July 30, 2025 • 25 mins
Vero Beach Museum of Art's Suzanne Seldes (Deputy Director) and Caitlin Swindell (Curator) join the show to discuss these excting times at the museum. The Summer Exhibitions, "A Tangled Plot," "Well-Dressed" and "Timeless" are happening now. The museum promotes Free Second Saturdays, where admission is free on every 2nd Saturday of the month. They've just launched the "Ask a Curator" series on social media. And the museum celebrated 40 years next year! Details can be found online at VBMuseum.org
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Arts Blast on the Air.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's a podcast and it's a radio show and an
Alexis Skill, all presented by Ballet Vero Beach and Riverside
Theater Arts supporting the arts in Florida.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I'm Willie Miller.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Every week I talk to people in the arts about
the arts on the Treasure.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Coast and well beyond.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Arts.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Blast on the Air is proudly supported by Ballet Vero
Beach once again presenting the Riverside Dance Festival August first
and second at Riverside Theater. Unforgettable Unforgettable Dynamic Dance featuring
the La Contemporary Dance Company with the world premiere they
created when the company was in residency at Riverside Theater
(00:45):
this year. Tickets are online at Ballet Vero Beach dot org.
Two guests today, both from Vero Beach Museum of Art
because it's a big summer and season coming over there.
I have Suzanne s Eldest and Caitlyn Swindell. Suzanne, you're
my communications person. In addition, we'll talk about your new
(01:09):
title as well if we could then. But why are
you here today?
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Well, well you said it. It is a spectacular summer
at the Vero Beach Museum of Art. I am lucky
that we could bring Caitlyn Swindello, chief Curator, with us
to tell us about our summer exhibition, because it is
like no other. And then our education department they have
done exceptional programming to complement the exhibition, so I'll talk
about that as well. And it's a family summer as
(01:36):
well at the Vera Beach Museum of Art. We have
lots of free Saturdays the second Saturday of every month
and their special programming on those Saturdays that are related
back to the exhibition. So it is a great summer
for everyone at the museum. Even those schools starting in
a couple of weeks, it's still the summer at Vera
Beach Museum of Art.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I remember when schools started after Labor Day. What the
heck are they doing making kids go back to school
in August.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I don't know, Willie summer to me, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I don't know, Willie. But we're pretending this summers still
at the Vera Beach Museum of Art, and we have
great things on tap.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Okay, I'm going to pretend I have never heard of
the Vero Beach Museum of Art.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Give me a couple of lines on its.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
History, which I'll tell your secret.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I do know what it goes back.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
I know you do, and it's great that you asked,
because a Vera Beach Museum of Art started as the
Center of the Arts here in Vero Beach, and it
was a group of folks who are very interested in
the importance of art in education and in well being,
and they really came together to provide art program and
community programming, humanities programming, and then they opened a museum.
(02:48):
And it just so happens that in January of twenty
twenty six, the museum will be celebrating its fortieth anniversary.
So it has a rich history and we will be
doing a lot to celebrate with the community next year.
In regard to the fortieth anniversary, I was.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Doing a little digging, and I guess I was surprised.
I don't think I probably knew this, but didn't remember
that when the Center for the Arts opened in nineteen
eighty six, it was totally debt free. So that means
a lot of people had to have faith, had to believe,
had to want what has become. I'm going to say
(03:27):
a keystone of the arts in Indian River County and
Treasure Coast and maybe even Florida.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Absolutely, Willie, and I will tell you that this community
continues to be engaged and continues to be generous as
it relates to the museum, and that allows us to
expand our collections, which of course Caitlin can speak wonderfully about,
and then also to create programming and to provide programming
free of charge or to bring in top notch programming
and a minimal charge for the folks that are our
(03:55):
neighbors and the folks who are in our region.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Could we just digress a little bit.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I've known you as communications director over there at the museum,
that you have a new title now.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
I do, Willy. I am proud to be the deputy
director now at Vero Beach Museum of Art. What does
that mean? That means that Executive Director Brady Roberts is
continuing to be very active in our strategic plan, in
our future planning, and working very closely with our board
and to move us forward into our next phase, into
(04:29):
our next forty years, so to speak. And so in
addition to the communications, I've added a lot of operational activity.
So a lot of those different operational areas of the
museum now report into me, which leverages some experiences I
had when I was back at the Strong Museum in Rochester,
New York. Back there, I was an executive director as
(04:49):
well as the chief marketing officer. So these things are
detailing well, and it frees up Brady to go ahead
and really get us into the launch and the propellers
into those next forty years. So it's a great it's
a great fit all the way around.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
You have quite a history you're talking about way back
in Rochester. You were down at the community college and
in River State College for quite a while.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
What were you doing there?
