ART
THE FINE ART OF ACQUISITION
Athena Society ensures growth of collections
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at Vero Beach Museum of Art
BY WILLI MILLER
The galleries and grounds of Vero Beach Museum of
Art offer world-class exhibitions that are standard
fare in large metropolitan venues but not generally
expected in a relaxed, beachside Florida town. Many
of the paintings and sculptures on view are traveling collections
on loan from renowned museums. Others have found
permanent homes here in Vero Beach because of a small
group of caring and generous art patrons.
And thanks to the Athena Society, the museum’s fine arts
collection is quietly growing. The members, 85 households
strong, are invited to several events during the year, often
an art lecture or cocktail party. The season culminates with
the selection dinner in April, where decisions are made as
to what will be added to the museum’s permanent collection.
Although a selection of a single piece is the norm, two
works were added in 2010, 2011 and 2014. Andrew Wyeth’s
The Wales Farm (1967) and Marc Sijan’s Gallery Guard, Seated II
(2011) were the 2011 additions. The guard sculpture sits in a
gallery corner, looking for all the world like a living protector
watching over his charges.
Getting to that final selection is a long road that begins
months earlier, in the offices of museum CEO Lucinda
Gedeon and Jay Williams, curator of Collections and Exhibitions.
The first step, says Williams, is a review of the museum’s
collecting goals and “a discussion of the possibilities
that we might look out for when we visit the Armory Show,
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American artist Jack Tworkov’s oil on canvas Bar Decoration I was purchased in 2014 with funds provided by the Athena Society.