. The estate’s first architect was the far less adventurous Marion Syms Wyeth, whose conceptions of a pleasure palace had fallen short of the party-loving Marjorie Merriweather Post’s expectations.

Urban in his youth had fully satisfied the expectations of Abbas II, Franz Joseph II and the Esterházys. In his mid-age—with 12 years of Broadway and Hollywood stage, screen and opera design accomplished for Florenz Ziegfeld, William Randolph Hearst and the “Met” behind him—he was fully prepared to satisfy the imperial aspirations of Palm Beach society.

There was always a theatrical, operatic quality to his designs. Urban’s original rendering of the ocean-side façade of the Bath & Tennis Club could as well be the stage set for a Metropolitan Opera production of Cavalleria Rusticanna. But Palm Beach was, after all, a playground with a citizenry looking not to govern empires like Urban’s former clients but to be entertained and to entertain.

Urban did not disappoint. Nor did Addison Mizner find his work at all out of step with his own universally accepted concept of Palm Beach style. Mizner attended the November 27, 1926, society beach party celebrating Urban’s new designs—as noted in The New York Times the next morning.

Urban’s works added dimension to Palm Beach. The two-story grand salon created at Mar-a-Lago, with its lavishly carved and gilded Venetian Renaissance ceiling, was spectacular by any standards. The Jugendstil fantasy bedroom suite created for Mrs. Post’s daughter, Nedenia “Dina” Hutton (the actress Dina Mer-

rill), was suited to a proper fairy tale princess right out of the pages of Urban’s exquisite children’s fairy tale books. With its tall parabolic windows, beehive contoured fireplace and colorful plaster relief of climbing roses meandering about the ovoid room, it is arguably the greatest surviving Jugendstil interior in America. The suite’s beautifully sculpted and silver-leafed furnishings were carved (as were many sculptural features of Mar-a-Lago) by a master sculptor and old friend Urban brought from Vienna, Franz Barwig, and his son, Walter.

The Art Deco American eagle out-lookers guarding the terrace of the gracefully curved wings Urban added to the house—like other birds, parrots, monkeys, rams and assorted beasts ornamenting Mar-a-Lago—are also the Barwigs’ work. N ow Donald Trump’s Mar-aLago Club, which was meticulously restored to its splendor by Trump, the mansion is one of America’s greatest estates ranking with The Breakers in Newport, R.I., Biltmore in Asheville, N.C., and the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, Calif.

art&culture

|

61

loring:Layout 1

62

|

9/22/08

art&culture

9:28 AM

Page 62

loring:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:28 AM

Page 63

Opposite: The Gothic arch above the entrance to the Paramount (formerly Sunrise) Building’s bridge accords with St. Edward Catholic Church across North County Road. The geometric wooden molding and the railing’s stringers are identical to those used at Mar-a-Lago.

Right: Stylized fish cavort in stylized waves atop the posts of the Paramount Building’s many railings.

Along with Anthony Drexel Biddle’s Bath & Tennis Club (much of which survives today if considerably altered by hurricanes and later architects), Urban rebuilt the now long-gone Oasis Club (a residence for society’s bachelors); remodeled the Club de Montmartre on South Lake Trail (now part of the Society of the Four Arts), where Florenz Ziegfeld opened his revue Palm Beach N ights on January 26, 1927; and redesigned “Tony” Biddle’s Mizner mansion “Villa el Sarmiento” on South Ocean Boulevard.

More importantly, he designed the Sunrise Building, incorporating the Paramount (originally “Sunrise”) Theater at the intersection of N orth County Road and Sunrise Avenue (most of which survives today), its arcades and bridges crowned by its Palm Beach landmark dome. The geometrically patterned metallic surface of the dome clearly refers to Vienna master builder Otto Wagner’s great metal dome atop his iconic Church of St. Leopold “Kirche am Steinhof” (1905). Urban regretted never having been able to work with

Otto Wagner, but in the Paramount dome Palm Beach has his tribute to that great turn-of-thecentury architect.

On November 28, 1926, The New York Times reported: “Palm Beach will have a ‘golden horseshoe’ that will glow with as much brilliance as that in any theatre … at the new Sunrise Theatre. The theatre, just being completed, was built by Edward F. Hutton, J. Leonard Replogie, Anthony J. Drexel Biddle Jr. and Arthur Kelleher, prominent in New York and Palm Beach society.

art&culture

|

63

loring:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:29 AM

Page 64

Above: The Paramount Building’s columns are capped by masks of comedy and tragedy.

Right: Bridges connect the shopping arcade of the Paramount Building to the central auditorium.

The metal-clad dome, with its neo-Gothic tracery, continues the progression of the dome-capped towers of the Palm Beach Hotel and St. Edward Catholic Church on Sunrise Avenue.

“The theatre was designed by Joseph Urban and in it he has put all of his conceptions of theatrical art, its decorations founded on a submarine theme. Strange fish and feathery seaweed in languid water are painted on the walls. The interior was painted by Urban’s daughter Gretl.

“The Sunrise will seat 1,050 persons on the main floor, while the balcony, which forms Palm Beach’s ‘golden horseshoe,’ contains 26 boxes.

“While the price of the boxes has not been announced, it is said that the season price

64

|

art&culture

is $1,000. The list of box holders in the sumptuous movie palace reads like the Palm Beach social directory.”

Soon after, Joseph Urban returned to New York to build the Ziegfeld Theatre (1926-1927), the St. Regis Roof Garden (1927-1928), the Hearst International Magazine Building (19281929), the New School of Social Research (19291931) and so on; but, despite the brevity of his three-year sojourn, Palm Beach is more “sumptuous” to this day for his contributions.

loring:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:29 AM

Page 65

art&culture

|

65

fresh_perspective:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:31 AM

Page 66

This page: Large photo and children with violins photo by LILA PHOTO, Opposite page: Far right photo by Lucien Capehart

The collectors of the In the Hands of African American Collectors: The Personal Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art give a tour to the community, including local children.

fresh_perspective:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:31 AM

Page 67

Fresh PERSPECTIVE Traditional academic subjects receive a new twist as arts integration gains ground in the classroom

By Susan Hyatt Third-grade students at A.D. Henderson School in Boca Raton composed a piece of original music to accompany stories they had written. Chemistry teachers and visual art teachers collaborated on new ways to teach science at Park Vista High School. Education staff at the Norton Museum of Art partnered with local teachers at U.B. Kinsey Elementary to develop lessons about African American history that coincided with a recent Norton exhibition.

art&culture

|

67

fresh_perspective:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:32 AM

Page 68

Fresh PERSPECTIVE WHAT’S HAPPENING? Palm Beach County is experiencing a Renaissance in arts integration. Different from discipline-based arts education, arts integration gives teachers a method of

zations brought together to examine how schools currently deliver arts programs and where improvements could be made. As a result, these groups became united to

Arts Integration instructing students in non-arts curriculum areas using music, dance, drama and visual art. It is a process that connects ideas and skills between seemingly unrelated subjects, sparks creativity and encourages critical thinking. Arts integration allows students to take charge of their own learning and to be creative in how they express their knowledge. As standardized testing and budget cuts make the educational atmosphere in Florida increasingly more challenging, educators and cultural arts organizations are looking at inventive ways to help students achieve.

Arts integration has been on the educational “scene” for the past two decades, gaining greater prominence within the past 10 years. Studies such as “Champions of Change,” published by the Arts Education Partnership in 1999, provide evidence of the benefits for student achievement when young people are engaged in arts experiences.

A LOCAL INITIATIVE The Palm Beach County Cultural Council commissioned a 2004 needs assessment by Florida Atlantic University (FAU) professor Dr. Gail Burnaford to examine how arts education is working in the schools. In response to the assessment—titled “State of the Arts in Palm Beach County Schools: Where Do We Go From Here?”—the Palm Beach County School District formed the Arts Education Task Force under the guidance of district Arts Education Administrator Dr. Tom Pearson. The task force consisted of a mix of educators, funders and cultural arts organi-

68

|

art&culture

increase Palm Beach County schools’ capacity to provide outstanding arts experiences.

A series of recommendations was created, including budget changes, pilot programs and partnerships. Many of these recommendations have since become reality and are now a part of the changing face of the county’s education system.

