Press and Media

INDIANA AND TENNESSEE MUSICIANS BRING THEIR ACOUSTIC MUSIC
TO CEDAR KEY, FLORIDA

On Sunday, January 15, 2012, the 2nd annual “Acoustical Afternoon for the Arts” benefit concert and silent auction will be held from 3pm-5pm at the Island Room Restaurant in Cedar Key, Florida. The silent auction will showcase pieces from a number of art festival artists including a live painting performance by well-known artist Susan Dauphinee of Cedar Key. There will be a variety of appetizers served, a no-host bar will be available, and doors will open early at 2:30pm. Tickets are $20 each and go on sale December 15th.

Proceeds will promote the 2012 Old Florida Celebration of the Arts, a juried fine art festival that has been happening in Cedar Key every April for the past 48 years. Reduced funding has made it necessary to raise additional monies to insure the continuation of the fine arts festival. Last year’s first benefit concert with the silent auction was very successful and tickets sold out early. The Cedar Key Arts Center, a non-profit organization that promotes the arts in the small gulf coastal community, is the coordinating sponsor for the festival.

The musicians volunteering their time and talents for this benefit are Joe Peters and Linda Hicks (West Lafayette, IN) and Bishop Davidson (Nashville, TN).

Joe Peters has released five CDs of original music since 1998, and can often be found playing in the Hoosier state. Joe grew up in the Midwest during the late 60s and early 70s, and his songs hearken back to a time when young people sought the experience of peace, love and adventure and expressed this search in their music. Linda Hicks found her niche in the folk music scene, drawing from the influences of bluegrass, old-time, celtic, traditional, and contemporary folk music. Linda and Joe often perform together as a duo, and have just released a joint album, A Thousand Ways. In addition, Joe has also just released a new Joedai Warriors album, Over The Edge. Bishop Davidson is a newly-formed duo comprised of MJ Bishop and WT Davidson. MJ hails from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and, after spending 30 years in Seattle, moved to Nashville in the Spring of 2010 to further hone her songwriting skills and begin work on her fourth album. She continues to write in the Americana vein, her music being laced with the sweet, familiar melodies of folk. WT was born and raised in Iowa City, IA, where he cut his teeth playing at the Mill and the Sanctuary while still in high school. His influences include a great deal of traditional jazz artists like Jack Teagarden and Fats Waller, bluesmen like Bill Broonzy, the older and more soulful country of the Merles – Travis and Haggard, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, and a raft of Motown and Stax records and of course a lasting Beatles problem. After moving to Nashville in 1974, WT has had cuts by Ray Charles, Crystal Gayle, Michael Johnson, Gary Stewart and Ray Stevens, to name a few.

For a look and a listen: Joe Peters – www.reverbnation.com/joepeters ~ Linda Hicks – www.lindahicksmusic.com ~ MJ Bishop – www.sonicbids.com/mjbishop ~ WT Davidson –www.reverbnation.com/wtdavidson

Spring Arts Festival Celebrated under Clear Skies

Almost as magically as a scene from the Wizard of Oz, the stormy skies of the last week of March cleared last Friday morning to allow the transformation of Second Street for the Old Florida Celebration of the Arts.  As in the past, this 47th Annual Spring Arts Festival could not happen without the help of numerous organizations, tireless volunteers, and a dedicated group of individuals working behind the scenes over the past year to prepare for the event that attracts thousands to Cedar Key.

Thanks to the efforts of the City overseen by City Administrator, Greg Lang, the ruts and bumps of recent road work were smoothed away by the Ciraco crew early Friday morning. Before the day was done the artists and a team of volunteers coordinated by the OFCA Event Coordinator, Mandy Cassiano, filled the streets with art booths and City Park was made ready for hungry visitors.

The weather could not have been more perfect all weekend where visitors and purchase award patrons enjoyed browsing museum quality artwork within the 118 booths that lined Historic 2nd Street. Saturday evening artists and sponsors attended the 5th Annual Cedar Key Arts Center Reception and Award Ceremony where 16 different artists were awarded prizes and ribbons (*see list of winners below). 

Throughout the weekend beautiful flute and harp music was heard thanks to the Celtic Duo, Lisa Lynne and George Tortorelli, who played both Saturday and Sunday in front of the new Welcome Center.  Whitey Markle and the Swamprooters entertained the crowd at the park on Saturday while the Ernie Evans Trio played Sunday.  Eighteen non-profit food vendors sold everything from corn-on-the-cob to root beer floats in addition to traditional Cedar Key seafood dishes.  Chris Ford, Committee Park Chairman, said “Numerous vendors reported this to be a very successful weekend fundraiser for their organizations and many sold out of food”.  Tom Deverin, who coordinated the efforts of the first ‘Sustainable Festival’ in Cedar Key, said  over 25 Cedar Key students worked hard and really enjoyed instructing visitors how to properly recycle at the trash and recycling stations set up throughout the park.

