The Key West Citizen Newspaper, February 8, 1954, Page 6

saeeny | Kev Wort Artist’ Group Street Fair Now In Progress On Clinton Place ot? Marion Ebey By JIM COBB Clinton Place, a picturesque square near Key West's waterfront, has taken on a Montmartre-like appearance ‘with the start of the Key West's Artists’ Group Street Fair. The exhibition got under way Sunday and will continue through Feb. 13. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Fifteen local artists have their work displayed. It runs the gamut from lusty oils to delicate watercolors. ‘ And judging by the enthusiastic response, the show bids fair to be a big frictor in putting Key West back in its rightful place on the artistic map. Some of the exhibitors are local residents, others are winter visitors. One Lephe Hold of them is even a Conch. P olden He's Eduardo Henriquez, who turns out engaging “primitives.” He com: ‘bines his love for music—as a member of the famed Mamboleros, top-flight Key West Latin band—with a fine sense of the dramatic in painting. Hen- tiquez started painting just two years ago. He was watching artist Elvira Reilly (she’s an exhibitor also) work and expressed interest. She encouraged him and the result can be seen at the Street Fair. Henriquez says that he also owes a lot of gratitude to Karl Agricola for his encouragement and instruction. Mrs. Reilly, who has wintered in Key West for eight years, has earned renown for her paintings, which have been shown internationally. A native of Dusseldorf, Germany, where there was a large American art colony, she has been painting for 35 years. She's listed in Who's Who in American Art. “Elvira Reilly's paintings really introduced me to Key West,” says Helen Worden in the New York Herald Tribune. Need we say more? Lephe Kingsley Holden, whose love for Key West is evident in her fetch- ing pictures of the native scene, is known both as an artist and teacher. She's had one-man shows at New York's Argent Galleries as well as traveling ex- hibits with the American Federation of Art collection. She studied at Pratt Institute, Hopkins Academy, the Art Students League and Adelphi College. Her rich canvases have gained the acclaim of critics. i Realism, subdued colors and an interesting style dominate the water colors of Lucille Vette, another exhibitor. She is a Navy wife who has combined her interest in art with her hus- band’s penchant for color photography. She started painting by copying his otograplis. She paints daily at her home, 1307 Newton Street—"in the eart of old Key West.” An artistic background spanning three generations, along with Key West's old world charm, provides the incentive for Marion Caldwell Ebey’s landscapes and portraits. Her grandfather was a sculptor and her father = @ commercial artist.. A native of Rock Island, Illinois, Mrs. Ebey studied at Lucille Vette the Chinard School of Art on a schalarship, with Robert Rittman in Providence ; . and with Gerald Leake in Key West. Native New Yorker William Greene's paintings have been shown from Palm Beach to Oran, Algeria. Currently spending his fourth winter in Key West, he operates a private gallery in Gloucester, Mass., during the summer months. Well known as an art teacher and lecturer, he has traveled in Europe, the Near East, North Africa and the West Indies. Sylvia Haskins, another Navy wife represented at the show, started painting at San Francisco Junior College. With two small children,’ she paints whenever she can “find the time.” Although this is her first show, her — shows polish which would do justice to a more experienced brush- wielder. Larry Karns, well-known Key West photographer-painter, says he was educated in the Cleveland Public Schools, but graduated from the Cleveland Public Library. 5 After operating a theatrical studio there for ten years, while studying at the Ohio School of Commercial Art and the John Huntington School, he came to Key West so he could pursue his first love—loafing. But he ended up working like a demon with a paint brush and the result is a series of oils and watercolors which find a ready market. Effie Fernandez makes use of her rural background “to turn out “primi- tives” in the “Grandma Moses” vein. She was born in Texas, lived in Georgia and came to Key West with her husband, a native. Her paintings have been shown at Martello Gallery. Elvire Reilly