On the forefront of the arts integration movement, the West Palm Beach-based Center for Creative Education provides local schools with teaching artists through Project LEAP (Learning Enriched through Arts Part-

nerships). “We exist solely to facilitate arts integration in schools in a way that will effect whole school change,” says Executive Director Tom Pilecki. “Rigorous training for the teaching artists, professional development for teachers—these types of activities will promote sustainability, so that when we leave, the school can continue to offer students a highquality arts-integrated curriculum.”

A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT Support from the Cultural Council has been integral to the leap that arts integration has taken within the past five years. A series of

fresh_perspective:Layout 1

9/22/08

9:33 AM

Page 69

Fresh PERSPECTIVE professional development workshops aimed at teaching arts integration techniques to local cultural organizations was sponsored by the Cultural Council. These workshops, called ACCESS ARTS, were developed by Dr. Burnaford and incorporated national leaders in the field such as Arnold Aprill, executive director of the Chicago Arts Partnership in Education, and David Dik, executive director

FAU has become part of the movement by developing plans for an arts integration certificate program that will be available to teachers, artists and cultural arts providers.

FAU’s College of Education and Schmidt College of Arts and Letters are pairing up to create this exciting new program; classes covering subjects such as “Community Partnerships” and “Practice and Research in Arts

Young performers from the Maltz Jupiter Theatre at the Florida Alliance for Arts Education reception at the Flagler Museum

Integration” will be team-taught by professors from both colleges.

Dr. Susannah Brown, a visual arts professor in the College of Education, says, “Creativity is an important part of the teaching and learning process and the FAU arts integration programs are a part of that creative process.”

AN ACTIVE AGENDA A move to create arts-integrated schools has already begun. Egret Lake Elementary, Palmetto Elementary and Berkshire Elementary are beginning their second year of a pilot program designed to create systemic change through arts integration.

During an end-of-year meeting with teachers and principals at these three schools, Dr. Pearson reports, “The level of passion in the room was amazing. Teachers were saying, ‘I never thought I could get this excited about teaching again.’ I sat there in awe.”

While arts integration is a great tool for teachers, Dr. Pearson also feels it is important to note that “arts education and arts integration work hand-in-hand. You have to have both.” The pilot program is offering classroom teachers new skills, as well as training the schools’ arts specialists on how to collaborate with the classroom teachers to create a unified, multi-tiered curriculum.

of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. The Cultural Council also instituted new artist grant programs, created networking groups such as the Cultural Education Committee and partnered with the school district to offer arts-specific back-to-school workshops for county teachers.

According to FAU School of the Arts Director Dr. George Sparks, “The partnership among the school district, the Cultural Council, Florida Atlantic University and the local arts organizations is a unique model for other areas around the nation to follow.”

“The skills we’re teaching the students deepen the connection.

The processes are the same.

We’re teaching the students to ‘compose stories’ in the same method that they compose music. The opportunity for transfer between the subjects makes their learning more meaningful.”

A.D. Henderson School is also integrating the arts on a school-wide scale. Music teacher Debbie Schram has been working with the school’s K-3 teachers to create lessons linking music and literacy. Third-grade teacher Jenny O’Sullivan says, “The skills we’re teaching the students deepen the connection. The processes are the same.

We’re teaching the students to ‘compose stories’ in the same method that they compose music. The opportunity for transfer between the subjects makes their learning more meaningful.”

A great supporter of the arts—not to mention a music major in college—school district Superintendent Dr. Art Johnson says, “If our

— Jenny O’Sullivan Teacher, A.D. Henderson School

art&culture

69

fresh_perspective:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:48 AM

Page 70

Dr. Burnaford is surrounded by children in Vera Cruz, Mexico, where she works with communities to set up a partnership focusing on arts, literacy and teacher development.

students are going to become Renaissance men and women— which is our goal—studying the arts not only serves student achievement, but it also makes learning fun.”

‘A FIELD OF ITS OWN’

By Gail Burnaford, Ph.D. Professor of Teacher Education, Florida Atlantic University Co-Author, “Renaissance in the Classroom: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning” Arts integration can now be recognized as more than a fad, more than a trend, and more than an oddity that occurs rarely in schools. It can be seen all over the country and the world in urban and rural classrooms. It has its place in middle and secondary schools, and has taken root most particularly in elementary schools. Arts integration, like mathematics, science, music, drama and many other content areas now being taught in schools, is now a field of its own. And it’s most likely going to be around educational circles for a long time.

When classroom teachers, music teachers and art teachers collaborate to integrate the arts, they also bring expertise in their own disciplines to young people. Arts integration is not intended to replace band or drama or dance instruction. Far from it! Rather, it is intended to bring partners into and across classrooms to deepen what children are learning and extend their world creatively and expressively.

It is a way to invite people to the arts table. Arts integration is a tool for communication with parents and with communities.

There is considerable evidence that where arts integration has taken hold, children are more likely to pursue violin or ballet lessons or sign up for a drama elective in middle school.

Arts integration is really about people working together— museum educators, performing artists, teaching artists, teachers in schools, parents and, of course, students—to bring the curriculum new perspectives, new creativity and new life. Learning happens because students and teachers are engaged. Students remember because they experience the topic in multiple ways.

This past spring, Dr. Johnson facilitated the Principals’ Academy at the Norton Museum of Art, which brought all of the county’s public school leaders to the Norton for a tour of the In the Hands of African American Collectors: The Personal Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey exhibition and to meet the collectors.

The special exhibition, which showcased art by important AfricanAmerican artists as well as artifacts representing American history, brought over 6,000 children to the museum for schoolrelated tours.

The N orton’s long-standing partnership with the U.B. Kinsey/ Palmview Elementary School of the Arts includes the development of arts-integrated curriculum that gives students across the district an opportunity not only to view the art at the Norton, but to understand it on a level that gives them ownership of the meaning and history behind it. “We want the kids to feel that this is their museum, too, and that the teachers and community can use us as an educational resource,” notes Glenn Tomlinson, William Randolph Hearst Curator of Education for the Norton.

Cultural Council Education Director Alyx Kellington feels that the county is moving in the right direction and noted that there is more to come. “We’re moving beyond ‘enhancement’ into something that has accountability and sustainability. We’re building lasting relationships among schools and arts organizations.”

Art collector Bernard Kinsey hosts a tour through his sponsored exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art.

What happens when adults work together to bring rich arts experiences that connect to science laboratories in schools? What are children really learning when they write critiques of a dance performance and then choreograph their own dance from a poem they have studied in language arts? How do teachers change their practice when they work with a visual art teacher or teaching artist to create a mural about the Civil Rights Movement? We need more models, examples and research to really illustrate “best practices” that contribute to student (and adult!) learning.

Arts integration helps communities take arts education seriously.

“Art for art’s sake” together with arts integration can be the most effective approach for local students. The work in Palm Beach County is part of a national initiative to show the way.

70

|

art&culture

LILA PHOTO

To contact Dr. Gail Burnaford, please e-mail burnafor@fau.edu.

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:28 AM

Page 71

C U LT U R A L COUNCIL NEWS

INSIDE culture

cultural compendium

briefly noted

art&culture

|

71

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:29 AM

Page 72

cultural council news

“Babel” by Carol Prusa

Two County Artists Receive Cultural Consortium Fellowships Diane Arrieta and Carol Prusa are the 2008 South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship recipients from Palm Beach County. Each artist received a $7,500 award for use in advancing her work.

Arrieta is a multimedia artist who is inspired by social conditions, observations of events and everyday life. Her work was recently shown in a solo exhibition at the John D. MacArthur Campus Library at Florida Atlantic University’s Jupiter Campus, where she is the exhibition coordinator/senior technical assistant.

She lives in Tequesta.

Prusa is a multimedia artist working on a new project, Innies and Outies Unification Series: An Investigation of “Wonderfully Strange Ideas” (Expressed in Domes and Quantum Foam) funded by a fellowship from the Howard Foundation through Brown University. She teaches painting as an associate professor of art at the Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton campus. She lives in Boca Raton.

In total, 13 fellowships were awarded by the consortium, which is an alliance of the arts councils of Palm Beach, Broward, MiamiDade, Monroe and Martin counties.

