CLEARWATER - Youth Arts Corps, Toy Soldiers from Stonehenge to Queen Victoria and student wall art will be on display June 1 - August 25 at the Clearwater Main Library galleries, 100 N. Osceola Ave.
In collaboration with the Department of Juvenile Justice's Pinellas Juvenile Detention Center, Youth Arts Corps creates a relationship between professional artists and the youth. The exhibit displays youth's poetry about their incarceration and hopes for the future and their photography depicting profound experiences from their detention center. The exhibit is on display in the Osceola and Carnegie Galleries. Youth Arts Corps is a youth development, arts education, and job training program that uses the fine arts to help youth reach their potential.
Toy Soldiers from Stonehenge to Queen Victoria, by artist Bill Renc, will be exhibited in the first floor lobby. Two thousand hand painted miniatures depict several historical periods: the Dark Ages, Middle Ages, Renaissance, and 19th Century India. Each exhibit will include title cards for tribal, national, and regimental units in authentic settings.
Bill Renc is a graduate of Ringling School of Art in Sarasota. His original watercolor paintings are in demand by individual collectors, corporate and civic groups. Many have been reproduced as posters for art festivals and fundraising events. Renc co-authored and co-illustrated the book At Water's Edge: The Birds of Florida.
Florida History Quilts created by students from Skycrest Elementary and 3-D art pieces created by students from the Waldorf School of the Suncoast are on display in the Youth Services Gallery.
Clearwater Main Library gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., and Friday through Saturday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. For more information call 562-4970, ext. 5284.