Speaker 4 (05:15):
So when I left Indian River State College to come
to the museum, I was associate vice president for Communications,
which means essentially I ran the marketing, communications team, chief
information officer as similar functions that I am doing here,
although on a much larger scale because the college has
five campuses in four counties, so it was a much
(05:36):
larger scale than here. But I had always wanted to
come back and be back in the arts and be
back in museuming. So it was it just my path
led me the right way. But we came down to
verro from Rochester, New York because, as so many here,
our kids had launched and our parents needed us, and
so we returned back to Vero and South Florida to
(05:59):
be to our parents, my husband and myself.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
That seems to be a very common story here, and
more more and lessed are we that those are the
circumstances we get some great, great people like you and
Caitlin Swindell.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Do you have similar story?
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Why are you?
Speaker 5 (06:18):
I've bounced around quite a bit, but it was i'd
say an easier move to get to Vero Beach. I
was in Miami previously, but I've lived in Denver and
Santa Fe and Boston for a graduate assistantship graduate school
in North Carolina, I was in Jacksonville, worked at Mocha Jacksonville,
(06:39):
which is another great Florida museum via Beach Museum of
Ours my third Florida museum that I've worked at. But
I'm originally from the DC area, So really just seeing
a lot of different arts institutions and worked at both
galleries and museums across the country.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
So what took you into your field? What brought you
here not to Vero but into.
Speaker 6 (07:00):
The curatorial work I've always loved the arts.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
I've loved that it's you know, I see the arts
as it's for everyone. You know, a lot of people
are intimidated at museums, and I hope that we're continuing
to create spaces where that's not the case, because everyone's
opinion and viewpoint and like connection and feeling to a
work of art is valid.
Speaker 6 (07:22):
And so I've always seen that.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
Growing up in the DC area, I was fortunate enough
in my high school that we had an art history
class once a week that augmented our history class, so.
Speaker 6 (07:35):
You know, we would go to museums as well.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
I did as a kid all the time, just having
all of the Smithsonian Institution, Museums, National Gallery, and so
I started interning in high school and just continued to
gain knowledge in the field. But I'd always wanted to
do something in the arts. I thought I might try
to be an artist and go to you know, study
(07:58):
fine arts in college.
Speaker 6 (08:00):
I thought I'll take the.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
More practical route and go with art history, which for
a lot of people isn't the most practical. So that's
necessitated the moves, right. So, if I've wanted to be
in museums and have certain challenges and opportunities. That's what's
that's what's taken me to different places.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Yeah, So William going to put my marketing hat back on,
and I'm going to tell you something. We've just started
a series on social media called Ask the Curator.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
That was my next question. Just got a TV show.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Yeah, and in the premiere, in the premiere episode, Caitlin
is exactly talking about why she went into this line
of work, why this is a career for her, and
all those things. So thank you for the great promotion
for me.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
You're welcome. I listened, I watched it. Oh good, And
it's going to be on how often.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
It'll be there's five more episodes, shall we say?
Speaker 6 (08:54):
I believe that are coming out.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Well, we'll launch them at least once a month, if
not a little bit more quickly.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Okay. And how do people find it?
Speaker 5 (09:04):
They can find it on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook?
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Okay, Okay, I go to YouTube and what do I
type in.
Speaker 6 (09:10):
Ther Beach Museum of Art channel exactly?
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Okay, yeah, yeah, and I do recommend it.
Speaker 6 (09:16):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
You're in a natural Oh thanks, It's I love what
I do.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
So it's it's always fun to talk about and that
makes a difference people to again connect with the arts,
and it's it can be valuable in so many ways.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Cook killed back a little bit in history because I
was it's been Let's say I arrived in Vera at
ninety in ninety six, and so that was ten years
after the museum opened, when it was the center for
the arts. It became the Verreau Do you mind if
I give a little history, please do? Became the Vero
(09:51):
Beach Museum of Art in two thousand and two, and
two thousand and seven was the Great Sculpture Park opening
Alice and Jim beckw Sculpture Park.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I love that place.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Do I understand you've taken all of those sculptures in
for cleaning or maintenance?
Speaker 4 (10:08):
So yeah, I think we touched on this last time
I was here. So it's customary for the museum too.
In advance of hurricane season go ahead and put many
of our pieces that are in the Sculpture Park in
storage so that they don't get damaged and they don't
become something that gives damage to something else. So that's
pretty customary for us this time of year. What we've
done right now is we've actually deinstalled both the North
(10:30):
and South Sculpture Park parks completely with exception of Trevin's Arts,
which is the large sculpture that you see, the reddish
orange sculpture toward the front of the museum. And that's
because the museum is undergoing some maintenance projects and is
planning for its future.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Okay, back to the history twenty eleven to twelve expansion
of the Beckwisth Sculpture Park, and I didn't remember the
dates on this. You got the new atrium that covered
true fabulous space. I love that space there, and the
new entrance festibule and the building of twenty thousand square
(11:09):
feet exhibitions and collection swing.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Where is that that's our storage area, So that's where
our collections and exhibitions team offices are and where the
art's safely stored.
