Dear Family and Friends,
Last month I spent four days meeting with city officials, university and museum administrators and my mother's collectors to discuss plans for the 2020 Dorothy Gillespie Centennial Celebration in Orlando. I am excited to announce that in 2020 the University of Central Florida will celebrate my mother's centennial during the sixth annual UCF Celebrates the Arts Festival (April 7-19, 2020) at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
The City of Orlando will have a Dorothy Gillespie Centennial Exhibition in the Orlando City Hall Terrace Gallery April 13, 2020 through August 13, 2020.
While I was in Orlando I had the opportunity to see the installation of my mother's indoor hanging starbursts on loan from the Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation at the Leu Gardens - a 50-acre botanical oasis minutes from Downtown Orlando. "It is a peaceful haven of tranquility, away from the hustle and bustle of daily life and a secluded spot where everyone can gather their thoughts and truly appreciate the beauty of nature."
Dorothy Gillespie Hanging Starbursts
October 2019 – December 2020
“As a painter concerned with Illusion rather than the making of an object in space, I must have at some point wanted to see what would happen if the illusion became reality and the painting became three-dimensional. It was natural that I would take line, color and form from the canvas and place it in the viewer’s space.
“I hope that the visual, philosophical statement of my work is the miracle of eternal change, the moment of motion, the knowledge that nothing remains the same for even a second. I attempt to portray imminent movement and energy, manipulating colors and materials available today so that the eye can carry some mystical message to the soul. Adding the remembrances of childhood – bouncing balls, roller coasters, yo-yos and shooting stars – state some of the joy and magic that I find so abundant in life.”
-Dorothy Gillespie
The Garden House Welcome Center
Leu Gardens, Orlando
The starbursts had previously been on display for over a year at the City Hall Commission Chambers in Casselberry FL about 13 miles north of Orlando.
Casselberry City Hall
Casselberry City Hall
Landscape Memory, 1993
enamel on aluminum, 96" x 100" x 6"
on loan from the Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation to the City of Winter Park, FL.
Art below on loan to Museum of Art-DeLand, Deland FL. from the Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation
The photo was taken in collector's home and below email to me from the collector.
Gary,
I gave my nephew a piece of your Mom’s most recent work. He was thrilled and plans to feature it in his new apartment in NYC. It was only when I gave it to him that I realized how important your Mom was in his life. He knew that his Mom loved Dorothy Gillespie’s work and felt it was healing. He actually visited your Mom on New Years Eve 2000 when we all went to her place for her big New Years Eve party. He was a little guy then. He sent me this drawing of how he will feature it in his apartment (turns out his girlfriend is an artist!
Best,
K