Florida Art on Display

I came across two Florida art exhibits that I wanted to mention today since this is Florida artist week on NativeMom.

First, a well-known Florida photographer whose award-winning works capture the true Florida landscape (a shout out to Florida Cracker, also a great photographer of natural Florida, you'll appreciate this exhibit). Clyde Butcher has been documenting the natural beauty of Florida for more than 30 years (that's Clyde's work in this post). His large-format black and white images capture the rapidly disappearing beauty of Florida, especially the Everglades and Big Cypress region. He uses 8 X 10 and 12 X 20 view cameras, which give him the ability to capture elaborate detail. Butcher says the goal of his work is to encourage conservation of Florida's natural places. His home and gallery, Big Cypress Gallery, are located on 13 acres in the middle of the million-acre Big Cypress National Preserve. See his works on exhibit through October at Fort Myers’ Southwest Florida Museum of History.

Now, for something completely, er, different. Art by Florida inmates. Really.

Florida’s correctional facilities inmates and former inmates get a platform for their creative side in Art from the Inside. The exhibition runs through November 13 in the Division of Cultural Affairs’ Gallery for Innovation & the Arts in Tallahassee (R.A. Gray Building, 3rd Floor, 500 South Bronough Street). The gallery is dedicated to showcasing Florida artwork that is educational and demonstrates inventive ways of using visual media to convey new ideas and highlight often unheard voices.

Fall is art show month in Florida. There's a great art show just about every weekend now through Thanksgiving somewhere in the Sunshine State. A few I'd recommend you check out include:

• Hyde Park Village Art Festival, Sept. 27, 28, Hyde Park Village, Tampa
• Melbourne Main Street Masters of Art Festival, Oct. 4-6, Historic Downtown Melbourne
• Autumn Art Festival, Downtown Winter Park, Oct. 11-12
• Halifax Art Festival, Nov. 1-2, Historic Downtown Daytona Beach
• DeLand Fall Festival of the Arts, Nov. 22-23, Historic Downtown DeLand
• St. Augustine Fall Arts Festival, Nov. 29-30, St. Augustine event grounds