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Art

Leepa-Rattner displays its gifts

In two exhibitions, the museum celebrates the blessings of volunteers, funding and donations to its collection.

By LENNIE BENNETT
Published March 29, 2007

TARPON SPRINGS

The Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art marks its fifth anniversary with two exhibitions that look outward to its community rather than inward to its core collection of works by Abraham Rattner. That extrovert ethos is a big reason it has much to celebrate.

Since the museum's opening, director R. Lynn Whitelaw has emphasized its dual mission as steward of an estimable single-artist collection and an active member of the community beyond its home on the St. Petersburg College Tarpon Springs campus.

In return, the community has embraced the museum. Volunteer and financial support grow every year. So do gifts of art - the Leepa-Rattner has about 360 works now - and these exhibitions show off some of that bounty.

The goal is to build a collection of works on paper by 20th century artists that would complement the collection by Rattner, who rose to prominence in Paris between World War I and World War II. It's an appropriate one, affordable for a museum with limited funds.

The Mitchell family has been among the most generous, contributing a large group of prints by important artists such as Miriam Schapiro, Brad Davis, Roberto Juarez and Sam Gilliam.

The Pasco Arts Council gave a number of sculptures by Vladimir Yoffe. Not well-known today, Yoffe was a big deal in the New York scene in the 1930s and '40s. He retired to New Port Richey, where he died in 1997. His family offered some of his works to the council, which transferred them to the museum, where their conservation would be assured.

Individual artists, including Herb Snitzer, Neil Farkas and Joseph Constantino, have helped build the collection, too.

Most recently, Patricia and Thomas Lehnen handed over their collection of paintings, prints and sculptures by artists that include Dale Chihuly, Paolo Soleri, Alexander Calder, Victor Vasarely and Lin Emery. Thomas Lehnen died before the exhibition opened, but Pat Lehnen continues to commute from her home in Bradenton to volunteer.

The donors would probably prefer you to look at and enjoy the art rather than study the wall labels that bear their names. But give a moment to them, too.

A museum's heart is its collection. Its soul is the group of people who nurture the institution. There's a lot of heart and soul at the Leepa-Rattner Museum.

Review

Focus on Five collections

"Focus on Five: Five Years of Collecting" and "Focus on Five: The Patricia A. and Thomas J. Lehnen Family Art Collection" are at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, 600 Klosterman Road, on the Tarpon Springs campus of St. Petersburg College, through April 15. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, with extended hours to 9 p.m. Thursday, and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 adults, $4 seniors, free to students and children. Free Sunday. (727) 712-5762 or www.spcollege.edu/museum.

[Last modified March 28, 2007, 09:58:05]