Fellowships were awarded at $15,000 and

72

|

art&culture

“s(he)” by Diane Arrieta

$7,500 levels. The $15,000 fellowships are the largest such awards provided by local arts agencies in the United States. Charles Stainback, photography curator for the Norton Museum of Art, was one of the regional panelists for this year’s competition.

An exhibition featuring the work of all 13 recipients can be seen through September 30 at the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale.

The South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artists Fellowship Program is a cooperative project funded with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Florida Department of State Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council, the Boards of County Commissioners of Broward, Miami-Dade, Martin and Monroe counties and the Palm Beach County Cultural Council.

Carol Prusa (left) and Diane Arrieta

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:29 AM

Page 73

cultural council news

Michael Bracci Elected Cultural Council Chair Northern Trust executive Michael Bracci is the new chair of the Palm Beach County Cultural Council’s board of directors. Bracci, who has been a board member for the last five years, succeeds R. Thomas (Tommy) Mayes Jr., who completed a two-year term as chair.

Joining Bracci as newly elected officers are Pamela O. Dean, treasurer, and Michael D. Simon, secretary. Gale G. Howden was reelected vice chair. In addition, five new members were elected to the board: Clarence Anthony, Carole Boucard, Cecile Draime, Irene J. Karp and Berton E. Korman.

Outgoing board members included Herbert F. Hoffman, Daniel Mann, Dom Telesco and Jeanmarie Whalen.

Bracci is president of personal financial services for Northern Trust’s Palm Beach/ Martin County Region, where he is responsible for all private banking, trust and invest-

Tommy Mayes (left) and Michael Bracci

ment operations in the bank's five offices within the two counties. He has been with Northern Trust since 1993.

Active in the community, Bracci serves as a trustee and treasurer of the Town of Palm Beach United Way; a board member and chairman of the Corporate Partners Board for the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts; a board member of the

Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition; a board member, Executive Committee member and chairman of the Audit Committee for the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation; a trustee of the Palm Beach Opera; and a member of the Palm Beach County Economic Council.

Sometimes it’s all about how others see you.

Once again, in the annual U.S.News & World Report survey on America’s (From left) Mary Ann Fullerton of JP Morgan Chase; Scot Marken, CEO of Donors Forum of South Florida; Leigh Woodham, manager of the Dolly Hand Cultural Arts Center; and Bill Nix, Cultural Council vice president of marketing and government affairs.

Cultural Council Honored for Impact of Dolly Hand Grant The Cultural Council received the prestigious IMPACT Award from the Donors Forum of South Florida in recognition of its grant to the Dolly Hand Cultural Arts Center for Step Afrika! Dance Troupe’s “Step Up to College” program. It was the first time an arts granting organization was recognized by the Donors Forum for its contributions to the community. The Step Afrika! program included workshops for eight after-school step clubs serving approximately 260 elementary, middle and high school students in Belle Glade and the surrounding area.

In addition, the Cultural Council was nominated for its long-term funding impact on the Dolly Hand Cultural Arts Center and Florida Atlantic University’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. A record-breaking 60 nominations were received for the 2008 IMPACT Awards. The program, which began in 2006, honors funders active in South Florida for specific grants that have made a positive influence on the community. Nominations are submitted by the organizations receiving the grants.

Best Hospitals, ophthalmologists from around the countr y ranked Bascom Palmer Eye Institute the best eye hospital in the United States.

This honor is a great testimony to our experience and technology. More importantly, if any member of their families needed a procedure, the best eye doctors in the world would tell them to travel long distances to get here. And that makes you very lucky. Because you don’t have to.

Palm Beach - (561) 515-1500 7101 Fairway Dr., Palm Beach Gardens Miami • Naples • Plantation (305) 326-6000 www.bascompalmer.org

art&culture

|

73

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:30 AM

Page 74

{inside culture} cultural council news

Artists Shine at Artavox The Palm Beach County Cultural Council recently hosted its second annual Artavox, a collaborative event celebrating all Palm Beach County artists, at the Jupiter campus of Florida Atlantic

Alissa Dragun

Alissa Dragun

Kristen Murtaugh and Gale Howden

University. Artavox 2008 was planned by an artist committee that included Diane Arrieta, Lucy M.F. Keshavarz, Demetrius Klein, Sharon Koskoff, Peter Meyerhoefer, Elayna Toby Singer, Victoria Skinner, Beverly Snow and Lori Warren.

The event showcased a number of artists, including Ray Chang, vocals and keyboard, who kicked off the live entertainment with an impassioned set performed in front of Beverly Snow’s installation of patterned, flowing silk fabrics.

Keshavarz and Koskoff used recycled objects to individually create two other installations. The crowd that gathered around the installations in the courtyard also enjoyed performances from the Mod 27 comedy improv troupe, alternative rockers Fire Zuave, performance poet Renda Writer and singer-songwriter Shauna Sweeney.

Artists and artists-in-the making created original works on an expansive can-

Norm Gitzen and Elayna Toby Singer

vas that was neatly divided into squares and hung inside the Tamar and Milton

Fine Homes Deserve Fine Furnishings

The Elephant’s Foot 3800 South Dixie Hwy., West Palm Beach, Florida 33405 561-832-0170 www.theelephantsfoot.com 74

|

art&culture

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:30 AM

Page 75

{inside culture} cultural council news

Audrey Peckner, John Blades and Stuart Peckner

plimentary admission to the Culture & Cocktails series at Café Boulud and a subscription to art&culture magazine.

The crowd also applauded the Council’s 30th anniversary.

“The wonderful assortment of art galleries and art-related businesses in Palm Beach County has a very positive ripple effect throughout our community,” says Hope Caldwell, the Council’s director of membership services. “The businesses contribute greatly to the county’s economic vitality and quality of life. The Allied membership aids this industry and the individual business members.”

The Sharfs—supporters of the arts in both Palm Beach County and Boston—

Lucien Capehart Photography

Alissa Dragun

Rody Mark and Barb Lentz

Lucien Capehart Photography

Maltz Center for Education lobby. Also in the lobby, a PowerPoint presentation displayed the work of over 100 artists. “This party brought together people in the arts from various disciplines, ages and backgrounds. It really illustrated the breadth of talent in the community,” says Hope Caldwell, Cultural Council membership services director. Artavox also served as the Cultural Council’s annual membership event for members and the board of directors.

Artavox hors d’oeuvres were generously provided by JJ Muggs Stadium Grill, Rooney’s Public House, Costello’s Pizzeria & Trattoria and Jumby Bay Island Grill of Abacoa Town Center. Sponsors were Woolbright Development, Kathleen Azeez,

Yujel Akedniz and Laura DiBello

FAU Lifelong Learning Society, Brown Distributing Company, Roger Dean Stadium, Zeidler Partnership and Artists of Palm Beach County.

Sharfs Host ‘An Artful Affair’ Lucien Capehart Photography

Fred and Jean Sharf of Palm Beach and Boston welcomed friends of the Palm Beach County Cultural Council to their Worth Avenue penthouse for an evening of cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and conversation. The event publicly introduced the Council’s new Allied membership program, which helps unify the Palm Beach County arts industry while providing member benefits such as com-

Fred and Jean Sharf

have contributed greatly to a healthy cultural climate in both locales. Among their many endeavors, Jean Sharf is a Cultural Council board of directors member, while Fred is a widely published author specializing in design as well as a trustee of various museums.

More than 65 Cultural Council friends attended, including representatives from some of the area’s most dynamic art galleries such as Liman, Holden Luntz, NP Trent Antiques, Wally Findlay, Paul Fisher Contemporary Glass, Rosenbaum Contemporary, Meyerhoefer, Gallery Biba, RosettaStone, Mary Woerner Fine Arts and Edward & Deborah Pollack Fine Art.

art&culture

|

75

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:30 AM

Page 76

{inside culture} cultural council news

Culture & Cocktails Continues to Capture Crowds

Corby Kaye, Studio Palm Beach

Cultural Council President and CEO Rena Blades with fashion designer Iris Apfel

The Cultural Council’s popular Culture & Cocktails events at Café Boulud wrapped up a second successful season earlier this year with four intriguing conversations that were enjoyed immensely by speakers and guests alike.

