Large Sculpture and Very Small Art Open 2016 at the Dunedin Fine Art Center

The 41st Annual International Miniature Art Show

Artist and Teacher Melissa Miller Nece

​The Dunedin Fine Art Center in Dunedin, Florida, opened its 2016 exhibition season with a bang on Sunday, January 17 with “The 41st Annual International Miniature Art Show”, “Rich Entel’s Cardboard Menagerie’, and “Love Magnified”, an exhibition of miniature art valentines. I had the pleasure of working with the Miniature Art Society and the International show beginning in the late 1980’s. The International exhibition today features many hundreds of miniature paintings and sculpture in three galleries from many countries. I have included a few images to describe the afternoon.
​I met Melissa Miller Nece in 1990, when she joined the Dunedin Fine Art Center as an instructor of colored pencil drawing. She is still there, teaching full classes this winter in drawing, colored pencil and oil and acrylic painting. Her picture shows her pointing out her colored pencil painting “Splashy Boy”, the winner of First Prize in Figure in the 41st Annual International Miniature Art Exhibition at DFAC. The show runs through February 7, 2016.
Melissa teaches workshops around the country and is currently President of the Colored Pencil Society of America and a Signature Member of the Miniature Artists of America. Congratulations, Melissa!
Artist Rich Entel presented his “Cardboard Menagerie” and a wonderful gallery talk to the public on Sunday to a large gathering of friends and art lovers. His ingenious sculptures of wild animals are made from fragments of musical instruments, discarded cardboard and ancient texts. He lives in Maine and works as a physician, but grew up in the Dunedin area fascinated with art.
​His family has long been supportive of the arts and of DFAC and his mother, Syd Entel, is one of the original founders of the art center. His gallery talk closed with a spirited reading by poet Ashley Bryan. Entel’s talk and Bryan’s performance are available on video at www.dfac.org/richard_entel-menagerie. Entel’s show runs through March 1.

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Artist Rich Entel

A Viewer Salutes Rich Entel's Elephant Sculpture

Viewer Amazed by Rich Entel's Giraffe

Also pictured is my good friend and DFAC visual art curator Catherine Bergmann with noted artist, writer, poet, storyteller and humanitarian Ashley Bryan. Bryan was there to celebrate the exhibit of art by Richard Entel. Both artists live in Maine. Cathy first met Bryan when she attended Dartmouth, where he was a professor of art, and they have maintained their friendship since. He attended Cooper Union School of Art and Engineering when black students had few choices of colleges to attend and took a break in his studies to serve in World War II, including D-Day and the battle for Europe. He is Professor Emeritus at Cooper Union.

Artist, Writer and Poet Ashley Bryan with DFAC Curator Cathy Bergmann

Bryan has written over fifty books about African and African American spirituals, poetry, and legends and myths. He is also known for his puppets, puppet shows and book illustrations. Among his awards are the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, and the New York Public Library’s Literary Lions award.
Congratulations to the staff and artists of DFAC on the beginning of another exciting season of art and enrichment.