The artist list at Arts Advocates’ new gallery space inside The Crossings at Siesta Mall reads like the song list for “Abbey Road”—readily recognizable and loaded with some of the greatest hits of a generation. Syd Solomon, Jimmy Ernst, Hilton Leech, Robert Chase, Craig Rubadoux and Ben Stahl, among others, all helped put Sarasota on the fine art map as members of the Sarasota Colony Artists group started by Jerry Farnsworth and Helen Sawyer, whose works also grace the walls of the new space. 

It represents the first time the collection will have its own dedicated gallery space ever since the Fine Arts Society of Sarasota, Inc.—the original name of Arts Advocates—was formed in 1969. Up to now, the organization’s entire collection was hung in the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. “We’ve loved having the collection at the Van Wezel,” says former Arts Advocates president Donna Maytham, “but some of the work wasn’t well lit or highly visible.” So, the new space at The Crossings gave long-time Sarasota curator and art critic Marc Ormond an opportunity to piece together a collection of different styles that still tells a cohesive story. 

The exhibition features work from Colony artists produced between 1940 and 1970, a particularly prolific era for both arts and architecture in Sarasota. The full breadth of the era can nearly be delineated by two pieces from Robert Chase. Both his “Autumn Stream” (watercolor) and “Bird Feeder” (acrylic on Masonite) show an artist responding and adapting to various art movements, with the latter expressing the influence of Picasso’s Cubism. 

Other pieces capture the local flavor that came to inspire many of the artists as they made Sarasota their winter home, like circus imagery and Florida landscapes. 

Still, even with all the history and cultural significance of the collection on display in the organization’s new gallery, the long-term prospects of the space are far from set in stone. “It’s a very expensive space and we’ll just have to see if we can get the visitor numbers we need to support it,” says Arts Advocates’ current president Jeanette Paladino.

Beginning July 17, the gallery will be open to the public every Saturday from 2 pm - 5 pm. Docent-guided tours led by docent team leader Stephanie Frasher are also open to the public and run the first Wednesday of every month at 11 am. Attendance for guided tours is limited to 10 and the cost is $10.

Arts Advocates, The Arts Advocates Gallery Suite 119, The Crossings at Siesta Mall, Sarasota.