Walking James Griffin’s latest exhibition at ArtCenter Manatee, The Road to Home, audiences may indeed feel as though they’ve been on the road themselves, exploring exotic and dramatic locales on an adventure the likes of which the pandemic has forestalled for most. Comprising a whopping 65 paintings, all made during the pandemic and all sporting Griffin’s characteristic bold color palette, the subject matter hops from Florida to Tennessee to Maine and back again, juxtaposing Sarasota scenes with dramatic looming mountains and historic river rapids. But under all that geography, The Road to Home is revealed to be something much more personal.

When the pandemic began, Griffin rarely left his neighborhood. But he didn’t need to. With a painting studio at home and inspiration right outside his window (“I just have to look out at my garden and it’s like a tropical jungle.”), the artist found solace “in a strange, peculiar way” by embracing the artist-as-recluse and focusing on working every day in this quieter world. And these soaring palms and glowing orange sunbeams find their place on the walls of Griffin’s exhibition at ArtCenter Manatee, but a neighborhood stroll taken twice daily still hardly amounts to a “road to home.”

Enter grandchildren, a road trip and a house in the mountains of Tennessee.

“You don’t walk on the mountains,” Griffin says today. “You walk into the mountains.” And into another world, quiet and secret, sacred under the canopy where the air is still and everything smells a little different. Thus a quick trip to Tennessee to visit the grandchildren turned into the spontaneous purchase of a new house and the beginning of a longer journey. “It was almost a spiritual change in me,” the artist says, and the impact is reflected on many of the canvases hanging in ArtCenter Manatee, where tropical foliage gives way to portraits of those great forested peaks that loom and beckon like mysteries.

One of the largest paintings, Magic Mountain, was a long road on its own, taking nearly six months to complete. It began as something Odyssey-inspired, an experiment in storytelling that took a turn for the illustrative—at which point Griffin hit the brakes. “I’ve done enough illustration,” he says. “So I attacked it with more paint.” Half a year later, working in fits and starts, the magic mountain began to take shape, thrust to the foreground by the tectonic workings of the artist’s creation. There is no real magic mountain, Griffin says, except on the canvas. “The culmination of all those mountains in my subconscious,” he says.

Of all the works on display in The Road to Home, only one is not for sale. There is no price to match what this painting means to Griffin. Entitled Sycamore Shoals, it’s a water scene, a wide capture of the rocky rapids where, centuries ago, native peoples would cross the river. And it was painted entirely with one eye.

By the time Griffin reached Tennessee, a growing trouble with his right eye had progressed to the point that he could no longer see out of it at all. Worried but not willing to quit, Griffin took his paints and went to the shoals to see if he could capture the feeling of the water, the emotion of the scene, if not the exact details of every drop. “I found I could still do it,” he says. “I became the water.” And Sycamore Shoals became more than just another painting. 

“It symbolizes that moment when I was painting from my heart,” Griffin says.

Currently on display at ArtCenter Manatee, The Road to Home runs through December 28.

Note: The artist has since recovered vision in his eye. 

Pictured: James Griffin's "Magic Mountain"

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Due to audience demand, Florida Studio Theatre (FST) announces the extension of its opening Winter Mainstage production, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story by Alan Janes. One of the most popular Rock & Roll musicals of all time, Buddy tells the inspiring story of the artist’s remarkable journey to stardom and his lasting impact on popular music. Featuring over a dozen of Holly’s greatest hits, such as “Peggy Sue” and “Oh Boy,” brought to life by a cast of ten actor-musicians, Buddy is a high-energy celebration of a bespectacled kid from Texas who changed the face of Rock & Roll forever. Buddy­: The Buddy Holly Story is now held over through January 8 in FST’s Gompertz Theatre. Called “Explosive” by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and “Vastly entertaining” by The Observer, Buddy is an inspiring musical that taps into Holly’s determination and courage. At the start of his career, Buddy rejected expectations that he would become a country star and instead stayed committed to creating the music he loved: Rock & Roll. He also broke barriers when he was the first white act to play the Apollo Theatre, and when he married Maria Elena Santiago, a Puerto Rican-born woman he met at the New York offices of Peer-Southern music publishing company. 