Speaker 6 (11:19):
And that will, you know, remain.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
And continue to be a bunker really for the art,
which is good.
Speaker 6 (11:26):
That's what we want.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
What that does, Willing, is it allows our art to
be in a hurricane or weather resistant bunker and you know,
up high off the ground.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
You know what We've run through the first segment already.
I got to take a break, all right.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Stay right where we are, Okay, I'm going to ask
everybody check in a Riverside Theater's website to learn about
the coming season plus everything that's happening this summer.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
For kids and adults.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
And it's the Comedy Zone experience Friday and Saturday plus
Thursday third.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Night for Live in the Loop.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Learn about everything Riverside at Riversidetheater dot com.
Speaker 7 (12:07):
Arts plast on the Air is probably supported by Ballet
Vero Beach. The company, in partnership with Riverside Theater, presents
the Riverside Dance Festival featuring the return of La Contemporary
Dance Company. August first and second, at seven thirty pm
at Riverside Theater, Experience an unforgettable evening of contemporary dance
that showcases dynamic and innovative choreography, including a world premiere
(12:27):
created during La Contemporary Dance Companies Zero Beach Residency tickets
are available now by visiting Ballet Vierobeach dot org and
secure your seats today. That's Ballet Vierobeach dot org.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
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(13:18):
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Speaker 8 (13:37):
Welcome to Riverside Theater's Comedy Zone, where the comedy is
wild Untamed and downright hilarious. Hit the Zone this Friday
and Saturday night at six thirty and eight thirty for
the Treasure Coast best live stand up comedy show featuring
nationally recognized comedians with cabaret style.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Seating and food and drink table.
Speaker 8 (13:59):
Sirch Buy tickets at Riversidetheater dot com and get ready
for a night of non stop laughs.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
We are back with arts Blasts on the air talking
about art and how Sweden actually But you've been traveling, Caitlin.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Yes, family vacation and I always, you know, make sure
to go to museums anywhere I go, so it's still
on my mind. I probably am not maybe the most
fun person to go to museums with because I'm so
focused on details and you know, I don't know, or
maybe it is fun to see some of the behind
the scenes, but so I'll look at their wall techs
(14:51):
and how they lay their exhibition out and you know
what activities they have. A lot of these museums that
I just visited in Scandinavia have a lot.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Of eight.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
Spaces for kids, which we at the Vero Beach Museum
of our house absolutely and I love that because museums
can be you know, spaces for community and to learn,
and you know it's great to have those those spaces.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Good.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Okay, before we get into what's coming next, which we
need to hurry into Second Saturday.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
Yeah, so we Second Saturday is free and we have
one coming up, and our education and programming team have
aligned a lot of local organizations focused on the environment,
so Environmental Learning Center. That one will be Saturday, September thirteenth,
but the one that is coming up Saturday, August ninth
(15:46):
is with coastal Connections.
Speaker 6 (15:48):
There will also be a filming of.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
The lore ACX and so the theme of those programs
aligns with the major exhibition that we have on view now,
a Tangled Plot Works by any Blaze, Jack and Levinson,
and that recently opened and it's a large exhibition of
this collaborative duo.
Speaker 6 (16:08):
So they are longtime friends.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
They grew up in South and South Florida and Miami
and continued to have an artistic practice together. They both
attended the same college, so that was convenient to continue
to create works together, but they went on to separate
graduate programs and so that was very difficult for their
professors to grapple with because they were still a collaborative pair,
(16:34):
and they joke that they became art married soon after
graduate school where they you know, moved back to Miami
had a studio there. So they've been working over ten
years together as a collaborative pair, and they work on
painting simultaneously, so in their studio they often have two
(16:57):
painting set up that they'll sometimes swap and like some
even paint over each other because a lot of people ask, like,
how does it work when you create a painting together,
are you, you know, sketching together? Does one person sketch
then one person paints, like do you pick a section
of the canvas? And it's really more fluid, So they
(17:18):
they think of their artistic practice as like a conversation
so that no feelings are hurt if somebody paints over
somebody else's of the work. And they're so aligned that
although it's rare to happen, if one artists were to
paint something just on their own, they would still you know,
(17:39):
designate that as by the two of them. So they
are very linked together in that way, which this would
be probably the first time I think at the Vero
Beach Museum of art, a collaborative pair of artists has
been presented. You know, in contemporary art you'll see different
You know, in the contemporary art world sometimes pairs of
artists working this way, but it still as unusual. But
(18:03):
practically it can be difficult, and so I wanted to
showcase that. But I also wanted to showcase the themes
and their work, which there's so many ways to.
Speaker 6 (18:14):
Move through the show.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
So they're inspired by mythology, folklore, literature, science fiction. They
build these characters into their paintings, and how you move
through the exhibition is a tangled plot. So the title
of the exhibition relates to this idea of like landscaping,
gardening unruly land, tangled land, but also to the narrative
(18:39):
structure of how their paintings are presented and how they work.
