LAKE EUSTIS MUSEUM OF ART

 History, 1995 - 2011

In 1995, 66 artists and patrons of the arts established Lake Eustis Center of the Arts in an 1881 store front location on Bay Street in the heart of Eustis’ historic downtown. The group incorporated the center with a mission to nurture culture and beauty in the City of Eustis. Business people chipped in to renovate the original decaying location to transform it into gallery and operations space.

Since Lake County was home to a couple of art centers, museum founders quickly decided to commit to a higher calling and Lake Eustis Center for the Arts was renamed and refocused as Lake Eustis Museum of Art, pledged to exhibit fine art of the Southeast, while collecting and preserving fine art by establishing a Permanent Collection. The first exhibitor, Mollie Manaulkin, donated 18 paintings of Australian Aborigines as the cornerstone of the Permanent Collection.

Within three years the art museum offered exhibitions, art events, children’s art programs, adult field trips to other museums and an annual outdoor art festival, which was discontinued in winter 2008. Membership grew along with the roster of dedicated volunteers. The museum received a $10,000 salary assistance grant from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs to hire a part-time executive director. As the museum grew, the need for more space brought the 2004 relocation to a more visible building, across the street from Eustis City Hall at the intersection of Grove Street and Orange Avenue.

The art museum has a 14-member board of directors and a full-time executive director who is the only paid employee. In August 2008, when Susan Loden was hired as executive director, the museum had a dues-paying membership of 215 supporters. Today, there are 304 members, including three at the $1,000 Patron’s Club level, who enjoy free access to exhibits and discounts on art classes and workshops.

 In January 2009, the museum started asking adult non-members to make a $5 donation to visit the gallery and opening receptions. The museum, with membership in the American and Florida associations of museums became a member of the North American Reciprocal Museum Program, which offers members at the $100 or more individual level member benefits at 380 other museums on the continent.

Since September 2008, the art museum has expanded outreach to the Greater Central Florida art community, by inviting respected artists with followings to exhibit at the art museum. Focus shifted from Southeastern Art to Fine Art. The museum initiated a more ambitions exhibit schedule to give exhibit opportunities to more artists per season, each of whom draws new visitors to the museum and the City of Eustis.

News coverage of LEMA’s 2009 and ‘10 exhibits and projects, including Executive Director Susan Loden’s personal United Arts of Central Florida professional development grant-funded trip to the world largest art show, Art Basel in Miami, extended from the Lake Orlando Sentinel to the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and Florida Sun Sentinel. An Orlando Sentinel Arts & Letters blog reported on LEMA’s exhibition of Marcel Duchamp’s final readymade from Oct. 31, 2009 – Feb. 5, 2010. The blog, by Elizabeth Maupin, was republished Oct. 28, 2009 by two official Duchamp international Websites, MarcelDuchamp.net and toutfait.com.

2009 and 2010 saw dramatic, unprecedented development of a key element in LEMA’s mission, the Permanent Collection, with the addition of fine art works by exhibitors: Luciano Trigos, Stefanis Alexandres, Sally Woods Alexandres, Chad Pollpeter, Henry Sinn, Robin Van Arsdol, Kyle, Stephen AG Carey, Lynn Whipple, Marcos Cruz, Donovan Wesner, Cephas Wong, Steven Paul Hlvac, Robin Maria Pedrero, Douglas J. Nesbitt, Robert Reedy, Victor Bokas and Anita Wexler.
 
LEMA was nominated for a 2009 United Arts of Central Florida Arts+ Award for Community Engagement for its effective outreach to the Greater Central Florida Community. Among the most significant, groundbreaking exhibits was WACKO: LIBERAL ARTS & AUTISM SPECTRUM PROJECT an exhibit of works by high functioning autistic youngsters for United Arts ArtsFest 2009 and ’10, with extended four-week runs.
 
Art Museum programs and projects became tied directly to exhibits. A Docent Project with guided tours was added in 2009. A partnership was forged in 2009 with the City’s after school program, Kool Kids, which gives elementary school children an opportunity to create and experience art with museum docents and volunteers and to exhibit often their own work along with that of adult fine art exhibitors.

Paper Works 4 Me I, national, competitive exhibit was initiated in 2009 and publicized nationally in the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, Florida Sun Sentinel and Orlando Sentinel. Three purchase awards were made, adding significant works to the Permanent Collection. Paper Works 4 Me II has been announced and select entries will be exhibited by the art museum from mid-December to mid-January 2011, and at least three entries will be added to the Permanent Collection.

Create & Critique, adult water-medium painters continue long-standing weekly sessions at the art museum under direction of Charter President Mary Ziegengeist, who was recognized for her continued dedication and commitment to the community with the Lake County Community Service Arts and Culture Award 2010.

The art museum established the Bonnie Gillespie Reference Library, with an extensive collection of art reference books. Additionally, the FRIENDS Literary Guild selects, reads and then reviews art-related fiction and non-fiction books during a monthly meeting, led by Sandi Stone at the museum from May – October.

 The museum extended art educational opportunities to the home schooled, with 10 weeks of instruction by master artist William Bernoir, and a 10-week adult sketch study class that might lead to a career as a courtroom artists, under direction of retiring courtroom artist Barbara Maxwell. Art & Vision Summer Art School for Children, tied directly to two exhibits and incorporating life lessons with art techniques, was added in 2010.

In 2009, the City withdrew support of joint exhibits by primary LEMA exhibitors, citing cost of support services and convenience. Unable to accept this responsibility alone, LEMA forged a new partnership with the Central Florida Water Color Society to mount about four, two-month, fine art exhibits annually at City Hall, under the art museum’s umbrella, with the watercolorists taking full responsibility for the display and a coinciding opening reception for coinciding exhibit openings by CFWCS at City Hall and LEMA at the museum.

Lake Eustis Museum of Art is supported in part by grants from the City of Eustis, United Arts of Central Florida, Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, and National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funds are secured through membership, sponsorships, donations, and fund-raising events, including the strongly supported FRIENDS Wine-A-Fare held at the end of March for the past five years and coordinated by Caroline Breuche. In-kind printing is provided by Lake County Division of Tourism and CentruryLink awarded the art museum a significant rent discount in 2009.

                                    by SUSAN LODEN, executive director

                                           since Aug. 25, 2008