Although the estimated number of visitors is not yet available from the Department of Transportation and visitor surveys have not yet been summarized, Event Coordinator, Mandy Cassiano, reports that numerous positive comments were received about the quality of the event and the hospitality of our community.  She and her committee (Cindy Leiner, Chris Ford, Janet Cook, and Bev Ringenberg) extend thanks to all the volunteers, community, businesses and sponsors that helped make this event possible.  A special thank you to Title Sponsors, Drummond Bank and Palms Medical Group, in addition to the Cedar Key Lion’s Club and the Cedar Key Arts Center who support the event in multiple ways.

By Monday afternoon, city workers and volunteers just as miraculously cleared the park and streets before the rain returned that evening.  Just another magical weekend in Cedar Key’s paradise. 

Artists, clammers mix at Cedar Key's art fest this weekend

By Alexandra Hamilton
Correspondent
Published: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 10:43 a.m.

Some people say the quiet island of Cedar Key is known for its clams. With its warm, shallow waters, the city boasts being one of the top producers of hard-shell clams in the United States. On the other hand, Mandy Cassiano, event coordinator of Cedar Key's Old Florida Celebration of the Arts festival, says Cedar Key, a small island town about an hour's drive from Gainesville, is known for two things — its clams and its art.

Facts:Old Florida Celebration of the Arts

What: Annual Cedar Key arts festival with than 120 artists, food, live music and more
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Where: Historic Second Street, Cedar Key
Cost: Free

“We have the clammers and the artists, it seems,” Cassiano says. “It's a good mix.”

This weekend, Cedar Key's historic Second Street is all about the arts for the 47th annual Old Florida Celebration of the Arts festival, one of the oldest art festivals in the state of Florida. But the town's famous clams will also be sold alongside the artworks of 120 artists from throughout the U.S. and as far away as California, Texas and Ontario, Canada.

Artists specializing in fine art, jewelry, sculpture, painting, ceramics, glass and fiber will be attending the juried festival, including seven local artists from Gainesville — Miriam Novack, Virginia Chen, Hugo Cruz, Diana Christiansen, Jack Wicks, Greg Stephens and John Moran.

The top 15 artists chosen by Roy Slade, director emeritus of Cranbrook Art Museum and former director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, will receive prizes totaling $10,000. Purchase awards totaling $7,000 are also being given to artists.

Cassiano says she expects about 20,000 people will attend the two-day festival, which is free and open to the public. Different from previous years' festivals, this year's event will feature a new form of entertainment — art cars. Four cars decorated to a theme by artists from Alabama, Georgia, Virginia and Florida, including a car from Alabama titled “Aliens on Board” by Jim Shores, will be on display for people to view.

Local bands also performing during the event including Whitey Markle & The Swamprooters, The Evans Acoustic Reunion, a band of family members that plays a wide range of music, and a Celtic duo that features Lisa Lynne, a harpist from California, and George Tortorelli, a bamboo flutist who has been living in Gainesville for the past 30 years.

Apart from the wide range of artworks people will be able to peruse and purchase throughout Saturday and Sunday, the most unique feature about the event is the food it sells, Cassiano says.

Local civic organizations, school groups and church groups are selling a wide variety of food items, including locally caught seafood, oysters, Cedar Key's famous steamed clams from the Cedar Key Aquaculture Association Inc., hamburgers and hotdogs, as well as a variety of desserts and beverages. No outside vendors are allowed to sell food at the festival.

“Everybody loves the food,” Cassiano says. “It's different from typical festivals.”

Moran, the Florida nature photographer from Gainesville who has appeared in art shows throughout Florida since 1998, is participating in the festival for the first time. He says he's looking forward to this weekend's event because of its location in Cedar Key; with the island's surrounding waters and lack of drive-thru traffic, he says it's his favorite coastal destination in the state.

“I just love Cedar Key,” Moran says. “It's a remarkable town with a distinct sense of place.”

Novack, an artist who has a unique style of painting that features fractured images and colorful, intricate patterns, has been participating in the festival for about five years.

She says when people look at her art, “it's like looking at the world through a kaleidoscope.” Many of her pieces exhibit themes of yoga, meditation, music, peace, Jerusalem, and some also exhibit beautiful nature scenes of Cedar Key, which are all being featured at the event.

“When the weather is great, there's just nothing more beautiful,” Novack says of Cedar Key.

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