So there's different sections. One is called unreliable narrators, and
I often say that they themselves are unreliable narrators. So
are the figures and their paintings, and then so are
the viewers. So there's a lot of different ways to
interpret their work. But you'll see at the start of
(19:00):
the show imagery with alligators, and they're actually hybrid alligator
women figure. So this mythological almost you know, monster type individual,
but presented in this approachable, very South Florida type of
way where your eye kind of catches the figure and
(19:22):
then notices maybe a few seconds later that this is
actually an alligator or is it a figure? So those
are really fantastical and I think exciting to see. And
then it moves through another section that's focused on the environment,
kind of absence of figures. The final section will be
(19:43):
female figures as these protagonists and their stories mimicking nature
and engaging with nature in an interesting way. So the
root of the show root tangled plot is that it's
really an exploration of humanity with nature and this idea
of control, and they really explore that in a lot.
Speaker 6 (20:04):
Of different ways.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
But you'll find references to Macbeth, to the science fiction
novel Solaris. There's just really a lot to take in
with this exhibition. So I encourage people to go.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
And if I can just add that we talk a
lot about storytelling as it relates to this exhibition, and
I will tell you that every every piece, every work
that I've looked at in there, I've spent countless minutes with.
In fact, one day, I went past the gallery and
one of our docents told me that there was a
(20:39):
couple in there for two and a half hours. And
I understood why because for me, every time I look
at a piece up close, back ten feet, back twenty feet,
I see something different, and you can tell your own
story in there. And the artists were in opening weekend
for sketching in the gallery, and they told the folks
(21:02):
who are participating, sit by a painting or work and
just go ahead and sketch, but change it because there
aren't together is very much one is in conversation with
the other, one paints or does work in response to
the others, And so they were encouraging the folks who
were participating in that process to sketch, but change something
(21:24):
about it. And I will tell you every piece of
work in there has a story. I'm an unreliable narrator,
but I can create a story within each piece. And
so I go, as part of my professional development, into
that gallery space every day that the museum is open,
not the weekends because I'm home usually, but I will
put myself in front of one or two works and
(21:46):
I will study it because it's fascinating and it really
moves me, and that's why I said, will you've got
to come out and check this out.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
And there I should say, sorry to interrupt.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
There's also ceramic elements, so it's primarily painting, but there's
some mixed media, and the way that it's presented is
also I think unexpected. You might see a small ceramic
snail on the corner of a canvas that you might
not immediately catch or turn the corner and see. I
won't give it away, but some other unexpected ceramic components
(22:16):
mixed in with their painting. So it's it's a lot
to uncover in the exhibition.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
How many pieces altogether forty two? Wow?
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Old?
Speaker 1 (22:24):
How old is this pair?
Speaker 5 (22:26):
They're late thirties. Wow, they're young in their career. They've
they've shown out in a few museums, but this is
their largest show to date. So that was another really
exciting opportunity, is to present artists, you know, in different
areas of their career and there.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
Yeah, I'm very happy with how it came out, and
I know they are as well.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
What's coming after them.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
After that is a photography exhibition, so it's called Double Portraits,
and it will be in the Homes Gallery.
Speaker 6 (22:58):
And I think by about thirty four artists.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
So it's something that I've curated from a larger collection
of about now I think it's nine hundred photographs from
the Do Good Fund, which is an organization in Georgia,
nonprofit that has this large collection available to curators. They're
photographs by artists from the American South and there are
a lot of different ways to approach that collection, and
(23:23):
so this one is looking at the idea of two
figures in an image, in the conventional way of portrait photography,
but also in some unexpected and different ways that these
artists are approaching portraiture.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Okay, we're running out of time, so we should tell
people how to get information the website.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Bbmuseum dot org.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
That was good, That was quick. Okay, we're just about
out of time. Susan.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I have to say, I love that piece of jewelry
around your neck. Did you make that?
Speaker 4 (23:56):
I did not, But a lot of my jewelry comes
from Laughing Dog because they have United States artists all around.
And Okay, I think, all right.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
Check that out too.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Okay, I gotta thank you, and I will Susanne Seldas
and Caitlin Swindell from Vero Beach Museum of Art as
always great to talk to you see over there for
second Saturday, maybe yes, okay, and let's see, I'm going.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
To thank our listeners too. Should we thank our listeners?
Speaker 4 (24:22):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Because without them what would we be doing here?
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Of course?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Okay, it's a podcast, Arts Blast on the Air. It's
a radio show and Alexis Skill. All presented by Riverside
Theater and Ballet Vero Beach, covering the arts online and
in arts Plast, the free emailed weekly Florida arts news magazine.
