Village Arts Framing & Gallery has become a staple in the Ponte Vedra Beach art scene and has been an outlet for promoting local artists over the last 50 years.
The business celebrated its five decades of involvement in the local community with a 50th anniversary celebration on April 12.
Several local artists took part in the event, both as part of the gallery with works on display or just to stop in and show their appreciation for the decades of promoting art to the public.
One of the most memorable guests who made an appearance at the event was Virginia Cantore, who was the original owner of Village Arts Framing & Gallery and her vision to create the space is what kickstarted the continued success years later.
Pamela Keegan is the current owner and is very appreciative of what Cantore established, and is happy to see the advances that it continues to take since she took over in 2007, especially pertaining to the addition of a more extensive gallery to showcase art.
“Village Arts is thriving, and we’ve got 15 beautiful artists who are also all great people,” Keegan said. “Local art has always been important to me because I’m an artist myself.”
Multiple artists even lined the sidewalk in front of the storefront in the Sawgrass Village Shopping Center and worked on paintings as people walked by while shopping and stopped in to see what the event was all about.
Tom Nagata was in attendance as the gallery’s April artist of the month.
“When you look around, these artists are just amazing,” Nagata said. “No two artists in this gallery se the world the same way. Everybody’s vision is different, and it shows in their art.”
