Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Skilled Labor
Jeff “Cynic” Noble • Tobin Bennison • Most visual artists will tell you that their most precious creative tool is imagination, the ability to give shape to formless thoughts and emotions. Imagination certainly plays a major role in artist Jeff Noble’s eye-popping, graffiti-informed work, but he’s more likely to cite everyday observation as the true mother of creation. “I’m constantly observing,” he says, “and not just visually, but listening,... [Read more...]
Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Skilled Labor
Derek Gores • Tobin Bennison • There’s a good chance you’ve seen some of Derek Gore’s work without realizing it. Having spent more than a decade in the corporate art world after graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, the Melbourne-based artist has produced designs for clients like Lucasfilm, U2, Sublime, the NFL, ESPN, Major League Baseball, and Reebok, to name a scant few. Gores was also one of fifteen artists selected for the 2009 Manifest Hope exhibition prior... [Read more...]
Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Skilled Labor
Bruce Williamson • Tobin Bennison • Give enough time, everything comes back around again. It’s one of the more vague maxims out there, but it holds particular relevance for Bruce Williamson, a Cocoa Beach-based surf artist whose incredible 40-year career has recently come full circle. Known during the ’70s — as now — for the dreamlike qualities of his colorful airbrushed designs, Williamson got his start custom painting cars with fantastical tableaux and accents, so... [Read more...]
Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Skilled Labor
The Space Coast Art of Sand Festival Throughout the month of April, the Radisson Resort at the Port will host the Space Coast Art of Sand Festival, a showcase of family-friendly activities, entertainment, and competitions centered around breathtaking creations by some of the most renowned sand sculptors in the world. Many of these masterpieces, some reaching over 15 feet high, will be completed by April 2 for public viewing, but a series of planned events and contests will transform the area... [Read more...]
Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Skilled Labor
Many local artists look to the water for inspiration, but few have gone to the lengths — or indeed, depths — Monique Richter has in search of creative guidance. Born and raised on the beaches of Ft. Lauderdale, Monique moved to Melbourne five years ago, and now, at the young age of 26, she’s already spent more time on the water than many salts twice her age. A seasoned traveler and lifelong water worshipper, Monique prefers plunging headfirst into the ocean where others seem content... [Read more...]
By: Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Skilled Labor
Drawing and painting have always come naturally to Jessie Sibert. You might even say that his artistic talent is God-given. At least that’s how the self-taught Merritt Island artist sees it. “I truly believe that whatever talent I have comes from God,” he tells me. “In many ways, He’s been pushing me to paint throughout my whole life. I think that 90% of it is Him and the other 10% of it is just me getting up in the morning to pick up my brushes.” Sibert says... [Read more...]
By: Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Skilled Labor
Surf artist Phil Goodrich, an Indialantic native now based in Fork, SC, began drawing in high school to express his frustration with the status quo. During the late ’80s, Melbourne High was focused almost completely on its football program, Goodrich remembers. “We tried to start a surf club and the school wouldn’t help us out at all,” he says. “Instead of fighting them, I made little cartoons and caricatures of the people who were working against us.” Starting... [Read more...]
By: Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Skilled Labor
Ask artist “Java” John Goldacker to name a central visual influence on his work, and his answer is as unequivocal as it is unusual: Music. One of music’s most extraordinary qualities is the way it can conjure images through seemingly unrelated sensory organs. That it inspired Goldacker to invest in a quiver of pens and pencils and a drawing pad, rather than the expected source instruments, is even more extraordinary. At first reckoning, events in Goldacker’s New Jersey early... [Read more...]
By: Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Skilled Labor
As beachside residents, we’re quite used to gauging the seasons without the benefit of usual climatic indicators. If it weren’t for all the deflated pumpkins sitting by the roadside, we’d be hard-pressed to identify this as a typical November. Fortunately, we can rely on numerous events to remind us of winter’s half-hearted approach. Along with an abundance of fall celebrations and community food drives, the Space Coast Art Festival has become synonymous with the Thanksgiving... [Read more...]
By: Tobin Bennison
Article Category: Skilled Labor
The Democratic Republic of Congo is home to the world’s largest and most deadly war. Over the past 10 years, roughly 6 million people have died, and nearly 1,500 people continue to lose their lives daily, many of them children. Most of the conflict is tied directly to the country’s vast natural resources. These resources are both a blessing and a curse, making the DR Congo a country of great potential and a frequent victim of exploitation. The minerals found there are used in consumer... [Read more...]
