{"id":14317,"date":"2016-10-06T09:29:23","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T13:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/?p=14317"},"modified":"2016-10-06T09:29:23","modified_gmt":"2016-10-06T13:29:23","slug":"14317","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/2016\/10\/06\/14317\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Foundation to showcase Wide Open Spaces exhibit"},"content":{"rendered":"

New exhibit features Florida outdoors by two local artists<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"fish-house-by-gembecki\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"phares-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

FORT MYERS, Fla. (Oct. 6, 2016) \u2013 Coming off the successful\u00a0\u201cFaces of Philanthropy\u201d exhibit celebrating its 40th<\/sup>\u00a0Anniversary in 2016, the Southwest Florida Community Foundation<\/a> will launch a new art display at its Community Hub in November.<\/p>\n

Beginning Nov. 4, \u201cWide Open Spaces\u201d will\u00a0feature the Florida outdoors through the eyes of local artists\u00a0Martin Gembecki and Brad Phares.<\/p>\n

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\"martin-gembecki\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Buckingham resident Gembecki is a North Fort Myers High School and Ringling School of Art and Design graduate in the field of illustration. After graduation, he worked for local ad agencies before becoming a firefighter, yet remained self-employed as an artist. While fishing with friends, he would photograph local wildlife and produce pieces of art based on the Matlacha, Pine Island Sound areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy love of Florida cowboys and their culture began with the help of Latt Armeda,\u201d Gembecki said. \u201cLatt and his family invited me to visit their ranch in Alva to photograph and help work their cows.\u201d<\/p>\n

This invitation led to Gembecki to be able to pursue painting what he captured in acrylic, and today he is living his dream of being a Florida cowboy artist.<\/p>\n

\"Version<\/a><\/p>\n

Phares is an eighth generation rancher, artist, poet, writer and attorney from Okeechobee. After graduating from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in agriculture and later from St. Thomas University School of Law with a Juris Doctor, he chose to focus on his art rather than pursuing a career as an attorney.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve channeled my childhood experiences working on my family\u2019s ranch with my multi-faceted background into oil paintings and writings to provide a perspective on ranch life unlike any other,\u201d Phares said. \u201cI want to enlighten others as to the invaluable benefits that Florida ranches provide to our State\u2019s ecosystem and economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The majority of Phares\u2019 work captures and represents a realist view of ranch life in America today rather than an overly romanticized version that so many people in urban areas hold. He has exhibited throughout the southeastern U.S., and his paintings are collected by private corporations and public institutions as well as the Seminole Tribe of Florida.<\/p>\n

The exhibit is open to the public and will run through mid-January\u00a0during regular Community Foundation business hours: Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Some photos are located in meeting rooms so those interested in seeing the exhibit are asked to call before arriving to make sure all areas are accessible. The Community Hub is located at\u00a08771 College Parkway, Building 2, Suite 201 in Fort Myers.<\/p>\n

As leaders, conveners, grant makers and concierges of philanthropy, the Southwest Florida Community Foundation is a foundation built on community leadership with an inspired history of fostering regional change for the common good in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties. The Community Foundation, founded in 1976, fosters collective leadership, inspires social innovation and connects donors and their philanthropic aspirations to address the evolving community needs in our region. With assets of more than $93 million, the Community Foundation has provided $67 million in grants and scholarships to the communities it serves. The Foundation serves as the backbone organization for the regional FutureMakers Coalition and Lee County\u2019s Sustainability Plan.<\/p>\n

For more information about the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, call 239-274-5900 or visit\u00a0www.floridacommunity.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"phares-3\"<\/a>\u00a0\"phares-4\"<\/a>\u00a0\"stragglers-by-gembecki\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New exhibit features Florida outdoors by two local artists\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 FORT MYERS, Fla. (Oct. 6, 2016) \u2013 Coming off the successful\u00a0\u201cFaces of Philanthropy\u201d exhibit celebrating its 40th\u00a0Anniversary in 2016, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[6833,6822,318,6823,6824,5644,6825,6826,6827,6828,6829,16,17,617,1267,1085,590,6830,6831,21,6832,1590],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14317\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}