Hosted by the Cultural Council and sponsored by National City Private Client Group, the six-part series is also supported by The Palm Beach Daily News and PR-BS, a Boca Raton-based public relations firm. Café Boulud is located in the Brazilian Court Hotel in Palm Beach.

In January, more than 80 guests had a chance to eavesdrop on two great raconteurs as they swapped anecdotes and insights. The conversation—“Pretty Pictures: A Conversation Between Collaborating Artists”—featured interna-

tionally known photographer Harry Benson and John Loring, design director of Tiffany & Co. since 1979 and writer for Architectural Digest for more than 30 years. The pair collaborated to create a new book, “Tivoli Gardens,” in which Benson’s stunning photographs capture the essence of Tivoli (for which Loring has designed the Christmas lighting displays since 1996).

February’s conversation—“The Power of Stuff… And How to Get Rid of It”—teamed Tim Luke, host of “Cash in the Attic” on HGTV and columnist for The Palm Beach Post, with Kelley Dunn, WPTV Channel 5 News anchor and Emmy Award-winning journalist who hosts the local TV segment “What’s it Worth Wednesdays with Tim Luke.”

They shared a variety of useful tips about appraising household treasures and antiques.

Experience One of America’s Great House Museums Become a Flagler Museum Member and enjoy year-round benefits including free admission, invitations to exclusive receptions, discounts to Museum programs, a 10% discount in the Museum Store, and much more.

The Flagler Museum is a National Historic Landmark featuring guided tours, changing exhibits, and a variety of programs. For more information call the Museum at (561) 655-2833 or visit www.flaglermuseum.us h e n r y

m o r r i s o n

FLAGLER MUSEUM A National Historic Landmark

Cocoanut Row and Whitehall Way Palm Beach, Florida

76

|

art&culture

Flagler Museum A&C FALL 08.indd 1

8/29/08 11:37:26 AM

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:30 AM

Page 77

{inside culture} cultural council news

Steven Caras, Deanna Seay, Dr. Janet Lynn Rosenman and Dan Guin

“Step Ball Change: A Conversation on the Power of Dance” took center stage in March with a distinguished panel featuring Dan Guin, co-artistic director and executive director of Boca Ballet Theatre; Dr. Janet Lynn Rosenman,

Michael Hall, Louis Tyrell, Hap Erstein, Andrew Kato and Bill Hayes

All the photos on this spread: Corby Kaye, Studio Palm Beach

dance critic and the author of “Dance Masters: Interviews with Legends of Dance” and “Dance Was Her Religion: The Spiritual Choreography of Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis and Martha Graham”; and Deanna Seay, principal

Karen Delaney, Peter Anderson and Jennifer O’Flannery

Kelley Dunn and Tim Luke

dancer with Miami City Ballet. The panel moderator was Steve Caras, dance photographer and former dancer with New York City Ballet.

In April, the spotlight focused on “Stage Coach: A Conversation on the Power of Theatre.” Panelists included Michael Hall, artistic director of the Caldwell Theatre Company; Bill Hayes, producing artistic director of Palm Beach Dramaworks; Andrew Kato, artistic director of the Maltz Jupiter Theatre; and Louis Tyrell, artistic director of Florida Stage. Hap Erstein, theater and film critic for The Palm Beach Post, was the moderator.

The series is expected to return in the fall. At every Culture & Cocktails event, Café Boulud serves complimentary drinks and an array of specially prepared hors d’oeuvres. The acclaimed restaurant also offers a 20 percent discount to any attendees who stay for dinner following the conversation.

All Culture & Cocktails events are

Rosalind Sedacca, Dr. Frank Larose Simon and Rick Snyder

Sydelle Meyer and Shirley Fiterman

free for members of the Palm Beach County Cultural Council ($150 level and above). The cost to attend for everyone else is $30 per person with all proceeds going to the Cultural Council. Each event

Sonja Abrahamson, Mark Stevens of National City Private Client Group and Lisa Peterfreund

runs from 5 to 7 p.m., with registration and cocktails from 5 to 5:45 p.m., and the conversation from 5:45 to 7 p.m., including audience Q&A. Cultural Council Public Relations Coordinator Larry Boytano contributed to this section.

Stephanie Lefes and Robin Smollar

art&culture

|

77

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:31 AM

Page 78

© 2008 Greg Allikas − www.orchidworks.com

cultural compendium

The American Orchid Society’s lush botanical garden will soon offer more treats for visitors.

American Orchid Society Expands Jungle Gardens Visitors to the American Orchid Society’s (AOS) Botanical Garden will be able to stroll along a tree-lined path to the property’s lake as part of an expansion scheduled to open this fall. The half-acre addition will have a walking path that loops down to Lake Huntington and past about 40 exotic new trees, fresh shrubs and a beautiful display of new heliconias, bromeliads and orchids.

“Everything we put back there is either rare or very special,” says Nicholas Ewy, director of the AOS greenhouse and gardens, which cover 3.5 acres. “It’s the largest expansion we’ve done.” The new area fea-

One of the AOS’s exceptional specimins

78

|

art&culture

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:31 AM

Page 79

Marie Hale, Founder & Artistic Director

tures trees donated by two local nurseries, many of which were already mature. So while the garden itself is newly established, many of the trees will look like they’ve been there for years.

The largest donation, worth about $15,000, came from Southeast Growers in exchange for a few trees and other plant material from the AOS gardens. Among the acquisitions from Southeast are the cashew, a South American tree that produces an oddlooking fruit that contains the cashew nut; the balsa, a tree from Central and South America whose lightweight wood is often used for model-building; and the Looking Glass Tree, an African coastal tree that forms beautiful, sinuous buttresses with age and has leaves with a silvery white underside that reflects sunlight.

Also featured is the Wallichia distichia, a unique-looking palm from Asia, whose leaves grow in a flat plane rather than encircling the trunk like most palm trees. From J.E.M. Orchids, a nearby nursery that closed recently, AOS received a number of trees, including the calabash, which is a perfect host for orchids and other epiphytes, and the sapodilla, whose sap was the original source of chewing gum. The AOS Botanical Garden is located at 16700 AOS Lane in Delray Beach. For information, please call (561) 404-2000 or visit www.aos.org.

Vegso Foundation Underwrites Boca Ballet’s First Step Program For the second consecutive year, the Vegso Family Foundation provided underwriting for Boca Ballet Theatre’s First Step program, which offers afterschool classes in ballet and classical dance for economically disadvantaged children ages 8-11. In expressing appreciation to Peter and Anne Vegso, the publishers of the popular “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series, Boca Ballet Executive Director and Co-Artistic Director Dan Guin noted that the program serves at-risk children who deserve special opportunities for creative self-expression and positive learning experiences. “Using the arts as a framework for learning about life pro-

Our New Season Begins...

November 14 & 15 Duncan Theatre Palm Beach Community College Lake Worth, FL Three superb ballets by choreographers who November 21 - 23 Eissey Campus Theatre Palm Beach Community College West Palm Beach, FL Four incredible ballets in one amazing evening

Ballet Florida Box Office (561) 659-2000 • (800) 540-0172 www.balletflorida.com www.myspace.com/balletflorida

GET CREATIVE!

Photo Copyright Steve Caras

GET DIRTY AT THE ARMORY

• Painting • Ceramics • Sculpture • Printmaking • Jewelry • Glass • Photography • Drawing • Metals • Foundry

REGISTER NOW For classes, camp and workshops.

561.832.1776

ArmoryArt.org SUMMER ART CAMP June 8 - August 7

MASTER ARTIST WORKSHOPS November-April

Call for details.

Photo Credit: Julia Pineda

art&culture

|

79

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:31 AM

Page 80

{inside culture} cultural compendium

vides an interactive, hands-on method of discovery that is both fun and non-threatening,” he said.

The children who participated in the program concluded their experience with a free public performance at Mizner Park’s Count de Hoernle Amphitheater in downtown Boca Raton. “Boca Ballet Theatre plays an important role in our community, and through its First Step program it is bringing the joy of dance and culture to kids who may not otherwise be exposed to it,” said Anne Vegso. “I like to be involved and give back to our community, and underwriting the First Step program is a wonderful way to do that.”

