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Arts and Entertainment: 4th Annual Silent Film Festival Coming Next Week
March 15th, 2007

Arts and Entertainment: 3-D Show Begins Sat. at Arts Center
February 1st, 2007

Arts and Entertainment: Art Rocks at Cedar Key Arts Center
December 5th, 2006

Arts and Entertainment: Multiple Art Openings Set For Weekend
November 30th, 2006

Arts and Entertainment: Watercolor Classes Offered
November 11th, 2006

Arts and Entertainment: "Sticks and Stones" Opens at Arts Center
November 7th, 2006

Arts and Entertainment: Sticks & Stones
October 31st, 2006

Arts and Entertainment: Trinkets & Treasures Mosaic Course
October 31st, 2006

Arts and Entertainment: New Show Opens at Cedar Key Arts Center
October 5th, 2006

Arts and Entertainment: Return of Poetry in the Park
September 27th, 2006

Arts and Entertainment: Teen Art Show Through Sept. 25
September 20th, 2006

Arts and Entertainment: Art Show
August 7th, 2006

Arts and Entertainment: Celebrate Cedar Key to Open Saturday
May 5th, 2006

Arts and Entertainment: Bill Roberts One Man Show
March 4th, 2006

Arts and Entertainment: 3-D Show at Arts Center
February 10th, 2006

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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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