Dancing with Sea Lions
The Dancing With Sea Lions project began as a fundraiser for the 20th Anniversary of the Florence Events Center. The volunteers of the Florence Arts, Culture, and Entertainment nonprofit group (previously known as the Friends of the FEC) headed up this project in conjunction with the Florence Events Center Staff. Twenty life size sea lion sculptures were each painted by a different artist. All of them were displayed with their sponsors along the Oregon Coast till October of 2016, when they were then purchased by businesses and individuals. Fifteen of them are still publicly displayed in Florence and near by coastal locations. See our 'Where are they now' map for their current locations, and check our blog for updates. Share your Dancing Sea Lion pics with us and we'll add them to our Gallery of images.
Frances Rogers
Project Name: Rhody
Embracing the Oregon Coast experience, artist Frances Rogers has woven together waves, water, bubbles and Florence’s signature bloom, the Rhododendron to create the Dancing With Sea Lions ambassador, Rhody.
Like most artist, you could say art is Frances Roger’s thing. An art major at Loyola Marymount, Rogers has taken master classes in sculpture (working in clay, wax, bronze, papier-mâché) along with traditional painting. If that isn’t enough of a diversity she has painted children’s murals, designed advertising graphics, is a spinner and a weaver.
To go along with her art, Rogers is also a published writer with print work in several specialized magazines including: The Artist Magazine and International Art Magazine. Eighteen of her paintings and several glass pieces have been exhibited in Redding, California’s Art in Public Places.
So with all that clout when you ask Frances Rogers why she creates she’ll tell you, “Because it’s fun!”
The sea lion pup was pre-painted with a basecoat of Gesso. Given a coast of number two light blue acrylic paint before Rogers added stripes, flowers, metal and acrylics coat Lasceoux varnish. The final step was a baked on clear coat to protect Rhody from the Oregon Coast Elements.