It’s All About Birthdays at the Boynton Regional Symphony (From left) Tricia Ramudo, Anne Vegso and Boca Ballet Theatre’s Rome Saladino with young participants from Boca Ballet Theatre’s 2007-2008 First Step program

80

|

art&culture

What do Felix Mendelssohn, Abraham Lincoln and Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony” have in common? If you

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:55 AM

Page 81

cultural compendium

answered “200,” you’re an astute student of music and history—and a great candidate for season tickets to the Boynton Regional Symphony Orchestra (BRSO). During its upcoming third season, the intergenerational ensemble will commemorate Mendelssohn and Lincoln’s 200th birthdays as well as the 200th anniversary of the premiere of Beethoven’s masterful work. The soloists for two of the programs were chosen through BRSO’s inaugural concerto competition this year.

The celebration begins on January 10 with a concert featuring Mendelssohn’s “Concerto in E Minor for Violin” with 12year-old concerto competition winner Gabrielle Chou as the soloist. Also on the program are Sullivan’s “Overture to The Mikado” and Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 4 in A Major.” Lincoln is feted on February 21 with Aaron Copland’s “A Lincoln Portrait” and “Fanfare for the Common Man” along with Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 9 From the New World.”

The BRSO season concludes March 28 with another concerto competition winner, 18-year-old Christopher Ohanian, performing Mendelssohn’s “Concerto in G minor for Piano.” Also featured are Sibelius’ “Finlandia” and the aforementioned Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony.” All concerts take place at Boynton Beach Community High School. Call (561) 5095607 for tickets or visit www.brso.net.

Boca Raton Historical Society Welcomes Mizner Furnishings Through a long-term loan from the Norton Museum of Art, the Boca Raton Historical Society is displaying a collection of antique furnishings from Addison

Mizner’s former home on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach. The items were given to the Norton by Rose Sachs, one-time owner of the Mizner apartment located in Via Mizner, in the 1980s. The exhibit includes antiques as well as antiqueinspired items produced by the West Palm Beach-based factories of Mizner Industries. Mizner Industries products have long been a focus of the Boca Raton Historical Society’s collections due to Boca Raton’s historic association with the famed architect.

Photos of Mizner’s apartment taken around 1928 for the book “Florida Architecture of Addison Mizner” are featured on the walls of the exhibit. One item that appears in a photo of his dining room is recorded in an inventory as an “early gothic” dining table of Spanish walnut with inlaid top, supposedly acquired from a convent near Toledo.

The Mizner Industries’ reproduction of the

GET STONED AT THE ARMORY

GET CREATIVE! • Painting • Ceramics • Sculpture • Printmaking • Jewelry • Glass • Photography • Drawing • Metals • Foundry

REGISTER NOW For classes, camp and workshops.

561.832.1776

ArmoryArt.org SUMMER ART CAMP June 8 - August 7

MASTER ARTIST WORKSHOPS November-April

Call for details. art&culture

|

81

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:32 AM

Page 82

NIER.

NLY FUN O , E IF L R U O Y T LIKE

JUS

08

-30, 20 NOVEMBER 25

Tickets for Avenue Q and our entire 2008-2009 season go on sale beginning September 20. For a complete schedule or to order tickets visit kravis.org or call 561-832-7469 or 1-800-572-8471.

To become a Kravis Center donor call 561-651-4320.

Groups: 561-651-4438.

cultural compendium dining table graces the center of the new exhibition. Another novel Mizner Industries piece is a “savoranola” or scissors-style folding wooden bench; the same chair is visible in a historic photo of Mizner’s living room.

Approximately 25 “real antiques” and Mizner Industries items are on display, along with beautiful historic photos of Mizner’s home in the late 1920s, in the Count and Countess de Hoernle Room in Town Hall, 71 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. Call (561) 395-6766, ext. 101 for more information.

In related news, the Boca Raton Historical Society received a $700,000 gift from the estate of Dorothy Connell, a longtime member of the society. Most of the donation was allocated to the organization’s endowment, with the remainder to be used to enhance and care for the society’s collections, including the furniture from Mizner’s apartment.

The Boca Raton Historical Society’s Mizner exhibit

82

|

art&culture

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

12:31 PM

Page 83

September 17 Through December 7 VISIONES: 20TH CENTURY LATIN ART SELECTIONS FROM THE NASSAU COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART

Fred Lieberman

CARLOS ALFONZO (Cuban, 1950-1991), Afraid of Clowns, 1986, oil on canvas, 71 7⁄8 x 95 1⁄8 inches. Courtesy of the Nassau County Museum of Art

Harid Conservatory Founder Fred Lieberman Remembered The Harid Conservatory family was saddened this year by the passing of its founder and benefactor, Fred Lieberman of Boca Raton.

Known anonymously for 20 years as “the Donor” to Harid students, employees, friends and supporters, Lieberman died on March 12.

Lieberman founded The Harid—named in honor of his parents, Harry and Ida—in 1987 with the goal of offering high-quality professional training for young performing artists on a tuition-free basis. Harid is now regarded as one of the foremost schools of its type in North America and recognized internationally as a center of excellence for dance training. In addition to paying for the school’s campus and facilities, he funded the program’s annual operating costs for two decades and established an endowment fund to enable Harid to continue training young artists in perpetuity.

“Over the years, more than 80 professional dance companies across the United States and in Canada, Europe and Asia have employed Harid’s former students. More than a few Harid alumni have distinguished themselves in the dance world as soloists and principal artists in leading U.S. companies,” said Harid Director Gordon Wright.

“The Harid Conservatory is an extraordinary and precious gift, given selflessly by Fred Lieberman to aspiring young dancers, the South Florida community and the entire dance world.”

501 Plaza Real • Boca Raton, FL • 561.392.2500 • www.bocamuseum.org

GET FIRED UP AT THE ARMORY

GET CREATIVE! • Painting • Ceramics • Sculpture • Printmaking • Jewelry • Glass • Photography • Drawing • Metals • Foundry

REGISTER NOW For classes, camp and workshops.

561.832.1776

ArmoryArt.org SUMMER ART CAMP June 8 - August 7

MASTER ARTIST WORKSHOPS November-April

Call for details. art&culture

|

83

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:33 AM

Page 84

{inside culture} cultural compendium

ened and endangered sea turtles. It operates a sea turtle rehabilitation program and features aquariums and other marine exhibits. For information, visit www.marinelife.org or call (561) 627-8280.

Loggerhead Marinelife Center Opens New Outdoor Classroom Thanks to the Palm Beach County Recreation Assistance Grant Program, the Loggerhead Marinelife Center (LMC) constructed a new outdoor classroom at the 12,000-square-foot facility in Juno Beach. The classroom offers panoramic views of the ocean and features a turtle yard toddler play area with environmentally safe padded flooring and soft marine shaped animals.

“Due to the overwhelming public response for more educational programming, the center has expanded its learning center,” said Executive Director Nanette Lawrenson. “In keeping with the LMC mission to provide hands-on learning, the outdoor experience will enhance the Junior Marine Biology Camp, field trips and outdoor lectures.” The county grant covered costs for construction

Kravis Center Honored with 2008 Providencia Award

The turtle yard at Loggerhead Marinelife Center

materials and tropical landscaping as well as the play area.

The Loggerhead Marinelife Center is committed to the conservation of marine life through public education, research and rehabilitation with a focus on threat-

The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts took home the 20th Anniversary Providencia Award for leadership in the tourism industry during this year’s Providencia Awards Gala, which is coordinated by the PR Committee of the Palm Beach County Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).

“The Kravis Center has attained iconic national stature not only in the cultural arena, but as an entity that strategically works to open new markets and successfully generate new visitors and travelers to Palm Beach County,” said

Photo by Palm Beach Post Staff Photographer Scott Wiseman

When it comes to supporting the arts and culture, we’re on the same page.

