Capital Gallery exhibit features art of Lindsey Calhoun, Dana Donkle and Danielle Quina
The Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center announces two art exhibitions opening at Art Walk on Friday, Feb. 3.
Antibodies by artist Bradford Hermann will be on display in the downstairs Grand Atrium of the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center. Upstairs in the Capital Gallery, an exhibit called Meraki with artists Dana Donkle, Danielle Quina and Lindsey Calhoun will be featured.
Bradford Shaw Hermann is a self-taught recycle artist who resides in Fort Myers. He was raised on a 50-acre horse farm near Athens, Ga., where his scientist dad was a professor of entomology and biology at the University of Georgia, and his mom was a horse trainer and riding instructor. Life on the farm was a very freeing experience that led to a deep love for all animals, from insects and beyond. This upbringing allowed his mind to become very open and created an awareness of more than just human interaction. His website of works, Arts of Palm, represents the composition of Hermann’s palm frond masks, sculptures and paintings created by his hand and imaginative eye. Hermann’s show, “Antibodies” is a manifestation of work produced to counteract specific emotions. In a time where self-preservation is very necessary, try to understand that good and bad are mere reflections of one another…a matter of perception.
As a part of Antibodies, Hermann plans to build and temporarily install around 100 two-foot ants, made from coconuts and other materials, to the exterior of the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, creating a one-of-a-kind piece where the building becomes an element of the installation. The ants, available for purchase, will be on display outside the building for the duration of his February show. Hermann is “here to learn, fail, overcome, grow, evolve, create, and share his love and dedication to making this planet, others, and himself better one day at a time.”
Dana Donkle
Created by the three artists featured in the Capital Gallery, Meraki refers to the essence of yourself you put into your work. Like the Merkabah, a sacred form that expresses the balance between the earth and the cosmos, art becomes a vehicle through which our more intimate selves are expressed. The earthly things we love and express in our art become symbolic of feelings, memories, and our overall identity – which we are still in the process of discovering.
Participating artist Dana Donkle, a full-time Marine Science Educator from Charlotte, N.C., loves to combine her passions for painting and for the ocean as a portal to share about ocean conservation. Her paintings usually feature a sea creature, especially octopuses, combined with flowers, mushrooms, or other nature themes, allowing her inner child to shine through, full of wonder and excitement about the natural world.
Danielle Quina
Artist Danielle Quina is a local multimedia artist specializing in eco-spiritual acrylic paintings. Through her spiritual journey of overcoming adversity through meditation, she has opened up her gifts as a channel for painting symbolic imagery gifted from the higher realms translating complex feelings or concepts directly for the heart to experience rather than the mind.
Lindsey Calhoun
Artist Lindsey Calhoun “breathes to create.” As a child, she was using pencils to draw before she could walk. No matter the medium, she creates magic. Down the rabbit hole, she draws inspiration with ethereal, whimsical, and dreamlike imagery. She is based in Southwest Florida with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design.
Opening night for both exhibitions will be during Art Walk on Feb. 3 from 6 to 10 p.m. Both shows will be on display through Feb. 24.
Additionally, Friday Nights at Sidney’s will present the Kelly Neff Band live on the rooftop during Art Walk 8 – 11 p.m. Sidney’s Rooftop Sculpture Garden is open select Fridays 6 – midnight.
The Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center is located at 2301 First St. in the historic downtown Fort Myers River District. For more information, call 239-333-1933 or visit the website at www.sbdac.com
