Evelyn C. McDonald
Arts & Culture Reporter
September 8, 2016 9:15 a.m.
We have this image of the lonely artist, up in a garret, painting. The artist’s life is portrayed as solitary and often disturbed. Not necessarily so; not here on the Island anyway. Our artists seem to come together for inspiration and support. As a result, we have group galleries where you can see art in the making and made.
Five enterprising Fernandina women have come together to create an art gallery and work space. Their gallery is in a small plaza called Big Oak Art Galleries on the corner of 8th Street and Elm Street in Fernandina Beach. Nature has decorated the plaza with a very big live oak tree.
The gallery features art in various media – textiles, watercolors, and pastels. Each artist has her own unique style and vision for the artwork she creates. Each was motivated by a need to find a workspace and enjoy the support of other artists.
Linda Green works in pastels and is now exploring alcohol inks.
Mary Libby does watercolors of nature scenes. Susan Ryan paints and is also a photographer. Amy Baker likes to make her own dyes and create with fabric and other materials. Lisa Inglis is a former high school art teacher who also teaches art locally. In her art, she focuses on local scenery and scenes from her travels.
Linda and Susan met first then Mary met Susan in an art class. Lisa was teaching classes around the area and Amy had offered to show their art work at wine tastings she held. All of the women were looking for a place to work, where they could create art with people they knew and liked.
The first time they saw the space that became the gallery, their reactions were not great. “It was 3D – dark, dingy, and dirty,” Linda said. However, the building owners assured them that the space could be renovated with a little artistic guidance from the women. And so it was – the gallery was transformed into an open, pleasant place in which each artist has a space to work and to display her works. The big oak tree inspired their name – ladies who paint under the shade of a big tree.
Shady Ladies Gallery had its “soft” opening last Thursday and was host to a large gathering of well-wishers. Music was provided by guitarists Alain Le Lait and Sam MacDonald. The formal opening will be on Thursday, October 27 from 7 pm to 10 pm.
Gallery hours are Tuesdays through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm, and on Saturday from 10 am to 1 pm. The gallery is located at 432B 8th St. The website is www.shadyladiesart.com
Evelyn McDonald moved to Fernandina Beach from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. in 2006. She is a chair of Arts & Culture Nassau, a city commission charged with support of the arts in Nassau County. She serves on FSCJ’s Curriculum Committee for the Center for Lifelong Learning. She is also the chair of the Dean’s Council for the Carpenter Library at the UNF. Ms. McDonald has MS in Technology Management from the University of Maryland’s University College and a BA in Spanish from the University of Michigan.