Mary Ellen Caesar is NCAL Artist of the Month. Visit her exhibit at the Spring Hill Library through the month of November.
The Nature Coast Art League has named Mary Ellen Caesar Artist of the Month for November 2024. The award-winning, creative pastel artist received the distinguished honor at a recent meeting of the league, an organization whose mission is to promote visual arts and support artists in Hernando County and surrounding areas.
“I’m honored to be recognized by the league,” she said. “I’m a retired literary specialist and when I was working, my hobbies back then were singing, dancing and acting in community theater,” she said.
“But when I and my husband of 56 years retired and came to live in Weeki Wachee, it all changed. I started looking for a new hobby and found it in painting. It was then that I met a retired art teacher and she suggested we go to some local art classes,” she said.
“That’s how my pursuit of art all began,” she added. “The first classes we attended were in watercolor at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center. There was a wonderful teacher there named Taylor Iken, who sadly has since passed away, but she welcomed us with open arms, and we painted in watercolor on a synthetic “tree-free” surface called Yupo, which was great fun.”
But it was when they wanted to explore other classes that they decided to try pastels. “Again, we met a fabulous teacher called Lorraine Potocki, a faculty member at Dunedin Fine Art Center,” said Mary Ellen. “I was a novice student so I worked hard at home, practicing and learning to draw, which was something I’d never really done a lot of.”
“I really fell in love with pastel art and so my husband and I found a place in our home that had beautiful light and we turned into my studio,” she said. “And then, as I started to get all my artwork framed, we turned another area into a gallery, which my family just loves.”
In all her paintings, Mary Ellen delights in creating the beauty of the ordinary in extraordinary ways. She enjoys watercolor painting, pastel painting and colored pencil. Her winning NCAL art “Waterfall” is a vivid, richly original piece that integrates the beauty and application of soft pastels. Her intensity of colors and the way she captures nature is beautiful and unique.
Mary Ellen is an exhibiting artist in the Brooksville, Spring Hill, Tampa and Dunedin areas. She is a member of the Nature Coast Art League, where she serves on the Board of Directors, the Dunedin Fine Art Center, the Pastel Society of Tampa Bay, the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod, the International Society of Pastel Artists, the Florida Watercolor Society, Citrus Watercolor Society, and the American Watercolor Society and Fine Art America.
“I’m so happy to have won a number of prizes and awards, and now I’m beginning to sell my work,” she added. “One of my paintings exhibited at the Carrollwood Cultural Center, the “Iris” has just been sold and I have some ongoing commissions too.”
Mary Ellen also designs and paints silk scarves. Each is an original design; all are handpainted and completely dye-set. They are 100% silk. She welcomes commissions providing favorite colors, florals or abstract designs.
“I am largely self-taught as far as scarf painting goes,” she said. “I love my commissions where people have requested a certain floral or color combination for gifts.”
“Through my pursuit of art, I have met many generous and talented artists, and my already rich life has become opulent,” she added. “I am very sad though that Gallery 201 at the Brooksville City Hall has closed,” said Mary Ellen. “It was a wonderful gallery with a wonderful curator and was a terrific draw to the city of Brooksville.”
Mary Ellen’s winning artwork will be displayed throughout November at the Spring Hill Branch Library, 9220 Spring Hill Dr., Spring Hill. Telephone: 352-754-4043. Mary Ellen can be reached at [email protected].
The Nature Coast Art League meets at 10 a.m. every third Monday of the month at People Helping People, 1396 Kass Circle, Spring Hill, September through May. Membership includes access to Create Along/Open Studio, which meets year-round on Mondays except during monthly meetings or holidays. Hours September through May are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 9 a.m. to noon June, July, & August.
