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Arts and Entertainment: Art Center Hosts Gallery Show
November 5th, 2012

Arts and Entertainment: Cedar Key Arts Center Workshops For November 2012
October 23rd, 2012

Arts and Entertainment: Beginning Throwing with Clay 6 - 9
October 22nd, 2012

Arts and Entertainment: Empty Bowls Event
October 20th, 2012

Arts and Entertainment: Cedar Key Artist Wins Award
October 19th, 2012

Arts and Entertainment: Call To Artists
October 8th, 2012

Arts and Entertainment: Cedar Key Arts Center schedule for October
September 1st, 2012

Arts and Entertainment: Suwannee Valley Players Announce 30th Anniversary Season
August 24th, 2012

Arts and Entertainment: DESIGN SELECTED FOR 2013 CEDAR KEY ART FESTIVAL
August 18th, 2012

Arts and Entertainment: The Cedar Key Arts Center has once again turned out a talented group of young artists
July 30th, 2012

Arts and Entertainment: Summer Arts Program
July 4th, 2012

Arts and Entertainment: Spring Arts Festival 2013 Date Set New Arts Center Program Administrator New Event Coordinator Announced
June 25th, 2012

Arts and Entertainment: Cedar Key Arts Center - Youth Art Education - Looking For Teachers
May 17th, 2012

Arts and Entertainment: Youth Song writing Workshop at the Bronson Public Library
May 17th, 2012

Arts and Entertainment: Cedar Key Arts Center - Youth Art Program
May 17th, 2012

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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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