Review written by Nathan Wertheimer
Sanford, FL – This year Robert T. Reedy was selected from the many artists to have has his or her works of art on display at Seminole State College Art Gallery. This exhibit runs from September 29 – October 27, 2016. Reedy is a well-known local Orlando artist and professor at University of Central Florida (UCF).
This is a brief background information of Artist Reedy exhibit featuring his work with mixed-media sculptures, paintings, and ceramics. He obtained his B.F.A. and M.F.A. from University of Mississippi and he currently teaches at University of Central Florida. His work is included in collections including The American Crafts Museum, in New York, the Museum of American Art in Washington D.C. and the American Museum of Ceramic Art, in Paloma, C.A. to name a few.
If you have not been to down to visit the Seminole State College Center for the Performing and Fine Arts Art gallery one is in for a treat. This college art gallery is in our backyard in Seminole County. Throughout the year there is a wide variety of art exhibits by local and national artists. One has a chance to get up close and personal with these masterpieces. You might even meet the actual artist at the opening reception for the art gallery exhibit.
When you walk into the SSC Art Gallery one will find twenty-one pieces in and around this art gallery. There is an assortment of paintings, ceramics, and guitar pieces. Most of the art pieces are eye appealing. Feel free and walk around and view these great works of art at your leisure.
The opening art gallery brought out many of Reedy’s friends, family, and former students. Plus, there were many Seminole State Students on hand to view this exhibit too. Reedy gave an inspiring gallery talk about his life, his career, and about his work. Growing up as a child, he loved to draw and got kicked out of class just to have time to draw. His dad was a mechanical engineer working on military aircrafts. Besides being an artist he is also a musician too. He loves to play the guitar. Reedy said he once played in front of a packed house at the Cheyenne Saloon in Orlando.
Throughout the gallery talk Reedy gave many quotes. He brought up on how college education is not as good as it used to be. He said, “Students are like bunch of lap dogs.” Referring to students asking questions what they need to be doing or being directed to do so. Another great quote he said, “All Artists make mistakes. You just don’t see it.” He recalled making many mistakes in his artwork and learning from it.
Reedy creates his artwork in his own studio space. He said, “studio first, then your home.” If doesn’t matter where you have a studio as long as your producing artwork. During the rest of the gallery talk he mention about the business side of being artist. Being an artist requires handling the accounting, your own website, and selling your work. Reedy explained that he appointed some professional to handle some of these tasks so he can concentrate on producing more of his artwork. Another comment he made was “can’t sell artwork in Orlando.” This is in true. The art culture around Orlando is charging. Most of his work is in art galleries in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, and many more places. His work is not for sale in the Orlando market because of the subject and style matter.
The painting printed on the art gallery poster is entitled P51 which is a large canvas acrylic painting depicting a collage of images. The artist describes this painting as a “crazy quilt.” Some of the multi images include a P51 Mustang with a Rolls Royce Engine, Green Lantern Super hero, tornadoes with fire, stenciled human bodies and homes, hangman with parachutes, a single cone, and a weird looking face. There are various colors, but over all has a cool color scheme feel. Many viewers will be intrigue with this art piece. Reedy is selling this painting for $4,000.00.
Another unique art piece on display is a guitar entitled Green Martian Strat. Reedy calls his guitar a Frankenstein guitar because of the various odds and end pieces to put this guitar together. I found a label on the guitar that reads “Seymour Ducan” on the hot rails strat. Reedy applied mix media on the front and back of this guitar. The only thing not painted was the neck and knobs of the guitar. One will find some interesting imagery on the guitar. Some of the images on this guitar are stenciled faces, peach lily flowers, wheat, and a single red star. The artist is selling this guitar for $800.00.
Reedy has always loved ceramics. He created this piece entitled Teapot #4 made out of earthenware. This piece is not an ordinary teapot. The color scheme of this work has multi colors with a slight glaze texture. There is a wire decorative hand attached to the Teapot. This teapot is not a functional work of art.
Finally, stop by and see Reedy’s wonderful works of art for yourself. At a later date Reedy will be giving another art gallery lecture to current Seminole State College Students. He will be talking about the business side of being an artist.
Note: Some sources of information were taken from Seminole State College Art Gallery
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