Susan Martin Exhibition Opens Sept. 8 at Florida Tech’s Renee Foosaner Education Center
Merritt Island-based Artist Displays Hyper-Real, Botanical Paintings
MELBOURNE, FLA. — An exhibition of paintings from Merritt Island-based artist Susan Martin will open Tuesday, Sept. 8, at the Renee Foosaner Education Center’s Fritz Van Eeden Gallery in the Eau Gallie Arts District of Melbourne.
The Foosaner Education Center, 1520 Highland Ave., is part of Florida Institute of Technology’s Foosaner Art Museum.
The exhibition, featuring Martin’s hyper-realistic, vibrant, botanical-themed acrylic paintings, will run through Dec. 23.
Raised in south Texas and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art, Martin later studied photography and composition under the eminent photographer Russell Lee, best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration.
Lee’s lasting influence can be observed in her sharp, clean examination of the subject, her preference for strong contrasts that reveal surface quality and detail, and an emphasis on composition that comes from years of work in black and white.
“By eliminating the context provided by background, and examining a subject close-up and enlarged, the resulting composition can be viewed abstractly as a complex arrangement of colors and textures with inherent aesthetic value apart from its representation of an object,” Martin said.
The gallery will host related programming over the course of the exhibition, as well.
- Artist’s Reception from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Oct. 2. Free and open to the public.
- Gallery Talk, 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21. Free and open to the public.
The Frits Van Eeden Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 5:30-7:30 p.m. the first Friday of each month starting in October. For more information, call 321-674-8923 or email education assistant Amanda Brinkman at abrinkma2007@fit.edu.
###
