Art Center Sarasota's New Exhibitions Feature Work by Aimee Jones, Ethan Fielder and Tom Casmer

 Art Center Sarasota’s 2023-2024 exhibition season continues with four exhibits, November 27-January 13. “Of Mementos and Fetishes” features oil paintings and quirky wood “vessels” by Aimee Jones that investigate the history of collecting objects and question the status quo. (An Artist Talk is scheduled for Friday, January 5, 5:30-7 p.m.) Ethan Fielder’s “Beyond the Sidewalk” showcases a new body of ceramic sculptures and vessels inspired by urban decay, with an emphasis on fire hydrants. (An Artist Talk is scheduled for Thursday, January 11, 5:30-7 p.m.) Tom Casmer’s “ges•talt” displays abstract, assembled wood sculptures inspired by the human figure, nature, and machine-made elements. (An Artist Talk is scheduled for Thursday, December 14, 5:30-7 p.m.) “Still Life” is a group show juried by Mara Torres. This exhibit invites artists to present their formal and conceptual notions of the contemporary still life format. (A juror critique with Mara Torres is scheduled for Tuesday, December 12, 4 p.m.) The opening reception for all four exhibits is Thursday, December 7, 6-8 p.m. Works on display will be available for purchase. Art Center Sarasota, 707 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. For information, visit www.artsarasota.org or call 941-365-2032.

“Of Mementos and Fetishes” investigates themes of desire and consumption of the female body in the form of collectible and domestic objects. In Florida’s landscape of desire and lust, Aimee Jones “seeks objects and plants that create pareidolia of the body and play with our subconscious corporal desires and fetishes. Playing with the passive prettiness and purity of porcelain, this exhibit is an emblematic temple of femininity. This body of work investigates the history of collecting objects that display feminine domesticity and prestige, but questions who is it for?” A resident of St. Petersburg, Jones earned her MFA and graduate certification in women and gender studies in 2022 at the University of South Florida. She was awarded the 2023 Creative Pinellas Emerging Artist grant, was a finalist for the Carlos Malamud Prize in 2022, was a participant in the HANNAC Can Borni Residency in Barcelona and has exhibited throughout the U.S. and internationally.

In “Beyond the Sidewalk,” Ethan Fielder presents a new body of ceramic sculptures and vessels that are inspired by urban decay and an appreciation for the overlooked. “The work tells a story about intention and its impermanence when put to the test of time,” says Fielder. “The things we build, materials we use, and systems we function through are replaced and discarded. Tangible objects are evidence of the need for infrastructure and are reclaimed by time, leaving moments of urban decay as signifiers of impermanence. I am interested in capturing objects within this state of change, through reimagining the fire hydrant in different styles, forms, and settings to emphasize the unseen that exists around us.”  Fielder earned his BFA in Ceramics from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He has worked in New England as a teacher, production potter, and muralist. His work has been exhibited nationally, including Saltstone Ceramic’s “Mug Madness” show in Seattle, WA, and Companion Gallery’s “Last Call VII'' show in Humbolt, TN. He is currently an artist in residence at the Morean Center for Clay in Saint Petersburg. 

In “ges•talt,” Tom Casmer brings to life the infrastructure that lies beneath the skin, the fabric of the world around him. Casmer’s work is defined by abstract, assembled wood sculptures inspired by the human figure, nature, and machine-made elements. His work recognizes the mechanism of the organic and addresses the connection between the mechanical form and the human system.  The monotone surfaces of each sculpt, as Casmer calls them, engage the viewer in discovering the complex and intricate network of carved, twisted, and machined wood pieces that define each work. “I have always found beauty in the mechanical form and its connection to the human system,” says Casmer. “The mechanism of the organic—machines, diagrams, schematics, and blueprints all entrance and confound me at the same time. While I cannot comprehend their inner workings, I find an inherent beauty in their structure. The shapes that I find underneath the skin and fabric of the world around me, that infrastructure, is the subject matter of my work.” Casmer earned his BA in Fine Arts/Drawing and Painting at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN, and a BFA from the School of the Associated Arts, also in St. Paul. He has served on the faculties of the College of Visual Arts and Brown College in MN, and the Ringling College of Art + Design. Over his career, he has also worked as an illustrator/designer, both in-house and as a freelance artist. 

“Still Life” invites artists to present their formal and conceptual notions of the contemporary still life format. During the 20th and 21st centuries, the notion of still life has been extended beyond the traditional two-dimensional art forms of painting into three-dimensional art forms such as sculpture, performance and installation and video art. The juror is Mara Torres, the founder of MARA Art Studio + Gallery in Sarasota. Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and now based in Sarasota, Torres received her BFA in painting from the Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico. She  also studied interior design at the San Juan School of Interior Design. Her work is exhibited in galleries and private collections across Puerto Rico, México, London, Spain, Canada and the United States.  In 2001, Torres founded a successful event design firm in Puerto Rico, and developed celebrity partnerships that included working with New York event designer, Preston Bailey. Torres is a published author, and has worked as an artist, curator, planner and event designer. 

 Art Center Sarasota’s exhibitions are paid for, in part, by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues and the State of Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs. 

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