Join us again next week for another edition of Arts
Blast on the Air. I'm Willie Miller. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to Arts Blast on the Air.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's a podcast and it's a radio show and an
Alexis Skill, all presented by Ballet Vero Beach and Riverside
Theater Arts supporting the arts in Florida.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I'm Willie Miller.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Every week I talk to people in the arts about
the arts on the Treasure.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Coast and well beyond.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Arts.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Blast on the Air is proudly supported by Ballet Vero
Beach once again presenting the Riverside Dance Festival August first
and second at Riverside Theater. Unforgettable Unforgettable Dynamic Dance featuring
the La Contemporary Dance Company with the world premiere they
created when the company was in residency at Riverside Theater
(00:45):
this year. Tickets are online at Ballet Vero Beach dot org.
Two guests today, both from Vero Beach Museum of Art
because it's a big summer and season coming over there.
I have Suzanne s Eldest and Caitlyn Swindell. Suzanne, you're
my communications person. In addition, we'll talk about your new
(01:09):
title as well if we could then. But why are
you here today?
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Well, well you said it. It is a spectacular summer
at the Vero Beach Museum of Art. I am lucky
that we could bring Caitlyn Swindello, chief Curator, with us
to tell us about our summer exhibition, because it is
like no other. And then our education department they have
done exceptional programming to complement the exhibition, so I'll talk
about that as well. And it's a family summer as
(01:36):
well at the Vera Beach Museum of Art. We have
lots of free Saturdays the second Saturday of every month
and their special programming on those Saturdays that are related
back to the exhibition. So it is a great summer
for everyone at the museum. Even those schools starting in
a couple of weeks, it's still the summer at Vera
Beach Museum of Art.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I remember when schools started after Labor Day. What the
heck are they doing making kids go back to school
in August.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I don't know, Willie summer to me, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I don't know, Willie. But we're pretending this summers still
at the Vera Beach Museum of Art, and we have
great things on tap.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Okay, I'm going to pretend I have never heard of
the Vero Beach Museum of Art.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Give me a couple of lines on its.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
History, which I'll tell your secret.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I do know what it goes back.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
I know you do, and it's great that you asked,
because a Vera Beach Museum of Art started as the
Center of the Arts here in Vero Beach, and it
was a group of folks who are very interested in
the importance of art in education and in well being,
and they really came together to provide art program and
community programming, humanities programming, and then they opened a museum.
(02:48):
And it just so happens that in January of twenty
twenty six, the museum will be celebrating its fortieth anniversary.
So it has a rich history and we will be
doing a lot to celebrate with the community next year.
In regard to the fortieth anniversary, I was.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Doing a little digging, and I guess I was surprised.
I don't think I probably knew this, but didn't remember
that when the Center for the Arts opened in nineteen
eighty six, it was totally debt free. So that means
a lot of people had to have faith, had to believe,
had to want what has become. I'm going to say
(03:27):
a keystone of the arts in Indian River County and
Treasure Coast and maybe even Florida.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Absolutely, Willie, and I will tell you that this community
continues to be engaged and continues to be generous as
it relates to the museum, and that allows us to
expand our collections, which of course Caitlin can speak wonderfully about,
and then also to create programming and to provide programming
free of charge or to bring in top notch programming
and a minimal charge for the folks that are our
(03:55):
neighbors and the folks who are in our region.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Could we just digress a little bit.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I've known you as communications director over there at the museum,
that you have a new title now.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
I do, Willy. I am proud to be the deputy
director now at Vero Beach Museum of Art. What does
that mean? That means that Executive Director Brady Roberts is
continuing to be very active in our strategic plan, in
our future planning, and working very closely with our board
and to move us forward into our next phase, into
(04:29):
our next forty years, so to speak. And so in
addition to the communications, I've added a lot of operational activity.
So a lot of those different operational areas of the
museum now report into me, which leverages some experiences I
had when I was back at the Strong Museum in Rochester,
New York. Back there, I was an executive director as
(04:49):
well as the chief marketing officer. So these things are
detailing well, and it frees up Brady to go ahead
and really get us into the launch and the propellers
into those next forty years. So it's a great it's
a great fit all the way around.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
You have quite a history you're talking about way back
in Rochester. You were down at the community college and
in River State College for quite a while.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
What were you doing there?
Speaker 4 (05:15):
So when I left Indian River State College to come
to the museum, I was associate vice president for Communications,
which means essentially I ran the marketing, communications team, chief
information officer as similar functions that I am doing here,
although on a much larger scale because the college has
five campuses in four counties, so it was a much
(05:36):
larger scale than here. But I had always wanted to
come back and be back in the arts and be
back in museuming. So it was it just my path
led me the right way. But we came down to
verro from Rochester, New York because, as so many here,
our kids had launched and our parents needed us, and
so we returned back to Vero and South Florida to
(05:59):
be to our parents, my husband and myself.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
That seems to be a very common story here, and
more more and lessed are we that those are the
circumstances we get some great, great people like you and
Caitlin Swindell.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Do you have similar story?
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Why are you?
