Gadsden Arts Center Artists Guild Exhibitions

Artwork by members of the Gadsden Arts Center Artists Guild is displayed at the Gadsden Arts Center and the Mainstreet Café Gallery year-round. Visit Artists Guild, for more information about the GAC Artists Guild membership.

The following exhibitions will be on display through July 28th, 2012:

Bates Community Room Gallery, 2nd floor
Gallery open: Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–5pm
Artwork by a selection of Artists Guild members: Penny G. Anderson, Julie Baroody, Linda Clark, Wendy Devarieux, Shirley Dyal, Richard Ferrall, Marguerite Foxon, Betsy Fuchs, Suzanne Gilliard, Joy Green, June Hajos, Michele Tabor Kimbrough, Jean Marani, Brenda Bethay Martin, William H. McKeown, John E. Metcalfe, Kent Putnam, Robert DeWitt Smith, and Mary C. Transou.

Mainstreet Cafe Gallery, next door to the Gadsden Arts Center
Gallery open: Monday–Saturday, 10am–3pm
You can see artwork by the following Artists Guild members: Jeanne C. Alderson, Mary Apple, Virginia L. Coultas, Elizabeth Diaz, Peggy Jones, Sue Ellen Knowles, Janice "Ecinja" McCaskill, Bettsy Mitchell, Jill Quadagno, Eluster Richardson, Cheryl Sattler, and Susanne Taranto.

Visit the Artists Guild page to learn more!

A Portrait of Historic Gadsden County, Florida

Sara May Love Gallery
May 10-July 27, 2013

In 2010, the Gadsden Arts Center formed a committee to begin developing an exhibition of artwork representing Gadsden County, Florida. The exhibitionʼs theme is “representing selected Gadsden County history through visual art”. In light of Gadsden Countyʼs extensive and rich history, the Gadsden Arts Center aims to represent a cross-section of the history of the county through original artwork and selected artifacts borrowed from local collectors.

Artists working today will also be invited to create new artwork representing Gadsden County to exhibit alongside the borrowed artwork and artifacts. By including artwork from contemporary artists, visitors can view art created in various time periods, as well as purchase artwork capturing our history.

The Gadsden Arts Center seeks artwork and artifacts from all the unique areas of Gadsden County and hopes to include representations of each community in this exhibition. 

Please help with this important historical project by referring local collectors to our committee co-chairs and staff.
Committee Co-chairs: William H. McKeown and Dawn McMillan; Curator: Angie Barry, 627-5021 or angie.barry@gadsdenarts.org

36th Annual Southern Watercolor Society Annual Juried Exhibition

Sara May Love and Zoe Golloway Exhibit Hall Galleries
February 8- April 27, 2013

The Southern Watercolor Society, founded in 1975, is a non-profit corporation formed to elevate the stature of watercolor and educate the public to the significance of watercolor as an important creative permanent painting medium. The corporation is dedicated to the highest aesthetic standards. It is the aim of the organization to further the interests of painters in watercolor/ watermedia by its programs and competitive exhibits, and to encourage the study of watercolor by art students and others engaged in watercolor painting.

New sculpture by Joel Scilley

Sara May Love Gallery
May 11-July 28, 2012


Joel Scilley has been a designer, carpenter, and woodworker for over 15 years and has based his company Audiowood in Grand Ridge, Florida. Scilley studied art, design, and architecture in New York with Hobart College and Parsons School of Design. His work combines high technology with the character of traditional woodcraft, creating functional works of art. Scilley’s work has been featured in dozens of major magazines and design websites and are carried by select retailers throughout the country. Most recently, his piece, Barky Turntable, won 1st place in the Gadsden Arts Center's 23rd Annual Art in Gadsden Exhibition in 2011. In addition to his turntables and iPhone nests, Scilley showcases over a dozen gourd lamps, chandeliers and sculptures created in collaboration with artist Vicki Fuqua.

Above Right: Joel Scilley, El Diablo, redwood burl, ebonized maple.

24th Annual Art in Gadsden Regional Exhibition of Fine Art

November 16, 2012–January 26, 2013
Sara May Love Gallery and Zoe Golloway Exhibit Hall

Gadsden Arts Center's annual juried signature exhibition of fine art, representing almost 100 artists living within 200 miles of Quincy, Florida. Considered the exhibition that began Gadsden Arts, the Art in Gadsden exhibition is an important annual tradition. Right: 23rd Art in Gadsden Best in Show Award Winner, Humph by Robert DeWitt Smith.

Tallahassee Watercolor Society Brush Strokes Exhibition

August 17–November 3, 2012
2nd floor galleries

The annual members' juried water media exhibition of the Tallahassee Watercolor Society, an organization whose mission is to promote the fine art of watercolor painting in Tallahassee and its surrounding communities in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. This year's juror is the Gallery Director of Tallahassee's 1020 Art Gallery, Majken Peterzén. Right: 2011 Brush Strokes First Place Award Winner: Mary Gambon, Key West Palm, watercolor.

