Skip to main content

This is your Donation message.

Home » News » By Virtue of Place: FSU MFA Alumni Exhibition at Marco Island Center for the Arts

By Virtue of Place: FSU MFA Alumni Exhibition at Marco Island Center for the Arts

Published November 13, 2018

Where: Marco Island Center for the Arts

1010 Winterberry Drive, Marco Island

November 20, 2018, Monday through Friday, from 9 AM to 4 PM

Tickets and/or information or by phone, 239-394-4221


Excerpts courtesy of Coastal Breeze News and Naples News
This piece by Becky Rutta, an artist who photographs still-life polaroids reminiscent of Dutch Baroque paintings, is featured in the Marco Island Center for the Arts' November “By Virtue of Place: FSU MFA Alumni Exhibition.”

Becky Rutta

Marco Island Center for the Arts is hosting the November By Virtue of Place: FSU MFA Alumni Exhibition. The artwork displayed in Lauritzen & Rush Galleries brings together a diverse group of artists who share a common experience and geography.

“By Virtue of Place” has been a prize show for the center. Crane and center staff have been working on since 2016, thanks to a connection to Florida State University with Naples artist Emily James.

It’s an exhibition with variety, from standard wall works to dioramas, a multimedia installation, a photographic series that flashes between the artist’s home country and his Florida life and more.

My exhibitions are my children — I love them all — but this one is magnificent.

-Hyla Crane, executive director

Art by Elizabeth Didonna

Art by Elizabeth Didonna

Attendees to the Thursday, Nov. 8,  trumpet-alto sax concert of Fernando Ferrarone, will see it, and there’s an artists’ reception Tuesday, Nov. 13.

The artists all received their Master of Fine Arts Degrees from Florida State University (FSU), an interdisciplinary graduate program with a strong focus on research and practice. Adopting a range of approaches and mediums, the works assembled for this exhibition seek to draw attention to the way each artist has developed their unique perspective on what it means to be part of the Florida landscape.

The FSU College of Fine Arts is a place where learning and creativity are nurtured through hands on instruction. The College has one of the top-ranked visual arts programs in the country.

Internationally famed artist and alumni, Emily James, said, “FSU’s fine art program taught me to always strive for originality and creativity. The professors instilled this in me, in every art class.”

"Shrill" by Amy Fleming, an artist who creates mixed media from discarded trash that has been changed through time, is featured in the Marco Island Center for the Arts' November “By Virtue of Place: FSU MFA Alumni Exhibition.

“Shrill” by Amy Fleming

The curators for this exhibition are FSU alumni Chalet Comellas and Christina Poindexter. They share backgrounds in painting, photography, performance, installation, and sculpture and met while completing their MFA degrees at FSU. Together they have completed large-scale community outreach projects, and have created performance installations in galleries, art centers and art fairs.

Participating Artists:

  •  Nick Collier – interdisciplinary artist employing photography, social practice, and sculpture, residence in St. Petersburg.
  •  Elizabeth DiDonna – photographs of performance wearing clay, residence in Tallahassee.
  •  Amy Fleming – creates mixed media from discarded trash that have been changed through time, residence in Tallahassee.
  •  Becki Rutta – photographs still life Polaroids reminiscent of Dutch Baroque paintings, residence in Tallahassee.
  • Alejandro Simon – abstract mixed media artist, residence in Miami.

“By Virtue of Place: FSU MFA Alumni Exhibition” is on through November 20, 2018, Monday through Friday, from 9 AM to 4 PM. The opening reception, “Second Tuesday,” is from 5:30-7 PM on November 13. There is a suggested $10 donation for non-members. Taste of the Arts appetizers and samplings provided by Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort and Spa.

All the artwork is for sale unless otherwise noted.  The Marco Island Center for the Arts is located at 1010 Winterberry Drive.