It’s another First Friday Art Walk and Sarasota’s downtown gallery scene answers the call with the opening of four new exhibitions tonight on Palm Avenue, including fresh work from Lori Childers, whose latest series of large-scale oil paintings explores the emotional potential of collective memory and shared iconography, while testing the formal rules of object painting. Entitled Vintage Play, the show opens tonight at 6pm at MARA Art Studio + Gallery.

In the 26 paintings of  Vintage Play, Childers turns Sarasota’s familiar circus imagery on its head, taking those vibrant memories of yesteryear and running them through the wringer that is her creative process, where they come out the other side buried under thick coats of oil paint that obscure and distort, like long years layered on a memory. Plastic horses and merry-go-rounds, circus trains and trained seals, pointed-top tents in orange, blue or electric green—they present as weathered and almost abstract, all blurred lines and bleeding colors, like a hazy recollection grasping for details and filling those empty spaces with emotion.

“This kind of nostalgic imagery creates a touchstone back even beyond my own history,” Childers says. “And you can feel that curve of life, going all the way back.” The overall effect is something dreamlike, as though the world were melting in the acid rain or slowly decaying like the peeling wallpaper of reality.

The exhibition also sees Childers playing with composition and form, centering her subjects on the canvas and removing the horizon line from her work entirely, visually unmooring the image and amounting to something of a two-pronged attack on the Rule of Thirds.

“I like my pieces to have this floaty, anti-gravitational feel,” Childers says. “I want them to be free.”

But they’re available for purchase at MARA Art Studio + Gallery.

Also opening tonight, painter Linda Richichi pays homage to Florida’s natural beauty in oils and pastel with Fragments of Light at Burns Gallery on Palm, while collage artist Liz Cole leads viewers on a swan dive into the deep sea of blue with a chromatic exploration entitled Shades of Blue: A Journey Through The Spectrum at Define Art Gallery and Studio. And at Palm Avenue Fine Art, a special three-day exhibition highlights the painting of EJ Paprocki, all oils on linen, atmospheric and moody. 

Pictured: 'Beach Circus' by Lori Childers. Image courtesy of the artist.

 The Sarasota Players has secured a 30-year lease for Payne Park Auditorium and announced plans for a $2.5 million renovation to transform it into a 200-seat community theater. The project will preserve the venue’s original 1960s aesthetic while adding a new lobby, expanded restrooms, and modern upgrades. 

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Sarasota Opera will open its 66th season on Saturday, Feb. 15 with the double bill of Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci. Patrons will enter the historic opera house as a festive brass fanfare is played from the theater’s outside balcony. Even before the curtain rises, opera patrons can attend a pre-performance dinner in a private room at Sage Restaurant, around the corner from the Opera House. Cocktails will be served at 5 p.m., dinner at 6 p.m. Cost is $200 per person. For dinner reservations, contact Development at 941-366-8450, ext. 813 or email development@sarasotaopera.org. Tickets for performances are on sale at the Sarasota Opera Box Office, by phone at 941-328-1300, in person at 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota, or online at https://tickets.sarasotaopera.org. 

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Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota presents Harp Royalty on March 2 at First Presbyterian Church, Horns of Plenty on March 13 at Sarasota Yacht Club, and Grammy Award winner Catalyst Quartet on March 30 at First Presbyterian Church. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit ArtistSeriesConcerts.org or call (941) 306-1202. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit ArtistSeriesConcerts.org or call (941) 306-1202. 

Arts Advocates is pleased to announce its schedule of March events, which includes a luncheon with guest speaker Barbara Ramsay, chief conservator of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art; and two art talks in the Arts Advocates Gallery: “Late Bloomers: Contemporary Women Artists Who Achieved Fame in Their Senior Years” with Judy Levine, and “Diane Farber: Collecting Contemporary Glass.” Farber also hosts a salon in her home, and the March member artist exhibit is “Revise Assumptions/Libby Hawk Paintings.” Unless otherwise indicated, registration is required at ArtsAdvocates.org. 

The Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation invites the community to an engaging workshop to preview updated designs for the highly anticipated Sarasota Performing Arts Center. The event will take place on February 11 at 3 p.m. at the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, 801 N. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota. As part of its commitment to an open and collaborative design process, the Foundation welcomes Sarasota residents to participate in this important milestone. Sweet Sparkman Architects, the local firm working alongside internationally renowned Renzo Piano Building Workshop, will present the updated design concepts and gather feedback from attendees. For more information about the Sarasota Performing Arts Center and the upcoming workshop, visit www.PerformingArtsFoundation.org.  

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The Hermitage Artist Retreat today announced new March programs in Sarasota, Venice, Boca Grande, and Bradenton. Continuing its commitment to innovative year-round arts programming, these events will be presented throughout Florida’s Gulf Coast region. Hermitage programs celebrate works-in-process from world-renowned artists through musical performances, candid conversations, theatrical presentations, literary readings, dance performances, and more. Each of these hour-long Hermitage programs offers a completely different experience, providing the Gulf Coast community a rare glimpse into innovative works and the creative process behind them. In recent years, the Hermitage has continued to expand the geographic reach and impact of these unique programs. 

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The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art (The Ringling) is pleased to present the exhibition Robert Rauschenberg: A Centennial Celebration, opening March 1 through June 29, in the Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing of the Museum of Art. This year marks the Centennial of the artist’s birth. Rauschenberg left a lasting legacy in Florida. He maintained a longstanding connection to The Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College in Fort Myers, which, beginning in the 1980s, staged numerous exhibitions of the artist’s work. In 1992, he built a large studio on Captiva Island and four years after his passing, in 2012, The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation launched an international artist residency program on the artist’s former property there. For more information, visit ringling.org.

This past Tuesday, January 28th, SRQ Magazine hosted the annual Giving Coast and Good Hero Philanthropic Awards Luncheon. Local nonprofits, foundations, corporate donors, individuals and civic leaders came together to celebrate the community's spirit of giving and recognize leaders in philanthropy. Attendees were invited to share their “giving wishes” on behalf of area nonprofits by writing their wishes on gift tags and hanging them for display on the SRQ Giving Wish Tree.

Tidewell Foundation wishes to create grief counseling in schools throughout Sarasota and Manatee Counties. To be a part of this initiative, reach out to Valerie Vitale (valerievitale@tidewellfoundation.org).

Suncoast Charities wishes to continue its support of all the wonderful agencies for years to come. To make this wish come true, reach out to Lucy Nicandri (lucy.nicandri@suncoastcc.org).

Gulfcoast South Area Health Education Center wishes to see more support for students going through the process of being a future health professional. To help with this wish reach out to Ansley Mora (amora@gsahec.org).

Cat Depot wishes for wet and dry cat food for their community bank. To fulfill this wish, contact Claudia Harden (claudiah@catdepot.org).

Sarasota Cuban Ballet wishes to have a wireless laser color printed. With the 12-year-old printer being used now, a new one would be transformative. To help facilitate this wish, contact Barbara Worth (scbs.barbara@gmail.com)

As these organizations call on the community to fulfill their wishes, click on each organization to learn more and find ways to give back. The spirit of giving is for all who want to give back to our local community!