published: Friday, February 15, 2013

Local artists capture Lake Wales Ridge

By CHRISTOPHER TUFFLEY

christopher.tuffley@newssun.com

SEBRING -- This Saturday the Heartland Coalition of the Arts opens its Lake Wales Project, an exhibition of 50 prints with text that "explores the rare and endangered environment, watershed and crucial aquifer in Highlands County's backyard and the Lake Wales Ridge (with paintings and photography)," said Fred Leavitt, president of the coalition.

"This project," he added, "was a year in the making. It is the first of its kind by local artists. It is an outreach that will identify Central Florida for its special ecology and Highlands County as a vibrant art community."

In fact, the project has received attention from out of the county.

"Libraries statewide have requested to host it," Leavitt said. Later this year, and into 2014, the exhibition will tour the state.

The show opens at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Antiroom Gallery at Kenilworth Lodge. At 8 p.m. there will be a fundraiser featuring a Back Porch Revival concert with a $5 cover charge. The money will go to the cost of packaging the art work.

Call Leavitt at 402-8238.