84

|

art&culture

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:33 AM

Page 85

{inside culture} cultural compendium

(From left) Jorge Pesquera, CVB president and CEO; Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr.; Kravis CEO Judy Mitchell; and Phil Arvidson, honorary chair of the 2008 Providencia Awards Gala

Jorge Pesquera, president and CEO of the CVB. Throughout its 16-year tenure and under the leadership of CEO Judy Mitchell, the Kravis Center has established a record of consistent excellence, presenting sell-out shows, diverse year-round performances, enhanced capital expansion, creative promotion and marketing, as well as continued investment in community education, the CVB said. In 2007, the Kravis Center’s economic impact from spending by audience members was approximately $12.7 million.

Previous award recipients include the Norton Museum of Art, the South Florida Fair and Expo, SunFest and Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr., the driving force behind the building of the Kravis Center. The Providencia Award was first presented to Burt Reynolds in 1989.

Masterworks Chorus Reigns in Spain The Masterworks Chorus of the Palm Beaches drew kudos from audiences throughout Spain—including U.S. Ambassador Eduardo Aguirre—during a 10-day concert tour in June. The chorus serenaded the employees of the U.S. Embassy in Madrid with a concert that truly was a “gift of American culture,” Ambassador Aguirre noted.

“For the hour they performed, the Masterworks group transported the embassy workers across the Atlantic with their songs and spirit,” the embassy’s Web site reported afterwards. The 80voice chorus, directed by its founder Dr. Jack W. Jones, also performed in Avila and Barcelona.

This was the fifth international trip that the chorus has made in its 30-year history.

The first was to England, Belgium, Holland, Austria and Germany in 1983, then Rome in 1984, Spain in 1992 and most recently the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, France and Monaco in 1997. The Masterworks Chorus also has been featured in performances with Palm Beach Opera, Ballet Florida, Boston Esplanade Orchestra, Rome Festival (Italy) and at Lincoln Center

The Masterworks Chorus took its fifth international trip this summer.

art&culture

|

85

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:34 AM

Page 86

{inside culture} cultural compendium

and Carnegie Hall in New York. Jones is an internationally known concert organist who holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School.

Center for Creative Education Moves Closer to New Home Following the official groundbreaking for the new Center for Creative Education (CCE) earlier this year, a former skating rink building in West Palm Beach’s historic Northwood district is well on its way to being transformed into an 18,000-squarefoot community center where children, artists and teachers will use the arts to enrich and transform their educational experiences. In honor of the groundbreaking, eight of CCE’s fine artists painted shovels and hard hats to celebrate their favorite master artists. The construction gear represented the great works of Keith Herring, Frida Kahlo, Gustav Klimt,

Edward Munch, Jackson Pollock, Charles Schulz and Carol Walker.

“Although the Center for Creative Education was established in 1994, we have never had an actual center in which to conduct programming,” noted Tom Pilecki, executive director of CCE. “Thanks to the incredible support of our loyal supporters, CCE will now be able to conduct classes in the newest, most advanced environments.

Students will be able to visit the center and paint in the art studios, act in the theater and dance in a mirror-lined rehearsal space.

The center will be an incredible refuge for students to embrace their imagination with numerous creative options.”

Plans for CCE’s new center, which is scheduled for completion in early 2009, include classrooms, studios, an artist consignment shop and cafe, rehearsal and dance studio, gallery spaces, computer rooms, artist workrooms and administrative offices. The building’s theater gal-

Several Center for Creative Education artists decorated shovels and hard hats for the groundbreaking.

leries, black box theater and the community board room will be a focal point for exhibitions, receptions and neighborhood gatherings. Featuring the exposed 1942 roof beams and steel industrial elements of the original building, the space will showcase the hardwood floors of the skating rink, as well as the building’s original 12foot arched windows. Exhibit installations will feature local artists, student artists and, occasionally, nationally known artists.

ARCHITECTURE • HISTORIC PRESERVATION • EDUCATION • PLANNING

311 Peruvian Avenue Palm Beach, Florida 33480 561.832.0731 www.palmbeachpreservation.org

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE • CULTURE • DESIGN • ADVOCACY 86

|

art&culture

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:33 AM

Page 87

{inside culture} cultural compendium

Long-Awaited History Museum Welcomes Visitors After more than 70 years as a selfdescribed “itinerant organization,” the Historical Society of Palm Beach County is settling comfortably into its new home within the historic 1916 Courthouse on the corner of Dixie Highway and Third Street in downtown West Palm Beach. When the much-anticipated Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum opened to the public this past spring, the move created the organization’s first permanent exhibition space.

The 3,500-square-foot facility gives the Historical Society the opportunity to showcase some of its nearly 2,000 donations, which include millions of photographs, ephemera and artifacts. The museum includes permanent and temporary exhibit spaces, each reflecting the influence of the many cultures in Palm Beach County’s

diverse history, from the earliest Native American inhabitants to the present day.

The museum’s east wing houses permanent exhibits themed around “The People” who have been integral to the area’s development, while the west wing focuses on “The Place,” exploring Palm Beach County’s natural environment and the many communities that have contributed to its distinct identity. In addition to viewing the exhibitions, visitors also can take a tour of the courthouse’s two-story, 2,897-square-foot historic courtroom located on the third and fourth floors in the center of the building.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is free.

Public parking is available in garages and lots on Fourth Street and Banyan Boulevard. For more information, call (561) 832-4164 or visit www.historicalsocietypbc.org.

O R I G I N A L

R

O S E T T A

P A I N T I N G S

S

T O N E

F

I N E

B Y

Inside the new Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum

JB Berkow

A

R T

Connect. Communicate. Inspire. www.rosettastonefineart.com

G

A L L E R Y

5080 PGA Boulevard, Suite 101, PGA Commons Central, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418

561.691-9594

art&culture

|

87

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:34 AM

Page 88

© Jim Graham

briefly noted

• Professional moving & packing service with all full-time employees - no contractors • Excellent storage facility - air conditioned, monitored camera security system, back-up generator, no loss or damage from previous hurricanes • Fine arts, international shipping, RV and boat storage.

brown moving & storage, inc.

1900 old okeechobee road west palm beach, fl 33409 561.686.1400 www.brownmoving.com

A Celebration Of Music And Literature March 5th - March 15th, 2009

ITZHAK PERLMAN Will Be In Residence For The Entire Festival As We Celebrate His Artistry And Humanity On The 50th Anniversary Of His First U.S. Appearance

Itzhak Perlman Mikhail Pletnev Jeremy Denk

Lic.#: PBC#MV2-FLA REG#IM32

Since 1925, the premier moving company in south Florida.

Stephen Fried

Two well-known humorists— Alan Zweibel and Stephen Fried—will headline the JCC of the Greater Palm Beaches’ Annual Book Festival Luncheon on November 19 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts’ Cohen Pavilion. The latest book from Zweibel, an original writer for “Saturday Night Live” (19751980) and TV shows such as “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” is “Clothing Optional: And Other Ways to Read These Stories.”

Fried’s new work, “HUSBANDRY: Sex, Love, and Dirty Laundry—Inside the Minds of Married Men,” includes 31 of his most popular Ladies Home Journal columns. For information, visit www.jcconline.com.

Alondra de la Parra Russian National Orchestra Master Chorale of South Florida Perlman Music Program Itzhak Perlman reprise of “In the Fiddler’s House” A celebration of Klezmer music Plus Many More Performers & Literary Guests!

event e vent in partnership with

88

|

art&culture

M

A

G

A

Z

I

N

E

Alan Zweibel

Greg Pallante

For Ticket Tick ket And Sponsorship Information, Information, Please Call 561-368-8445 561-368-8445 Or Visit Visit Festivaloftheartsboca.org Festivaloftheartsboca.org

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:34 AM

Page 89

briefly noted

Art will help fight hunger when 10-foot sculptures made entirely from cans of food fill the Lighthouse Center for the Arts (LCA) as part of CANstruction. This unique nationally organized design competition involves local teams of engineers, architects, contractors, interior designers, students and others. The results of their teamwork will be on view from September 15 through November 4 at LCA, located at 373 Tequesta Drive, Tequesta. Admission is free. At the close of the CANstruction exhibition, all canned food used in the sculptures will be donated to the Treasure Coast Food Bank.

Since its creation in 1992-1993 by several chapters of the Society for Design-Administration, CANstruction has inspired the donation of 10 million pounds of food.

