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1920 North Forest Avenue, Orlando, Florida USA 32803 407-246-2620
Current Exhibit
Susan Martin Paintings December 9, 2009 through March 16, 2010
Their busy patterns and bold colors demand attention, but the chaos of the subject matter is organized and clarified through the painting process.
I have applied this perspective to a number of subjects, ranging from a series based on recycled materials, shiny aluminum squashed into outrageous forms, ragged edges of glass reflecting the sun, paper twisted into an infinity of patterns, to pieces based on blossoms and leaves. It is a fascination with patterns that drives my selection of subject matter, rather than the subjects themselves.
The Interiors Series displayed in the hallway was based on images from within a large Poinciana tree. By eliminating the context provided by background and examining a subject close-up and enlarged, the resulting compositions can be viewed abstractly as complex arrangements of colors and textures with inherent aesthetic value apart from its representation as flowers, leaves, and branches.
Artist's Bio Susan Martin received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art from the University of Texas at Austin in 1966, then continued with coursework in Art Education. A significant part of her educational experience was the opportunity to study photography and composition under the eminent photographer Russell Lee.
Lee’s lasting influence can be observed in her sharp, clean examination of the subject, her preference for strong contrast that reveals the surface quality, and emphasis on composition that comes from years of work in black and white.
Early in her career, the artist turned to acrylics in her quest for the clean edges that a quick drying medium can deliver, adding depth of color through multiple layers of paint. Her work developed ‘Super-Real’ characteristics, creating an image beyond the scope of the camera.
Susan Martin’s work has been purchased for the collections of McGraw-Hill Companies, Marriott at Orlando International Airport, Chugai-Upjohn Company, Southern Progress Corporation, Sterling Drug, Walt Disney World Productions, Brevard Art Museum, Orange County Convention and Civic Center, Burdines, First Florida Bank, American Bank, and Vero Museum of Art.
The artist is represented by Elegance of the Sea in Vero Beach, and Art4Business in Philadelphia. She is a founding member of Ten Women in Art, a twenty-five year organization that exhibits throughout Florida and the southern states; more of her work can be viewed on that website, www.tenwomeninart.com. Martin works out of her studio on south Merritt Island.
Susan Martin 11630 Point Drive Merritt Island 32952 Telephone 321: 773-1276
Permanent Collections at Leu Gardens
Otfinoski Sculpture for new Home Demonstration Gardens
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With the
financial support from the Friends of Leu Gardens, Inc., seven metal
sculptures were commissioned for the Leu Gardens’ Home Demonstration Gardens.
Leu Gardens’ Director Robert Bowden discovered Peter Otfinoski and his
pioneering and innovative work at the Maitland Art Festival in 1999. The City
of Orlando’s Public Art Coordinator Frank Holt and Mr. Bowden visited Mr.
Otfinoski’s studio in West Palm Beach to see more of his handiwork. 
landscape design and sculpture as art forms. Both have their own definition of
color, form and texture and when placed together within the context of a large
garden ‘room,’ the individual characteristics of each enhance the other.” | A
self trained naturalist he traveled throughout Mexico, discovering 200 new
species of bromeliads in addition to species of amaryllis, cacti, palms and
peperomia. His discoveries include Aechmea fosteriana (bearing his name) and Aechmea
orlandiana, named after the city of Orlando. Mr. Foster introduced the Tabeuia tree to Orlando and their large yellow blooms can be seen blossoming around many Orlando city lakes. He was awarded the Herbert Medal in 1951 for his work in promoting amaryllids. |
 Mulford Foster Aracae (Ariod Family) 1992 Oil on canvas Gift of the Foster Estate |
 Mulford Foster Cactaceae (Cactus Family) 1992 Oil on canvas Gift of the Foster Estate |
He published
articles in National Geographic, The Smithsonian Annual Report, and The
Journal of the Bromeliad Society. He published a book with his wife
Racine, on their plant collecting travels to Brazil. He was the leading figure of
the formation of the Bromeliad Society in 1948. He served as its
president for twelve years and edited its bi-monthly bulletin. He died
at the age of 89 as the "father of Bromeliads" and a
world-renowned horticulturalist. These abstract works of M.B. Foster earned him the name "passionate plant philosopher" and have been on display at the Maitland Art Center, and shows in New York and Pennsylvania before finding its permanent home at Harry P. Leu Gardens. The Foster Estate presented the paintings as a gift to the City of Orlando in 1992. |
Frank Farmer
Flowers For Janette
Enamel and Aluminum
Rose Room
Flowers For Janette is a six-foot buy ten-foot piece by artist Frank Farmer in 1995. Frank Farmer’s pieces are well known in Miami, Philadelphia and New York. Created by painting enamel flowers on aluminum, this piece resembles an impressionistic rendering of flower groupings, yet the colors are strong and bold.
