Indian River County Public Art Tour

VERO BEACH MURAL AT THE COMMUNITY CENTER

 

In the spirit of promoting Public Art, the Vero Beach Art Club is sponsoring the creation of an 8’ x 36’ mural for the City of Vero Beach’s Community Center, 2266 14th Avenue, 772-978-4592.  Six panels, each measuring 8’ high by 6’ wide will depict the various habitats of present-day Vero Beach.

 

The Community Center is home to another mural which was created by the Vero Beach Art Club in 2001, depicting six historical timelines of Vero Beach, from its first inhabitants up to what was then present day Vero.  The new mural is being painted in a manner which will allow it to run together with the old one if hung side-by-side, with the first new panel depicting contemporary downtown Vero, and on to the end panel depicting Vero’s ocean reef.

 

Participating artists are:  Christine Thomas, Judy Burgarella and Dawn Mill, Project Manager.  The public is invited to observe the progress of the Vero Beach Mural Project by visiting the online blog at  www.verobeachmural.blogspot.com, or by stopping by the Community Center between 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. while the artists are painting.  The project is projected to take several months.

 

The Vero Beach Mural is being totally funded by the Vero Beach Art Club, and artists are donating their time and talents at no cost to the Club or the City.  For further information contact the Vero Beach Art Club at 772-231-0303 or visit www.verobeachartclub.org.  You can track the mural’s progress at www.verobeachmural.blogspot.com

Wheat Paste Murals in Downtown Vero Beach

Gallery 14 Spearheads Wheat Paste Figures on Downtown Walls

Forrest DeBlois loves painting large figures on giant pieces of paper and then using wheat paste to temporarily glue them onto the sides of buildings.  Brick walls, forgotten walls, stucco walls, they all offer equal fascination for this local artist who was born and bred in Vero Beach.  Convinced that public spaces are important and overlooked parts of the human environment,  Forrest, a muralist and figurative painter, specializing in detailed, site specific indoor and outdoor paintings, is passionate about opening people's eyes to the outside places that they pass by all the time and may have forgotten about or grown too accustomed to notice.  According to Forrest: “I am trying to change the context of the urban landscape, hopefully to the benefit of those who inhabit it.”  
     The images that are beginning to appear in the Downtown, Dine and Design District are hopefully going to promote, engage and challenge the public to appreciate and look at art in new ways.  There are artists all over the world eagerly creating this new art form in its varied genres. According to Lila Blakeslee, an artist-partner at Gallery 14: “Forrest approached us about the possibility of showing some of his wheat paste art on buildings in the art district. Gallery 14 received approval from the City and two landlords to go ahead with the project. In big cities like New York and Miami, in fact around the world, this sort of art is well received. They even have a whole section of it at Art Basel. Gallery 14 wants to slowly educate the public about this exciting new art form. These paintings are created by the artists without monetary reward in mind and are done for the love of bringing art to the communities and public.” 
     Forrest DeBlois' work can be seen on the Hibiscus Building across from Pocahontas Park and on Gallery 14's outside wall.
     Gallery 14 is located at 1911 14th Avenue in the 3-D Downtown, Dine and Design District of Vero Beach.  For further information about this exhibit or about having Forrest create a wall for you,  call 772 562-5525 or visit: www.gallery14verobeach.com.