ART
with its first fall show, it is anticipated that more than 400
people will enjoy the small-town conviviality and the numerous
Bob Terry, right, helped found the Backus Gallery and Peggy Berg has served as one of its leading board members.
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appetizers cooked up by its group of hard-working
volunteers.
“It’s really the first event of the social season,” she says. “We
say it’s because of the fabulous food and really cheap wine.”
Frederick says that many come to see the art, but all come
because “it’s so much fun. Art doesn’t have to be serious
and stodgy.”
THE FUTURE
Still, the gallery has aimed high, even during today’s
tough economic times. It has hosted a number of large-scale
national exhibitions, including photography by Ansel Adams.
More than 28,000 children from across the state visit the gallery
annually; the staff look to the day when it can have more
interactive exhibits for them.
Since it has never applied for grant money, the gallery
lives by membership and money earned by charging artists
20 percent of their show receipts, as well as commissions
on the sales of paintings, mostly by Backus. At its popular
gift shop, those not in the high-priced art market can find
affordable Christmas cards and cocktail napkins decorated
with Backus’ paintings and drawings. This bare-bones approach
has allowed the gallery to continue business as usual,
though it has scaled back its plans for a major expansion in
the near future.
“We are really fortunate that we have this ethos of frugality,”
says Frederick. “We have a good-sized nest egg that we
thought was going toward a new facility, but now we are
reinventing the space within our building.”
When the gallery opens to celebrate its anniversary, it will
feature its growing permanent collection of Backus paintings,
now numbered at 86, as well as exhibition areas devoted to
both the Highwaymen and the Indian River School artists.
“We feel the defining thing about the museum is the Backus
collection,” says Frederick. “We are working on the collection
with the expectation that we will be building an expanded facility
that will integrate multimedia technology that we hope
will take us into the future and continue to tell the Backus
story and how he influenced the people around him.”
A.E. “Bean” Backus Gallery & Museum
500 N. Indian River Drive,
Fort Pierce, Fla.
(772) 465-0630
Open Wednesday through Sunday,
11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
About the author
Catherine Enns Grigas is a freelance writer
living in Jacksonville. She has written about
the arts and artists for 30 years. A native of
Fort Pierce, she is the author of “The Journey
of the Highwaymen,’’ published by Abrams
Books in April. She is the sister of Indian
River Publisher Gregory Enns.