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Frank Farmer was quoted as saying he is "so happy to have the painting in such a splendid location- the room, the building and the garden. I hope visitors will enjoy it …and that the painting will become not only a focal point but, part of the fabric of a pleasant and civilized setting.
Claire Garret
Dreaming Trees IV
Ficus benjamina and mixed media
Claire
Garret graduated form Cornell University and the School of the Museum of Fine
Arts In Boston. Her three dimensional pieces have been described recreations
of sculptural forms as they once related to nature.
Garrets primary medium is the aerial roots from the Ficus benjamina, a tree indigenous to Florida. She also uses other natural mixed media. Her uses of natural fibers cause us to examine their relationship to the manufactured space the piece is being shown in. Not only concerned in the relationships the piece conjures, Garret also focuses with the emotional or spiritual resonance of nature. Dreaming Trees was purchased by the City of Orlando for Harry P. Leu Gardens in 1992
Garry Mealor
Palm Halves
Watercolor
Palm
Halves was purchased by the city in 1992 from Gary Mealor. It is a
representational image of the well-known Florida Palm. Mealor is a
water-colorist from Tampa. In the past twenty years he has been selected in
numerous juried exhibitions, winning awards in over half.
He has received commissions for two sets of limited prints, one of 90 and the other of 50. Some recipients of the prints are Sears, Abbot Laboratories and GTE. His work can be seen in the permanent collection of Neville Public Museum in Green Bay, WI and the Tampa Public Art Collection. He is a transparent watercolorist so he does not use white or opaque color in his palette. He uses sable as well as airbrush in his application of transparent wash.
Richard Carner
Evidence of Organsity
Wooden Vessel
Carner
became interested in art and the development of craft related skills while
pursuing his Ph. D. in Counselor Education from the University of
Florida.
Carner moved to North Carolina in 1978 and established a cabinet making business that specialized in restoration, where he first began working with lathe wood. In 1987, his work in the Mental Health community brought him to St. Augustine where for the past several years he has been perfecting his technical skills. Working with logs that can initially weigh 800 pounds he transforms them into wooden vessels with walls sometimes less than a ¼ inch thick.
Carner likens this transformation from log to form to a "chrysalis". He "cherishes the moments in which his clarity of vision is successfully translated into concrete action."
Bill Rollo
Camellias
Watercolor
John Catterall
Grove Diptych
Chrissie Mervine,
Tree of Life
Mosaic
Sarah Owens, Cillia-Pod
Stoneware
Why are we given a mouth if we are
not to taste? Why are we blessed with skin if we were not to feel? If we are
to enjoy anything out of life, it should begin with a celebration of the
sensual.
These forms began with nothing but the intentions of showing the sensuality
of the clay body in its raw honesty. This included incorporating elements
such as the stoneware's rough texture, the naturally deep warm-orange color,
and the way the clay lends itself to twisting, turning, bulging, and
curving. The appreciation for these elements is directly related to my own
experience with nature and a desire to appeal to our truest, uninhibited
state of being.
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