Speaker 5 (06:18):
I've bounced around quite a bit, but it was i'd
say an easier move to get to Vero Beach. I
was in Miami previously, but I've lived in Denver and
Santa Fe and Boston for a graduate assistantship graduate school
in North Carolina, I was in Jacksonville, worked at Mocha Jacksonville,
(06:39):
which is another great Florida museum via Beach Museum of
Ours my third Florida museum that I've worked at. But
I'm originally from the DC area, So really just seeing
a lot of different arts institutions and worked at both
galleries and museums across the country.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
So what took you into your field? What brought you
here not to Vero but into.
Speaker 6 (07:00):
The curatorial work I've always loved the arts.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
I've loved that it's you know, I see the arts
as it's for everyone. You know, a lot of people
are intimidated at museums, and I hope that we're continuing
to create spaces where that's not the case, because everyone's
opinion and viewpoint and like connection and feeling to a
work of art is valid.
Speaker 6 (07:22):
And so I've always seen that.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
Growing up in the DC area, I was fortunate enough
in my high school that we had an art history
class once a week that augmented our history class, so.
Speaker 6 (07:35):
You know, we would go to museums as well.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
I did as a kid all the time, just having
all of the Smithsonian Institution, Museums, National Gallery, and so
I started interning in high school and just continued to
gain knowledge in the field. But I'd always wanted to
do something in the arts. I thought I might try
to be an artist and go to you know, study
(07:58):
fine arts in college.
Speaker 6 (08:00):
I thought I'll take the.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
More practical route and go with art history, which for
a lot of people isn't the most practical. So that's
necessitated the moves, right. So, if I've wanted to be
in museums and have certain challenges and opportunities. That's what's
that's what's taken me to different places.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Yeah, So William going to put my marketing hat back on,
and I'm going to tell you something. We've just started
a series on social media called Ask the Curator.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
That was my next question. Just got a TV show.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Yeah, and in the premiere, in the premiere episode, Caitlin
is exactly talking about why she went into this line
of work, why this is a career for her, and
all those things. So thank you for the great promotion
for me.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
You're welcome. I listened, I watched it. Oh good, And
it's going to be on how often.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
It'll be there's five more episodes, shall we say?
Speaker 6 (08:54):
I believe that are coming out.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Well, we'll launch them at least once a month, if
not a little bit more quickly.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Okay. And how do people find it?
Speaker 5 (09:04):
They can find it on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook?
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Okay, Okay, I go to YouTube and what do I
type in.
Speaker 6 (09:10):
Ther Beach Museum of Art channel exactly?
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Okay, yeah, yeah, and I do recommend it.
Speaker 6 (09:16):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
You're in a natural Oh thanks, It's I love what
I do.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
So it's it's always fun to talk about and that
makes a difference people to again connect with the arts,
and it's it can be valuable in so many ways.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Cook killed back a little bit in history because I
was it's been Let's say I arrived in Vera at
ninety in ninety six, and so that was ten years
after the museum opened, when it was the center for
the arts. It became the Verreau Do you mind if
I give a little history, please do? Became the Vero
(09:51):
Beach Museum of Art in two thousand and two, and
two thousand and seven was the Great Sculpture Park opening
Alice and Jim beckw Sculpture Park.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I love that place.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Do I understand you've taken all of those sculptures in
for cleaning or maintenance?
Speaker 4 (10:08):
So yeah, I think we touched on this last time
I was here. So it's customary for the museum too.
In advance of hurricane season go ahead and put many
of our pieces that are in the Sculpture Park in
storage so that they don't get damaged and they don't
become something that gives damage to something else. So that's
pretty customary for us this time of year. What we've
done right now is we've actually deinstalled both the North
(10:30):
and South Sculpture Park parks completely with exception of Trevin's Arts,
which is the large sculpture that you see, the reddish
orange sculpture toward the front of the museum. And that's
because the museum is undergoing some maintenance projects and is
planning for its future.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Okay, back to the history twenty eleven to twelve expansion
of the Beckwisth Sculpture Park, and I didn't remember the
dates on this. You got the new atrium that covered
true fabulous space. I love that space there, and the
new entrance festibule and the building of twenty thousand square
(11:09):
feet exhibitions and collection swing.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Where is that that's our storage area, So that's where
our collections and exhibitions team offices are and where the
art's safely stored.
Speaker 6 (11:19):
And that will, you know, remain.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
And continue to be a bunker really for the art,
which is good.
Speaker 6 (11:26):
That's what we want.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
What that does, Willing, is it allows our art to
be in a hurricane or weather resistant bunker and you know,
up high off the ground.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
You know what We've run through the first segment already.
I got to take a break, all right.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Stay right where we are, Okay, I'm going to ask
everybody check in a Riverside Theater's website to learn about
the coming season plus everything that's happening this summer.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
For kids and adults.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
And it's the Comedy Zone experience Friday and Saturday plus
Thursday third.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Night for Live in the Loop.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Learn about everything Riverside at Riversidetheater dot com.