Pictured Left to Right - Armando Gutierrez, Michael Perrie Jr, and Spiff Weigand. Photo by John Jones

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St. Petersburg-based community bank First Home Bank has officially broken ground on its eighth banking center in the Tampa Bay area and second in Sarasota – located at 2075 S. Tamiami Trail. The announcement was celebrated at a December 8 reception attended by City of Sarasota Mayor Erik Arroyo and Vice Mayor Kyle Battie. The 6,000-square-foot building will feature two drive-up banking lanes, an ATM, and an electric vehicle charging station, free to the public. Construction is slated to begin in January 2022, with an anticipated opening in late 2022 or early 2023. It will serve as First Home Bank’s eighth full-service banking center offering commercial, residential and consumer lending, as well as investment services and personal banking options. It will employ 10-15. Renderings and images from a ceremonial groundbreaking are available here.

“Expanding First Home’s presence in the Sarasota area has been a long-term goal for some time now,” said Tom Quale, First Home Bank’s Sarasota Market President. “We look forward to providing more area residents with the personalized service and high-quality products our customers expect and proving our on-going commitment to the Sarasota community as a whole.” 

The bank also recently announced it will open a loan production office (LPO) and Financial Resource Center in the Newtown community which will provide personal and commercial loans as well as financial education, programs and additional resources to community members and business owners. It also currently operates a banking center in Sarasota, located at 2033 Main Street, Suite 101. 

Rendering courtesy of First Home Bank

The Elling Eide Center, a private research library and nature preserve that is dedicated to the study of classical Asian literature and art, recently welcomed Dr. Matthew Wells as its new director of research. Dr. Wells brings over 20 years of experience in Asian studies to The Elling Eide Center. In his new role as director of research, Dr. Wells is tasked with managing the center’s programming, organizing professional meetings, preparing for conferences and organizing speaker series to bring in relevant scholars to the center, among other duties. The Elling Eide Center is a private research library and nature preserve overlooking Little Sarasota Bay. Dedicated to the study of classical Asian literature and art, the Center fills a unique role in the cultural and scholarly landscape of its Florida coastal location. Bequeathed by Sarasota resident Elling O. Eide, this 72-acre waterfront preserve brings together Old Florida and new architecture. Sarasota architect Guy Peterson, FAIA, designed the Center’s research library that shares the landscape with a rich assortment of native and exotic plants.  

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Flanzer Philanthropic Trust has generously raised their matching limit to $1,000 to encourage donors to invest in children, our community’s greatest asset. Beginning November 18- January 1, 2022, Flanzer will double every donation designated to Forty Carrots Family Center. Recently, a coalition of the nation’s leading experts in pediatric health, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, issued an urgent warning declaring the mental health crisis among children has become a national emergency.  Forty Carrots is grateful to Flanzer Philanthropic Trust for their commitment to the impact of Forty Carrots’ mental health services, early childhood, and parenting education for Sarasota and Manatee County’s most vulnerable families. 

Pictured: Forty Carrots Family Center Therapy Building Waiting Room

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The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce’s Opportunities For All (OFA) initiative is proud to announce the awardees for the Business Assistance Funds Program. This program was designed to assist minority, small business owners and non-profit organizations with resources that will help our local businesses grow and thrive.  Of the 150 applications submitted, 38 local businesses were chosen. The awardees were chosen by a selection committee made up of local business owners and leaders in our community.  Congratulations to all the grant recipients of the Business Assistance Funds Program. The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce funded this experience through the Opportunities. For more information or to learn more about the Opportunities For All initiative, please reach out to Kaveecia Moore, Opportunities For All Manager, at KMoore@sarasotachamber.com.

Common Cents for Sarasota County today announced the formation of its political committee to encourage the continuation of Sarasota County’s penny tax to provide funding for public safety, water quality and the environment, and other community needs. The citizens of Sarasota County will be asked to continue the penny tax on the 2022 Nov. ballot.  The referendum passed with more than 66 percent of the vote the last time it was up for renewal with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune calling it a “solid-gold performer.”

 The committee is co-chaired by a bipartisan group of community leaders representing all regions of Sarasota County including past and present elected officials. The honorary co-chairs include:  Citizen Tax Oversight Committee Chairman Justin Taylor; former City of Sarasota Mayor Suzanne Atwell; Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman; Education Foundation President & CEO Jennifer Vigne; former City of Sarasota Mayor and Sarasota County Commissioner Carolyn Mason; and former Sarasota County School Board member and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Suncoast VP of Communications Gina Taylor. Benefitting the county since 1989, the penny tax adds one cent to each dollar spent on purchases of up to $5,000. An independent study conducted in August found that over 20 percent of the funds generated from the penny tax are paid by visitors. Proceeds from the penny tax can ONLY be used for major capital projects and infrastructure improvements. It has paid for numerous projects throughout the county and in every one of its cities, ranging from equipment and facilities for police and fire agencies to water quality improvements to beach renourishments to road repairs.   

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