Joseph Robinson

Ted Atkatz

Jon Manasse

Three distinguished artists-inresidence have joined the program faculty at the Conservatory of Music at Lynn University: clarinetist Jon Manasse, oboist Joseph Robinson and percussionist Ted Atkatz. A graduate from The Julliard School, Manasse is principal clarinetist of the American Ballet Theater Orchestra and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. Robinson served as principal oboe of the New York Philharmonic for 27 years and continues to appear extensively as an oboe soloist, chamber musician and teacher. Atkatz is the former principal percussionist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

A CANstruction creation

art&culture

|

89

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:34 AM

Page 90

briefly noted

Palm Beach Dramaworks

Steven Caras

named Steven Caras as its new director of development. Caras comes to the position after serving as Miami City Ballet’s director of development for Palm Beach County. In that role, he increased the company’s contributed revenue by 100 percent to well over $1 million annually, and sustained successive increases throughout a three-year period while working as chief fundraiser for the organization’s northern tri-county operation.

“Steve has a unique and extensive background in the arts. His impressive track record as both an artist and arts manager will benefit Dramaworks greatly at a most crucial point in the evolution of our growing organization,” said William Hayes, founder and producing artistic director.

Congressman Robert Wexler and Jean Zhuang

Jean Zhuang, a student at Spanish River High School, won the 2008 Congressional Arts Competition sponsored

by Congressman Robert Wexler. This annual competition allows every member of Congress to select a piece of artwork produced by a high school student within the district to hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year. Judges for the competition were Elaine Baker and Deborah Sponder from Elaine Baker Gallery, Linda Boone from Habatat Galleries and Armand Bolling from Karen Lynne Gallery. All of the student entries were shown at the Gallery Center in Boca Raton in May. As the winner, Zhuang had the opportunity to tour Washington, D.C., and attend seminars with other talented high school students from across the country.

90

|

art&culture

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:35 AM

Page 91

{inside culture} briefly noted Two women who have made a

Tricia Trimble

Tricia Trimble was named managing director of the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, where she will be responsible for all fiduciary responsibilities including the operations of the 550-seat theater, the Conservatory of the Performing Arts and all fundraising. Trimble came to the theater in 2005 as director of development. She previously had 20 years experience in marketing, sales and management at WestPoint Pepperell and held leadership roles in many community organizations.

Her primary goal for the 2008-2009 season is to initiate a $10-million endowment fund.

major impact in the cultural community were recognized with stars on the “Walk of Recognition” under the Mizner statue at Royal Palm Place in Boca Raton. The awards honored Millicent Duvall, the founding chairman of the board of the Youth Orchestra of Palm Beach County and a member of the board of directors of the Boca Raton Symphonia; and Elaine Wold, benefactor of the Keith C. Wold Foundation for the Development of Theatre Arts as well as the Keith C. and Elaine Johnson Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University. Marta Batmasian, a former chair of the Palm Beach County Cultural Council’s board of directors, conceived the award in 1997. It has become an annual community program organized and maintained by the Boca Raton Historical Society.

Elaine Wold

Millicent Duvall

Attorney and historian Harvey E. Oyer III has written a children’s book based on stories handed down through his family for five generations.

“The Adventures of Charlie Pierce: The American Jungle”—intended primarily for a 9- to 12-year-old audience—tells the story of a young boy who moves from the relatively safe confines of Chicago to the wild, untamed frontiers of South Florida with his parents in 1872. The character is based on the real-life experiences of Charles W. Pierce, Oyer’s great-grand uncle. Oyer, a member of the Cultural Council’s board of directors, has authored numerous books and articles and delivered hundreds of lectures about history and archaeology. He served six years as the chairman of the Historical Society of Palm Beach County.

art&culture

|

91

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

12:20 PM

Page 92

briefly noted

The HARID Conservatory

2008-09 Performance Season December 12, 13, & 14, 2008

V

May 22, 23, & 24, 2009 The Milagro Foundation

Alex Srb ©

Classical & contemporary ballets; character & modern dance.

See what all the fuss is about! Call 561-998-8038 for tickets. info@harid.edu

V

www.harid.edu

in Delray Beach recently received grants of $50,413 from the Jim Moran Foundation and $20,000 from the CarMax Foundation to support the STARS Program. This comprehensive after-school and summer cultural arts program provides low-income, elementary school-aged children with educational and emotional support—helping them to excel in school by building confidence and self-esteem with supportive mentors who serve as positive role models.

Over 60 percent of the Moran Foundation grant will be used to recruit and contract professional local artists who will teach the summer and fall semester art classes at the Milagro Center. The remainder will help to support the program by providing much-needed art supplies, class materials and special summer activities.

T h ime! g u o r h t l e v ra T e Com From spears and pioneers to hurricanes and famous

names, you’ll love exploring the past at South Florida’s newest museum. Located within the historic 1916 Courthouse in downtown West Palm Beach, history comes to life in two permanent galleries, rotating temporary exhibits and restored courtroom. Admission is free!

R I C H A R D A N D PAT

JOHNSON PA L M B E A C H C O U N T Y

HISTORY MUS EUM 300 N. Dixie Hwy, Downtown West Palm Beach Tues – Sat, 10am–5pm; Sun, 1–5pm 561.832.4164 | www.historicalsocietypbc.org

92

|

art&culture

Children at the Milagro Center

Inside Culture.w-ads.2:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:35 AM

Page 93

{inside culture} briefly noted

Children at Easter Seals learn about music from Mr. Melody.

“Summer Rocks with The Palm Beach Pops,” a free, week-long music program for disadvantaged and at-risk children, was piloted in four non-profit childcare centers this summer as part of the Pops’ larger Music & You In School Youth Education program. The program, which included daily sessions with Pops musicians (and their instruments) led by Mr. Melody (Gary Mayone), culminated with a live mini-concert.

Children learned about the four instrument families and great

composers, including Mozart and Duke Ellington. Handouts reinforced what the children learned, while teachers and program coordinators were given classroom guides to enable them to continue the work. Participating groups included Easter Seals, Opportunity Inc., the Florence Fuller Child Development Center and the Boys and Girls Club of Palm Beach County.

Ken Touchton

The Alpha-Omega Charitable

Palm Beach Atlantic University students majoring in graphic design, illustration and animation are benefiting from an Alpha-Omega Charitable Foundation grant that paid for needed equipment.

Foundation, which previously donated $200,000 to establish the Classroom and Graphic Arts Laboratory at Palm Beach Atlantic University, recently made a $26,000 grant to create seven new computer stations. The graphic arts program has flourished at the university since the installation of the facility, which helps prepare students with a major in graphic arts to specialize in page layout and print design, illustration and animation.

Established in 1994, the Alpha-Omega Charitable Foundation supports the philanthropic interests of the late internationally known sculptor and painter Tauni de Lesseps. A Paris-born countess and resident of Palm Beach, de Lesseps was the granddaughter of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the famous engineer and designer of the Suez and Panama canals.

art&culture

|

93

Donor Spread:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:37 AM

Page 94

cultural click

Steve Caras and Susan Bloom

Sue Fairchild and Iris Apfel

Sydelle Meyer and Tim Luke

Culture & Cocktails: A wildly successful fourth season of Cultural & Cocktails at CafĂŠ Boulud was a membership highlight.

Local celebrities and cultural cognoscenti weighed in on topics from theatre to dance to appraising beloved heirlooms.

Stephen Dori, Stephanie Rapp and Markus Schaffer

Sid Roberson, Deidre Sykes Shapiro, Fred Shapiro and Michael Ludwig

Elizabeth Murdoch, Mary Cullinan and Barbara Trevino

Young Friends: Young friends gather in style at the Four Seasons Resort to kick off Season IV of Sneak Peek Season Soiree.

Irene and Jim Karp

Judy and Larry Schlager

Janice Laff and Biba St. Croix

Ellen Liman, Dale Anderson and Jean Sharf

Allied Member Party: Local arts enthusiasts and gallery owners gather at the home of Fred and Jean Sharf, philanthropists and renowned art collectors, to celebrate the launch of the Council’s Allied Membership program.