Speaker 7 (12:07):
Arts plast on the Air is probably supported by Ballet
Vero Beach. The company, in partnership with Riverside Theater, presents
the Riverside Dance Festival featuring the return of La Contemporary
Dance Company. August first and second, at seven thirty pm
at Riverside Theater, Experience an unforgettable evening of contemporary dance
that showcases dynamic and innovative choreography, including a world premiere
(12:27):
created during La Contemporary Dance Companies Zero Beach Residency tickets
are available now by visiting Ballet Vierobeach dot org and
secure your seats today. That's Ballet Vierobeach dot org.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
At Sunshine Furniture, our thirty five thousand square foot showroom
is filled with the largest selection of in stock, tari
free coastal furniture on the Treasure coats, dining in bedroom sets,
occasional tables, sofas, sleeper sofas, love seats and chairs in
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(12:57):
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We specialize in fire bits, outdoor rugs, umbrellas and replacement cushions.
Right now we're having a summer sale with lots of
great markdowns and discounts on everything you need for your
(13:18):
Florida home, including all pictures, lamps and accessories. Half Frize
Sunshine Furniture twelve ninety five US one in the public
Splasa Aero Beach. Don't forget to visit our outlet store
directly across the street, filled with lots of name ground
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sale and visit our website at Sunshine Furniture Casual dot com.
Speaker 8 (13:37):
Welcome to Riverside Theater's Comedy Zone, where the comedy is
wild Untamed and downright hilarious. Hit the Zone this Friday
and Saturday night at six thirty and eight thirty for
the Treasure Coast best live stand up comedy show featuring
nationally recognized comedians with cabaret style.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Seating and food and drink table.
Speaker 8 (13:59):
Sirch Buy tickets at Riversidetheater dot com and get ready
for a night of non stop laughs.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
We are back with arts Blasts on the air talking
about art and how Sweden actually But you've been traveling, Caitlin.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Yes, family vacation and I always, you know, make sure
to go to museums anywhere I go, so it's still
on my mind. I probably am not maybe the most
fun person to go to museums with because I'm so
focused on details and you know, I don't know, or
maybe it is fun to see some of the behind
the scenes, but so I'll look at their wall techs
(14:51):
and how they lay their exhibition out and you know
what activities they have. A lot of these museums that
I just visited in Scandinavia have a lot.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Of eight.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
Spaces for kids, which we at the Vero Beach Museum
of our house absolutely and I love that because museums
can be you know, spaces for community and to learn,
and you know it's great to have those those spaces.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Good.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Okay, before we get into what's coming next, which we
need to hurry into Second Saturday.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
Yeah, so we Second Saturday is free and we have
one coming up, and our education and programming team have
aligned a lot of local organizations focused on the environment,
so Environmental Learning Center. That one will be Saturday, September thirteenth,
but the one that is coming up Saturday, August ninth
(15:46):
is with coastal Connections.
Speaker 6 (15:48):
There will also be a filming of.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
The lore ACX and so the theme of those programs
aligns with the major exhibition that we have on view now,
a Tangled Plot Works by any Blaze, Jack and Levinson,
and that recently opened and it's a large exhibition of
this collaborative duo.
Speaker 6 (16:08):
So they are longtime friends.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
They grew up in South and South Florida and Miami
and continued to have an artistic practice together. They both
attended the same college, so that was convenient to continue
to create works together, but they went on to separate
graduate programs and so that was very difficult for their
professors to grapple with because they were still a collaborative pair,
(16:34):
and they joke that they became art married soon after
graduate school where they you know, moved back to Miami
had a studio there. So they've been working over ten
years together as a collaborative pair, and they work on
painting simultaneously, so in their studio they often have two
(16:57):
painting set up that they'll sometimes swap and like some
even paint over each other because a lot of people ask, like,
how does it work when you create a painting together,
are you, you know, sketching together? Does one person sketch
then one person paints, like do you pick a section
of the canvas? And it's really more fluid, So they
(17:18):
they think of their artistic practice as like a conversation
so that no feelings are hurt if somebody paints over
somebody else's of the work. And they're so aligned that
although it's rare to happen, if one artists were to
paint something just on their own, they would still you know,
(17:39):
designate that as by the two of them. So they
are very linked together in that way, which this would
be probably the first time I think at the Vero
Beach Museum of art, a collaborative pair of artists has
been presented. You know, in contemporary art you'll see different
You know, in the contemporary art world sometimes pairs of
artists working this way, but it still as unusual. But
(18:03):
practically it can be difficult, and so I wanted to
showcase that. But I also wanted to showcase the themes
and their work, which there's so many ways to.
Speaker 6 (18:14):
Move through the show.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
So they're inspired by mythology, folklore, literature, science fiction. They
build these characters into their paintings, and how you move
through the exhibition is a tangled plot. So the title
of the exhibition relates to this idea of like landscaping,
gardening unruly land, tangled land, but also to the narrative
(18:39):
structure of how their paintings are presented and how they work.
