By Evelyn C. McDonald
Arts & Culture Reporter
March 1, 2017 12:56 p.m.
Last Monday being a nice day, I decided to take a ride south on 8th Street to the point where it becomes the four lane and then ride back north to see what was new there. Just south of Atlantic, I passed Trinity United Methodist Church and remembered a program a few years ago about its stained glass windows.
The next place I noticed was Megabite (housed in what I think used to be a tattoo parlor). You might wonder why I mention a business that offers computer systems maintenance and web site design in a column on arts and culture. Deryck Burnett, Megabite’s owner, believes that people could get enormous benefits from computers if only they knew more about how to use them. He is teaching a seminar at the Amelia Island Museum on “Un-Geek Your Technology.”
Moving down 8th Street, there were two places I wanted to investigate but both were closed on Mondays. One was Amelia Pottery Works in the Pelican Palms shopping center where Red Bones Dog Bakery is. Their website says they offer classes and also rent space and equipment to potters. The other was Vintage Vendors, a little further down 8th Street. Although it was closed, there were some interesting pieces outside.
Coming back up the street I stopped at the parking lot of the Big Oak Art Galleries at 8th and Elm. Under the big oak’s branches, two art galleries and artists workshops are open. Shady Ladies houses 5 artists with space to create, sell, and have exhibitions. Next door to it Susi Sax has opened a studio that she shares with 3 other artists. As with her neighbor gallery, there is work space and display space. Susie said they are reserving a back room for antiques and “curiosities.” Both galleries offer art classes.
Susi used to have a shop downtown so I asked her what the differences were in this location. She said the traffic was different, not as many walk-in browsers. People who visited were specifically coming to see the studio. She said she enjoyed being able to sit outside under their oak tree. And that tree is truly incredible. Linda Green, of Shady Ladies, said it’s a single trunk 21 feet in diameter. She’d been told it might be the second oldest oak tree on the island. Whether that is true, I can’t say but I can tell you that the walk and doors connecting the two studios are the shadiest parts of 8th Street.
The entrance to our town is beginning to take on an interesting character. Check it out when you are looking for something new to do.
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.