94

|

art&culture

Donor Spread:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:40 AM

Page 95

{inside culture} In gratitude to our members & supporters whose generous gifts of $500 and greater help us accomplish our mission Ms. Josephine Adams Mr. Yujel Akdeniz Present Global Art Gallery Mr. and Mrs. Doug Anderson Ms. Kathleen Azeez Ms. Carol Barnett Publix Supermarket Charities

Mr. Robert Gittlin JKG Group

Mrs. Ellen F. Liman Liman Studio Gallery

Mr. J. Arthur Goldberg

Mr. John Loring

Mr. Jorge Pesquera Palm Beach County Convention and Visitors Bureau

Dr. Barbara Golden and Mr. Jerome Golden

Mr. Joseph B. Love, Jr.

The Palm Beach Post

Dr. Catherine Lowe

palmbeach3

Mr. Michael Ludwig UBS Financial Services, Inc.

Mr. John W. Payson Midtown Payson Galleries

Mr. Holden Luntz Holden Luntz Gallery

Ms. Lisa H. Peterfreund Merrill G. & Emita E. Hastings Foundation

Mr. Rick Gonzalez, AIA REG Architects, Inc.

Belle Glade Chamber of Commerce

Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce

Ms. JoAnne Berkow Rosetta Stone Fine Art

Greater Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce

Mrs. Rena Blades and Mr. John Blades

Mr. and Mrs. Homer J. Hand

Mr. James R. Borynack Wally Findlay Galleries International, Inc.

Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Mr. Charles V. Hardiman

Mr. Michael J. Bracci Northern Trust Bank of Florida, N.A.

Mr. Herbert S. Hoffman Hoffman Companies

Mr. J. Daniel Brede Lawrence A. Sanders Foundation

Ms. Judy A. Hoffman Profile Marketing Research

Mr. Howard Bregman Greenberg Traurig, P.A.

Ms. Ann E. Howard John C. & Mary Jane Howard Foundation

Mr. John J. Brogan

Mr. Robert C. Luptak Steinway Piano Gallery Mr. Rod Macon Florida Power & Light Mr. Milton S. Maltz The Malrite Company

Dr. A. Carter Pottash

Mrs. Betsy K. Matthews Mr. and Mrs. William M. Matthews

Ms. Joyce Reingold Palm Beach Daily News

Mr. R. Thomas Mayes, Jr., CFP Calibre - Wachovia Family Office

Mr. Leon M. Rubin Rubin Communications Group

Mr. Steven E. McCraney McCraney Property Company, Inc.

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis M. Schott

Mr. and Mrs. Francois Brutsch

Ms. Gale G. Howden Palm Beach Post

Business Development Board

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Jaffe

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Butler

Mr. Kenn Karakul

Mr. and Mrs. John K. Castle

Mr. and Mrs. James S. Karp

Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches

Mr. Jack Kay

Michael P. Mezzatesta, Ph.D. International Fine Art Expositions

Mr. and Mrs. Amin J. Khoury B/E Aerospace, Inc.

Mrs. Sydell L. Miller

Mr. Robert S.C. Kirschner Passport Publications & Media Corporation

Ms. Jane Mitchell

Mr. and Mrs. David F. Click Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties Ms. Pamela O. Dean The Harris Bank Dr. Richard P. D’Elia dmg world media (USA) inc.

Mrs. Cecile Draime Mr. and Mrs. Alexander W. Dreyfoos Mr. Timothy A. Eaton Eaton Fine Art Ms. Debra Elmore A.K. Consulting Mr. George T. Elmore Hardrives, Inc. Mrs. Wilma Elmore Mrs. Shirley Fiterman Miles & Shirley Fiterman Charitable Foundation Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach Mrs. Florence Free Mrs. Lorraine L. Friedman

Doreen McGunagle, Ph.D. Global Strategic Management Mr. and Mrs. David McIntosh

Mr. Donald H. Kohnken Kohnken Family Foundation Mr. Bernard Kozel and Mrs. Molly Foreman-Kozel Mr. Raymond E. Kramer, III Beasley, Hauser, Kramer, Leonard & Galardi, P.A. Ms. Kathi Kretzer Kretzer Piano Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Kushnick Mrs. Emily Landau Ms. Wendy U. Larsen, Esq. Siemon & Larsen, P.A. Mr. and Mrs. Alan S. Lavine Mr. and Mrs. Gerald LeBoff

Mr. Dana T. Pickard Edwards, Angell, Palmer, Dodge, LLP

Mrs. Sydelle Meyer

Mrs. Herme de Wyman Miro Ms. JoAnne Rioli Moeller Office Depot Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Montgomery, Jr. Ms. Fecia Mulry Mulry Fine Art

Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Puder

Mr. Gary Schweikhart PR-BS, Inc. Mr. and Mrs. Barry Seidman Mr. and Mrs. Fred Sharf Ms. Muriel F. Siebert Mr. Michael D. Simon Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart P.A. Mr. and Mrs. D. L. Smith, Jr. Ms. Robin Smollar Ms. Biba St. Croix Gallery Biba Mr. Dennis Stefanacci Mr. Mark Stevens National City - Private Client Group Mr. Dom A. Telesco

Mr. and Mrs. James M. Nederlander Nederlander Organization

Mrs. Patricia G. Thorne

Northern Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce

Mr. and Mrs. Leo Vecellio, Jr.

Mrs. Phyliss Tick

Ms. Judy Oppel Palm Beach Jewelry, Art & Antique Show

Mr. Mark D. Veil, CPA Caler, Donten, Levine, Druker, Porter & Veil, P.A.

Mr. Michael Ostroff The Ostroff Group, Inc.

The Wachovia Foundation

Mr. Edgar Otto

Mr. Robert K. Wechsler

Ms. Margo Lefton

Ovation TV

Mr. Paul N. Leone The Breakers

Ms. Debby M. Oxley

Ms. Jeanmarie Whalen, Esq. Slawson, Cunningham, & Whalen, P.L.

Harvey E. Oyer, III, Esq. Shutts & Bowden, LLP

Ms. Mary Wong Office Depot Foundation

Palm Beach | America’s International Fine Art & Antique Fair

Ms. Sheryl G. Wood

Gallery Center

Mr. and Mrs. Gordon A. Lewis, Jr. The Fine Arts Conservancy

Ms. Jennifer Garrigues Jennifer Garrigues, Inc.

Mr. William E. Lewis Bank of America Private Bank

Palm Beach Civic Association

Ms. Ruth Young The Colony - Palm Beach

Listing as of print date

art&culture

|

95

last_page:Layout 1

9/22/08

11:41 AM

Page 96

{next issue – winter 2008/09}

“Kravis on Broadway” presents the South Florida premiere of Legally Blonde the Musical during its 2008/09 season.

Creating Season Lineups

for the Performing Arts Have you ever wondered how the season lineups for our local performing arts venues and organizations are created? Go backstage with our next issue of art&culture as we ask programming directors how they select shows for each season.

96

|

art&culture

Filette Ads-PassportPub:Filette Ads/PassportPub

9/22/08

3:39 PM

THERE THERE

IS

Page 3

IS WATER, AND

ACQUA FILETTE.

NEPTUNE DESIGN WORKS, LLC

SINCE 1894

Discover a new taste sensation. Mineral water from the crystalline mountain springs of the Italian Alps. A perfect balance of neutral PH and healthy minerals. Bottled by the same family-owned company since 1894, Acqua Filette is the mineral water of choice for prestigious international hotels and restaurants. Now, for the first time in the United States, your choice. . .

ACQUA FILETTE, N ATURALLY, DELICATELY SPARKLIN G AN D DEFIN ITELY EFFERVESCEN T. Bottled in Italy exclusively for Fonte Italia Americas

For more information and delivery (561) 472-8778

www.FonteItaliaAmericas.com

9/22/08

11:50 AM

Page 1

©T&CO. 2008

Tiffany & Co A&C Fall 08:Layout 1

Some Style Is Legendary

BAL HARBOUR SHOPS 305 864 1801 BOCA RATON TOWN CENTER 561 362 4334 CORAL GABLES VILLAGE OF MERRICK PARK 305 529 4390 PALM BEACH 259 WORTH AVENUE 561 659 6090 THE GARDENS OF THE PALM BEACHES 561 622 2533 TIFFANY.COM