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Arts and Entertainment: Paintings Capture Local History & Scenery
October 7th, 2005

Arts and Entertainment: Murder in Cedar Key
June 21st, 2005

Arts and Entertainment: Celebration of Cedar Key
May 10th, 2005

Arts and Entertainment: Former Cedar Keyan Holds Book Signing
March 7th, 2005

Arts and Entertainment: Friends of the Refuges Annual Meeting Draws Huge Crowd
March 7th, 2005

Arts and Entertainment: Second Annual National Juried Art Exhibit Opens to Rave Reviews
March 6th, 2005

Arts and Entertainment: New Exhibit by Local Artists Opens at Island Hotel
February 16th, 2005

Arts and Entertainment: Local Artist Wins Best in Show
February 13th, 2005

Arts and Entertainment: Arts Center News
January 29th, 2005

Arts and Entertainment: Local Photographer Wins Honorable Mention in Photo Contest
January 10th, 2005

Arts and Entertainment: "Voices of the Virginia Eight" Opens at Arts Center Gallery
January 9th, 2005

Arts and Entertainment: Arts Center Happenings
January 1st, 2005

Arts and Entertainment: Stunning Exhibit Opens at Arts Center
December 5th, 2004

Arts and Entertainment: Juried Exhibit Opens at Arts Center to Rave Reviews
November 11th, 2004

Arts and Entertainment: Seeing Through the Eyes of Photographer Rose Valle
August 27th, 2004

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Enter the World of Connie Nelson

Enter the World of Connie Nelson

By Marsha Schwartz

"Enter the World of Connie Nelson"

April 5 - May 2

Opening Reception Saturday April 5 5 - 7 PM

The April exhibition at the Cedar Key Arts Center features Connie Nelson, a mixed media artist whose extraordinary talent reflects her wisdom and belies her humility.

Next year Connie Nelson will have been living permanently in Cedar Key for 30 years. She was born in Minnesota in the early years of WW II and spent her formative years there. When asked when she first knew she wanted to be an artist she said " I always had the desire to create. I had an enormous admiration for other artists, but initially didn't believe in my own talent."

Connie graduated from college with a BA in Fine Arts. She then migrated to Bennington College in Vermont where she continued to study art. The art community there included , among others, Kenneth Noland, William T. Wiley the California funk artist, Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler, some of the most famous contemporary artists of the late 20th century. She was surrounded by the "east Coast heavies" and the West Coast loosies" as she puts it. Connie insists that she had an awful lot of luck to be around artists with reputations and ambition and she was deeply influenced by them. After Bennington, she moved to Brown College, where she looked at art constantly and continued to soak up art like a sponge. Connie also taught basic design at Rhode Island School of Design.

Connie eventually moved to Boston, where she met Kevin Hipe. They left Boston together in 1978 and made their way to Florida and Cedar Key by February 1979. They had headed south into the unknown with no plan, "just to find a better way to live" . They needed to follow their own ideas and turn off the noise of ambition. When they found Cedar Key, they knew that this was "it". Soon after arriving in Cedar Key, Connie was awarded a Florida Individual artist Fellowship and began receiving contracts to produce art for book jackets. She also was chosen to produce the art for the t-shirts and posters for the prestigious Winter Part Art Festival. She and Kevin opened the Suwannee Triangle Gallery in 1985 and remained in business for 22 years. They also ran the weekend Children's Art Classes in Cedar Key for 7 years. Connie designates these classes as the most satisfying teaching experience of her career.

Connie's sense of humor and vision of herself and her art are evident in the body of work on display at the Arts Center. As she will tell you herself, the events of 9/11 became a seminal turning point in her life as an artist. There is a serious undertone to even the most seemingly whimsical pieces in this show. Be sure to see this major exhibition of an amazing artist.

Editor`s Note: See an article featuring selected works of Connie Nelson on Cedar Key News --Online.

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