Ben Bivins: Bound and Unfettered

August 17–November 3, 2012
Zoe Golloway Exhibit Hall

An exhibition of work by artist Ben Bivins, showcasing the complexities of life through the eyes of the artist. Through a range of styles, from realism to abstraction to the non-objective, Bivins explores the search and struggles of life. Right: Ben Bivins, Green, Yet Blue, 2010, latex on board.

Inside/Out
cut-paper collage by Beth Appleton and large-scale metal sculpture by Deborah LaGrasse

August 17–November 3, 2012
Sara May Love Gallery

Beth Appleton was the first artist to exhibit work in Gadsden Arts’ current building, and 12 years later returns with all new, never-before exhibited, abstract landscapes. Appleton’s work often reveals the combination of her Florida background with design elements influenced by the Southwest in addition to the brilliant color and vitality of the Caribbean and Central America. Above Right: Beth Appleton, Aquatica, 2011, watercolor/cut-paper.

Exhibiting alongside Appleton is Deborah LaGrasse showcasing her large-scale media media sculptures. LaGrasse combines various materials and processes to help her “define the mystery, strength, and power of the human spirit”.  Bottom right: Deborah LaGrasse, Earth Harmony, aluminum.

Town and Country: paintings by Randy and Debra Brienen

May 11–July 28, 2012
Zoe Golloway Exhibit Hall

Husband and wife Randy and Debra Brienen share a passion for painting that is evident in their work. Both work mainly in the acrylic medium but are each unique in what they aim to express with their paintings. Randy is formally-trained artist whose work expresses a variety of styles and techniques in a contemporary tradition. In this exhibition, he concentrates on the beauty of our surroundings.


Debra, who is self-taught, typically expresses the joy and happiness she finds in living by favoring idyllic moments captured in landscape or architecture. She focuses on the brilliant structures throughout north Florida. Top right: Debra Brienen, acrylic on canvas; bottom right: Randy Brienen, Gadsden County Tobacco Barn, acrylic on canvas.

Diversity and Creativity: Photography in the 21st Century

May 11–July, 28, 2012
Sara May Love Gallery

An exhibition of regional photographers guest curated by local photographer Jessie Lovano-Kerr. This exhibition will explore the many sides of modern photography and its processes.

Edward Babcock describes his creative process as a combination of technical and spiritual elements, "I believe that creativity is of Divine origin and my responsibility as an artist is to use my technical skills in a co-creation endeavor with the elegant Spirit inside". Babcock's digital creations  allow him a limitless environment with which to explore photography and the creative process. Magnificant, digital collage.
On the other side of the spectrum, Robert Constand uses "old-fashioned" photography equipment and traditional material and processes. Constand grew up in the largely unspoiled coast of west Florida,  and now tries to communicate his feelings about the fragility of north Florida's landscape through his photography. Aspen Grove (detail), silver gelatin print.
Barbara Aleene Edwards thrives on the hands-on experience of creating photo encaustics, and mod enjoys the creative process of producing photographs, whether through traditional or digital methods. She will use silver gelatin prints made in a darkroom or digital prints, or even a combination of the two to create her multi-layer encaustics. I Knew Ruby and Mary Were Real, photo encaustic.
Bill Humphries wanders boatyards, alleys, industrial and urban areas of cities in search of interesting textures: rusting, decaying debris and walls filled with graffiti. Humphries strives to catch "that moment when the natural chaos is perceived as order, when the normal state of Nature transcends the decay and transforms something like a small rectangle of dumpster into Art." Purgatory (detail), digital photograph.
For Jim Miller, the subject of his photographs is really the medium. His approach involved finding subjects that are exceptionally compelling to him: capturing the elements that contain that power and enhancing the effect on the viewer through various processes in minor editing, printing and presentation. Miller's technique has develop out of what excites him most has a viewer, and he is always looking for new elements to produce a strong emotional repines. Calcite (detail), C-print.
As a Conservation Photographer, David Moynahan’s goal is to help raise awareness of the natural and beautiful world that still surrounds us. At this time of spiraling environmental crises, he believes too many people are disconnected from nature. By adding his work to the efforts of environmental groups, scientists, and policy makers — honoring the old adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" — Moynahan believes that we can re-inspire awe, respect, and stewardship of our remaining wild places. Baroque Bivalves (detail), digital photograph.
Stewart Nelson has explored the different techniques and processes of photography for over 30 years. From early black and white darkroom techniques to the ongoing digital era of fine art, the manipulation of color, texture and light continues to move Nelson's photographs beyond realism, creating an altered reality more evocative of dreams or fading memories. He enthusiastically embraces new processes, like scanography (digitally scanning an object and manipulating it on the computer), fusing images onto aluminum, and even capturing moments on his iPhone. Pwedatuh, scanograph.

Jill Quadagno: The Color of Light

February 10–April 28, 2012
Zoe Golloway Exhibit Hall

Jill Quadagno finds her inspiration in the lush North Florida landscape. Painting along the “forgotten coast,” Quadagno brings to life the brilliant light, lush flora, marshes, and tide pools of the region. With her paintings she attempts to express a more emotional response to beauty in nature, reflecting her desire to capture the vivid sensations of light and colors. Above: Jill Quadagno, Cows, 2011, oil, 16 x 12 inches.