So there's different sections. One is called unreliable narrators, and
I often say that they themselves are unreliable narrators. So
are the figures and their paintings, and then so are
the viewers. So there's a lot of different ways to
interpret their work. But you'll see at the start of
(19:00):
the show imagery with alligators, and they're actually hybrid alligator
women figure. So this mythological almost you know, monster type individual,
but presented in this approachable, very South Florida type of
way where your eye kind of catches the figure and
(19:22):
then notices maybe a few seconds later that this is
actually an alligator or is it a figure? So those
are really fantastical and I think exciting to see. And
then it moves through another section that's focused on the environment,
kind of absence of figures. The final section will be
(19:43):
female figures as these protagonists and their stories mimicking nature
and engaging with nature in an interesting way. So the
root of the show root tangled plot is that it's
really an exploration of humanity with nature and this idea
of control, and they really explore that in a lot.
Speaker 6 (20:04):
Of different ways.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
But you'll find references to Macbeth, to the science fiction
novel Solaris. There's just really a lot to take in
with this exhibition. So I encourage people to go.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
And if I can just add that we talk a
lot about storytelling as it relates to this exhibition, and
I will tell you that every every piece, every work
that I've looked at in there, I've spent countless minutes with.
In fact, one day, I went past the gallery and
one of our docents told me that there was a
(20:39):
couple in there for two and a half hours. And
I understood why because for me, every time I look
at a piece up close, back ten feet, back twenty feet,
I see something different, and you can tell your own
story in there. And the artists were in opening weekend
for sketching in the gallery, and they told the folks
(21:02):
who are participating, sit by a painting or work and
just go ahead and sketch, but change it because there
aren't together is very much one is in conversation with
the other, one paints or does work in response to
the others, And so they were encouraging the folks who
were participating in that process to sketch, but change something
(21:24):
about it. And I will tell you every piece of
work in there has a story. I'm an unreliable narrator,
but I can create a story within each piece. And
so I go, as part of my professional development, into
that gallery space every day that the museum is open,
not the weekends because I'm home usually, but I will
put myself in front of one or two works and
(21:46):
I will study it because it's fascinating and it really
moves me, and that's why I said, will you've got
to come out and check this out.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
And there I should say, sorry to interrupt.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
There's also ceramic elements, so it's primarily painting, but there's
some mixed media, and the way that it's presented is
also I think unexpected. You might see a small ceramic
snail on the corner of a canvas that you might
not immediately catch or turn the corner and see. I
won't give it away, but some other unexpected ceramic components
(22:16):
mixed in with their painting. So it's it's a lot
to uncover in the exhibition.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
How many pieces altogether forty two? Wow?
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Old?
Speaker 1 (22:24):
How old is this pair?
Speaker 5 (22:26):
They're late thirties. Wow, they're young in their career. They've
they've shown out in a few museums, but this is
their largest show to date. So that was another really
exciting opportunity, is to present artists, you know, in different
areas of their career and there.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
Yeah, I'm very happy with how it came out, and
I know they are as well.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
What's coming after them.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
After that is a photography exhibition, so it's called Double Portraits,
and it will be in the Homes Gallery.
Speaker 6 (22:58):
And I think by about thirty four artists.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
So it's something that I've curated from a larger collection
of about now I think it's nine hundred photographs from
the Do Good Fund, which is an organization in Georgia,
nonprofit that has this large collection available to curators. They're
photographs by artists from the American South and there are
a lot of different ways to approach that collection, and
(23:23):
so this one is looking at the idea of two
figures in an image, in the conventional way of portrait photography,
but also in some unexpected and different ways that these
artists are approaching portraiture.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Okay, we're running out of time, so we should tell
people how to get information the website.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Bbmuseum dot org.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
That was good, That was quick. Okay, we're just about
out of time. Susan.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I have to say, I love that piece of jewelry
around your neck. Did you make that?
Speaker 4 (23:56):
I did not, But a lot of my jewelry comes
from Laughing Dog because they have United States artists all around.
And Okay, I think, all right.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
Check that out too.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Okay, I gotta thank you, and I will Susanne Seldas
and Caitlin Swindell from Vero Beach Museum of Art as
always great to talk to you see over there for
second Saturday, maybe yes, okay, and let's see, I'm going.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
To thank our listeners too. Should we thank our listeners?
Speaker 4 (24:22):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Because without them what would we be doing here?
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Of course?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Okay, it's a podcast, Arts Blast on the Air. It's
a radio show and Alexis Skill. All presented by Riverside
Theater and Ballet Vero Beach, covering the arts online and
in arts Plast, the free emailed weekly Florida arts news magazine.
Join us again next week for another edition of Arts
Blast on the Air. I'm Willie Miller. Thanks for listening.
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