Art Center Sarasota is exhibiting a collection of 75 works in a variety of media that explore worlds where reality bends, logic dissolves and the unexpected becomes possible.
Danny Canton chose the works included in “Strange Weather.” Since earning a BFA in cinematography from the School of Visual Arts, he has enjoyed a 50-year career in film with experience as a director, producer and director of photography.
Canton teaches film for the Sarasota Film Society at Lakewood Ranch Cinemas and is directing a documentary on local sculptor Jorge Blanco, whose exhibition, “Joy in Motion,” is also on display at Art Center Sarasota.
“Strange Weather” and “Joy in Motion” are on view through Nov. 14.
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“’Strange Weather’ serves as a metaphor for moments of transformation, uncertainty, and the uncanny rather than literal atmospheric conditions,” states Art Center Sarasota in its catalog for the show. “Artists were encouraged to create work that embraces dreamlike imagery, psychological landscapes, improbable juxtapositions, and the strange beauty of the impossible.”
Canton selected “Degaussing the Demlurge, 2026” by Lulu Nowicki as best in show. Nowicki is a surreal figurative artist who works primarily in oil paint on canvas. “My work is a combination of surrealism, expressionism and physiological horror used to depict themes of transformation and intensity of human emotion,” Nowicki states on her website. “I am inspired by the uncomfortable and the unknown, making work that I can relate to does not interest me. I enjoy dissecting the dramatic and nonsensical. I translate the turbulence of human existence into something visible, physical, and that can live suspended outside the body.”
She is currently attending Appalachian State University studying studio art with a concentration in painting and drawing. Her work has been exhibited at the Art and Design Expo, Walling Gallery; Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina; the Leading Legacy exhibition, Looking Glass Gallery; and in the 4th Annual Women's Art Exchange, Beaches Museum, Jacksonville Beach.
“The Architect’s Error, 2026,” by Elizabeth Virgilio, received second place honors. Virgilio expressed excitement over the award because it coincided with her recent decision to pursue art as her full-time career. Her piece contrasts structural discipline with unexpected or dreamlike eros.
Third place went to Carlos Suarez’s painting “Azimuth, 2026.”
Rebecca Campbell and Mary Dice collected merit awards for “Tornado Whistler, 2023” and “Beware!, 2025,” respectively.
Honorable mentions went to Dani Lewis (“Green Plush Tree”), Art Venti (“Winds of Time”), Brandi Parker (“Specimen: Facillary”) and Robert Scott DeArmey Jr (“Tea Time”).
More about the juror
During his film career, Danny Canton has worked on a variety of projects including feature films, television programs, behind-the-scenes and making-of studio films, industrial films, commercials, and documentaries.
Years after graduation, Danny returned to the School for Visual Arts to teach Film Production and Cinematography. He eventually moved to Florida to build the online film program at Full Sail University.
Throughout his career Danny has collaborated with renowned directors such as Sydney Lumet, Barbara Walters, Norman Jewison, Sydney Pollack and Lee Grant. He has also worked alongside Michael Douglas, Tom Selleck, Meryl Streep, Elizabeth Taylor and Robert DeNiro.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
