Things just got a little brighter in the community room at Unity Spiritual Center with the installation of three paintings by nationally-recognized local artist Judith Kaiser.
Unity Spiritual Center, formerly Unity of the Villages, moved to a permanent church home in Fruitland Park from their Summerfield location last year.
The committee tasked with decorating the church knew they had found what they were looking for when a congregant made them aware of Kaiser’s art. “Judith’s style fits the mood of Unity – joy, happiness, life,” said committee member Mary Ellen Taylor. “Her paintings have a dream like state, like when you are meditating.”
Kaiser describes her work as contemporary primitive.
“I often hear people describe it as whimsical,” said Kaiser.
She sees her contemporary style as reminiscent of French painter Henry Rousseau.
When Kaiser met with members of the decorating committee and USC minister Rev. Marge Brown, she brought one of her paintings as a sample for them to see the size and style of her work. They liked the painting so much they bought it and commissioned two others. Influenced by an event at a Unity church in Honolulu, Kaiser painted a scene of people releasing balloons. For the third painting, there was a request for nature and water. The painting started with the ocean, changed to a lake and ultimately became a pond surrounded by grass and flowers with swans, all in a real, but not quite real, setting.
Kaiser often gets inspiration from nature for her work. The slightly unreal aspect to her paintings comes from her desire to create another world. “With everything going on in the world, my paintings offer an escape into a place that is joyful, peaceful and happy.”
Kaiser lived in Hawaii for 16 years and still considers it the home of her heart. “That is just where I feel more comfortable,” said Kaiser. “In Hawaii you don’t have to travel to meet people from all over the world they are.”
Kaiser sells her work in Hawaii, throughout the southeast and locally at All About Art in Belleview, The Brick in Ocala and the Artist’s Co-op in Mt. Dora.
You can go online to see her work at www.saffrondragon.com. You are welcome to see her new installation at Unity Spiritual Center at 509 County Road 468, through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
