Brunswick Artist Will Do 2010 Residency on Sapelo Island
The Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve (SINERR) has chosen Brunswick artist Lanny Brewster as its Through Nature’s Lens Resident Artist for 2010. Established as a way to incorporate visual arts into the interpretation and education activities conducted by the Reserve, the program is for visual artists who paint or draw scenes from nature, including plants, animals, and natural settings. 
Mr. Brewster comes to the program with a body of work reflecting the natural environment of Coastal Georgia and North Florida in oil landscapes. His plein aire paintings particularly focus on the skies and weather of the coast, creating captivating impressions of the ever-changing light and textures across the region.
“I’m honored to have been selected by the Reserve to capture the beauty of Sapelo Island, a true natural treasure that offers so many opportunities for an artist’s interpretation,” says Brewster. “It fits so well with what inspires me as an artist. The moment outdoors when the quality of light strikes me, or the layers of color create character in place, that’s what I paint. That is the story I want to tell.”
Under the program, Mr. Brewster will travel to the island a minimum of four times a year (once each season), with several additional trips to gain a full artistic perspective of the natural surroundings. At the end of the residency, SINERR staff secures venues for an exhibit of the resident artist’s output for the year, not only as a display of the fine visual art created during the residency but also to raise awareness of the Reserve’s research and education activities and to increase understanding of and support for the natural, cultural, and historical resources of the island.
Lanny Brewster’s work is in many private collections, and his painting “Marshes of Glynn, Brunswick View” was purchased by the City of Brunswick in 2009 as a gift for Lin Zehua, Vice-Mayor of Ganzhou, Brunswick’s sister city in Jiangxi Province, China. Locally, he is represented by Art Downtown/Gallery 209 (www.artdowntowngallery209.com) in Historic Downtown Brunswick.
Sapelo Island is a pristine 16,500-acre barrier island off the east coast of Georgia. Accessible only by boat, Sapelo is still largely undisturbed. The large natural area hosts abundant plants and wildlife, including large maritime forests, coastal marshlands, several miles of pristine beaches, nesting turtles, and one of the largest migratory bird populations on the coast including the painted bunting. A recently restored lighthouse provides the perfect backdrop to the natural and historic features of the island. Thanks to controlled public access, Sapelo Island provides the perfect setting to inspire an artist’s creativity in capturing the natural features of Coastal Georgia.
“We’re excited about working with Lanny in 2010 and we're looking forward to seeing what Sapelo landscapes and scenes he captures on canvas the coming months,” says SINERR Education Coordinator Brooke Vallaster, “Through Nature’s Lens artwork programs not only help deliver the Reserve’s message to a mainland audience, but the artwork helps us communicate to people outside the conventional science and education arenas.”
The Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve, located on the western perimeter of Sapelo, is dedicated to research, education, stewardship, and sound management of coastal resources in Georgia, specifically focused on Sapelo Island and the Duplin River estuary. SINERR, one of 27 reserves around the country, is administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and managed by Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division. For more information, visit www.sapelonerr.org.
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