Departments



Articles

Less

Arts and Entertainment: "Images of Cedar Key" Exhibit Opens at Arts Center
September 7th, 2003

Arts and Entertainment: Florida Artists at the Atlanta Folk Fest
August 22nd, 2003

Arts and Entertainment: The World Without - The Spirit Within Captured by Artist Connie Nelson
July 21st, 2003

Arts and Entertainment: Arts Center Dance Classes a Big Hit
June 28th, 2003

Arts and Entertainment: Memories and Reflections - A Daughter`s Perspective (The Artist Ken Strange)
May 17th, 2003

Arts and Entertainment: Levy County Genealogy Society Meeting
May 15th, 2003

Arts and Entertainment: A Sense of Place - Classic Cracker Architecture
May 5th, 2003

Arts and Entertainment: Artistry Times Three
May 4th, 2003

Arts and Entertainment: C.K. Dog of the Week
April 23rd, 2003

Arts and Entertainment: Arts Center Exhibit Continues Through March
March 11th, 2003

Arts and Entertainment: Capturing Light and Rainbows - the Art of Don Joyce
March 6th, 2003

Arts and Entertainment: Arts Center Gala
March 2nd, 2003

Arts and Entertainment: Visiting Artist Teaches at Art Center
February 19th, 2003

Arts and Entertainment: Feeling Adventurous?
January 20th, 2003

Arts and Entertainment: Cedar Key Arts Center Presents Memorial Exhibit
January 5th, 2003

More

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.

Click for printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

 

 

© 2013
Cedar Key News

cedarkeynews@gmail.com