Arts Center January Shows Announced

Mike Leiner featured in Arts Center Members` Gallery; Bill Bale Collection in Arts Center open space.

The very talented and creative Mike Leiner is the featured artist in the Cedar Key Arts Center Members` Gallery for the month of January.

The exhibition opens on Saturday, January 3, 2009, and will hang until the end of January. The opening reception will be held on January 3 at the Arts Center, from 5 - 7 PM.

Mike, Cindy and their two children came to Cedar Key in 1982. They have been active members of the arts community for these 17 years and have been great supporters of the Arts Center, generously sharing their time and expertise.

Mike was born and reared in Illinois. He graduated from Southern Illinois University with a degree in Fine Arts. Mike creates art in many different mediums, exhibiting fine technical ability and a sometimes not-too-subtle sense of humor. His work is always distinctive and creative. This exhibition is sure to be a wonderful treat.

Florida Art & Artists and Western United States Art - The Bill Bale Collection

A significant portion of Bill Bale`s eclectic art collection will be exhibited in the Cedar Key Arts Center for the month of January. The opening reception will be January 3, 2009, from 5 - 7 PM.. The works will hang through the month of January.

The exhibition will include works of art by Florida artists, as well as works of art which depict Florida`s environment. The Western Art features original art by artists who painted in the Western United States during the late 19thand early 20th centuries and features drawings and paintings of American Indians.

Western artists include E.A. Burbank, Richard Ernesti, Anna Cohn and Hernando Villa. Florida artists are represented by Polly Pillsbury, Helen Tooker (who painted the interior art in the Island Hotel), Dottie Comfort, Alfred Miller and Ferdie Pacheco, who, at one time, was Mohammed Ali`s personal and professional physician.

Bill grew up near Philadelphia, PA, leaving Philadelphia when he was 42 to settle in Tampa. He came to Cedar Key in 1992 and eventually made Cedar Key his permanent home.

Bill`s careers have been many and varied. At one time or another he has worked as: a graphic designer, cartographer, land surveyor, antique furniture and art dealer and most recently as a consultant for an environmental company. His early antique dealer years were spent specializing in country original finish painted furniture and
accessories, stoneware and redware and 19th century paintings. When he moved to Florida, there was no antique painted country furniture in the region but he quickly expanded his horizons to collecting art up to and including mid-twentieth century work. His collecting motto has always been to search for "the best I could afford."

After this exhibition, which concludes at the end of January, his art collection will be dispersed to his children and grandchildren.