Love was in the air at the Feb. 12 Visual Arts Show at Cypress Village.
Egret Hall, the community’s auditorium, was buzzing as residents cheerfully greeted one another amid “ooh’s” and “aah’s” as they walked around looking at the works on display.
Among Cypress Village’s talented residents, some are longtime artists, having created from childhood, while others have just found their talent after arriving at Cypress Village.
The art show featured 24 artists and 53 works of art. It included beautiful photography created by two new residents, Liz Rourke and Ernie Mistr. Rourke’s work focuses on birds, flowers and other creatures that inhabit the community’s surroundings, while Mistr’s pictures represent his travels abroad and here in the United States. Very different subjects, but both were award-winning examples of a sensitive eye able to capture the essence of their subjects.
Fred Collins, a native Jacksonville resident, now part of Cypress Village, shared his love of wood carving with a few choice pieces and an engaging introductory talk. Tom Reid, also relatively new to the community, showed off an attractive cutglass/leaded lampshade and a small lighted dragonfly that was snatched up and purchased on the spot.
Margrid Krueger had her originally designed quilts on display, and Virginia Ratliff shared two small quilts of her own. New also to the group was a cross-stitch piece by Linda Berner and three counted-cross-stitch-embroidery pieces by Barbara Poniatowski.
Most of the artworks were oil, watercolor and acrylic paintings that stretched from one end of Egret Hall to the other. They depicted a myriad of subjects. Colors soft and tranquil to bright exciting splashes. Some funny, some social justice statements, some charming and just outright beautiful in their combination of technique and color and design.
All was accompanied by the music of community pianists Bess Turk and John Oberheu.
The show will be available for viewing through May for Cypress Village residents and guests to enjoy.
Cypress Village is a continuing care retirement care community that offers residents a variety of services, amenities and multiple levels of care. Located adjacent to the Mayo Clinic, the community has many homes and apartments on a 120-acre campus.
For further information, call 904-223-6100.
