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Arts and Entertainment: Trash to Treasures Opening Begins Busy Month at Arts Center
February 5th, 2010

Arts and Entertainment: Benefit for Children`s Summer Art Program Set for February 10
January 25th, 2010

Arts and Entertainment: Arts Center to Feature "Trash to Treasure"
January 25th, 2010

Arts and Entertainment: Arts Center Plans Many Activities in January
January 3rd, 2010

Arts and Entertainment: Arts Center to Initiate Salon
October 30th, 2009

Arts and Entertainment: Call to Artists and Creative Souls
September 21st, 2009

Arts and Entertainment: Call for 2010 Festival Commemorative Art
August 26th, 2009

Arts and Entertainment: Next "Movie in the Park" Slated for June 20
June 13th, 2009

Arts and Entertainment: Another Novel by Maureen Landress
June 2nd, 2009

Arts and Entertainment: Poets Entertain at Annual Reading
April 19th, 2009

Arts and Entertainment: Photography Exhibit to Open Saturday at Arts Center
March 6th, 2009

Arts and Entertainment: Arts Center Film Series Continues
February 25th, 2009

Arts and Entertainment: Capacity Crowd Celebrates the Cedar Key Arts Center`s 15th Anniversary
February 9th, 2009

Arts and Entertainment: First Art Show of 2009 Is a Winner
January 4th, 2009

Arts and Entertainment: Arts Center January Shows Announced
January 3rd, 2009

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A View Under the Ocean with Artist Alda Leffew

A View Under the Ocean with Artist Alda Leffew

Maureen Landress

There are artists who imbue their work with hidden meanings, who bare their souls on canvas with swirls of shadowed darkness that leave us feeling somehow diminished. Then there are also those rare few whose work is so filled with the joy of life, that our own lives are enriched by having viewed it. Alda Leffew's work is infused with that kind of warmth and wonder, the kind that brings a smile to your face each time you see it.


Reticent to talk about herself and her work, she lets her creations speak for her, and they speak volumes. If you have never had the pleasure of seeing Alda's work, then stop by the Cedar Key Market and ask if you can visit their restroom. No, you have not misread that last line. When Tina Hooper, the market's owner, wanted to spruce up the restroom, Alda offered to paint a mural on the walls. What she created is an incredible view from beneath the ocean that covers the entire room from floor to ceiling.

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Floor and walls cleverly combine in a delicate coral reef.

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The room's floor transformed into the ocean bottom.

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The ceiling becomes a bird filled sky.

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A friendly octopus waves hello.


Working in her spare time, it took several months to complete the project. Everyone who witnessed the room's transformation got caught up in the creative energy, so Alda hung a piece of paper on the wall and asked them to jot down their ideas. The result is an unbelievably intricate mural depicting the creatures that live above and below the sea. Everywhere you look there is something wondrous and delightful to behold, like the octopus whose arms drape down from the wall, the small crab crawling up from the floor, or the sharp-eyed gull swooping overhead. The scene is so cleverly rendered that one can barely tell where the floor ends and the walls begin. It is like standing under the ocean, eye-to-eye with the denizens of the deep. It is the essence of joy, life, and laughter.

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