ARTS
VERO BEACH MUSEUM OF ART
The Alice and Jim Beckwith Sculpture Park provides an area for quiet thought
on the campus of the Vero Beach Museum of Art.
“It was a young museum at that point, not what you would
think a little resort beach town might have,” he said.
He appreciates the museum’s extremely generous supporters,
hungry for a world-class museum with creative art classes.
“They expect a lot and help with their generosity,” Roberts said.
As plans evolve to link classes and programs with exhibitions,
Roberts is looking forward to the centennial opening exhibition,
Made in Germany, from the Rubell Family Collection in Miami. The
museum is planning special programs, including a film series,
around the exhibition.
Victorian Radicals: From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts & Crafts
Movement, which is from a consortium of museums in Birmingham,
England, and called a blockbuster by Brady, will use every
gallery in the museum and feature events, films and international
speakers. A second version of this year’s popular Astronomy Photographer
of the Year exhibition is scheduled for the end of 2019.
The International Lecturer Series, a film series, Concerts in the
Park, a growing list of programs for children and families, school
partnerships, Artist in the School and community outreach programs
Fifth generation Kemp’s Kids
Kemp’s roots run deep in Vero Beach!
Shoe Salon and Boutique
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make VBMA an integral part of Vero Beach’s future.
The museum’s ceramics department has been upgraded to assist
a longstanding partnership, the annual Soup Bowl. Dozens of
clay artists volunteer their time and talent to a community-wide
event to benefit The Samaritan Center, filling the studio’s shelves
with more than 1,000 handcrafted bowls each November.
An early volunteer in the Docent program at Center for the
Arts, Toni Hamner, was also one of the fundraisers for the original
construction project. She describes the atmosphere around the
museum at the time as “super invigorating. Electric! Intellectually
engaging.”
Hamner remembers how resilient the staff, volunteers,
residents and visitors were when the building was closed for the
first expansion.
“We opened administrative offices and classrooms in Luria’s
Plaza and a gallery and museum store in the Indian River Mall,”
she said.
The decision to continue the film series at the AMC theater is
why “Vero is considered a market for alternative-film showing to
this day,” she said.
Two sculpture parks now grace the campus and in 2012, the
physical plant was expanded with state of the art facilities for the
care and conservation of the museum’s collections and expanded
exhibition program.
Retired director Gedeon said the Vero Beach Museum of Art has
grown into “a first-class art museum with a growing and signifi- >>
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Waldo Sexton’s
great-great grandchildren
Vero’s 14th Mayor Harry Offutt Jr.’s
great-great grandchildren
A way of life since 1959
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