the great american paint in®
In the 1990s, a Central Florida family wondered how to positively impact the world, its environment, and people. Out of the desire to teach their children, and through his work as an engineer, William Weinaug and his wife, Mary, set out to be ambassadors for change. They purchased Wekiva Island, a recreation complex with a focus on sustainability, learning, and art. With a goal to become the first carbon-neutral business of their type, they signed up to the “2030 Challenge”, an initiative backed by the US Department of Energy to make buildings carbon neutral by 2030. Their mission is steered by their trademarked toolkit C.E.R.O.®, which stands for Conservation, Efficiencies, Renewables, and Offsets. With art as a critical area of focus, Gallery CERO, an art gallery at Wekiva Island, opened. By March 2020, with the influx of the world pandemic, many people were impacted by business shutdowns, and that pain included the art community. The Weinaugs’ daughter Ashley unveiled an idea to ensure the family’s business could stay relevant and do something for others, and the concept of The Great American Paint In®️ was born.
To see the full catalogue of books published by ACC Art Books, please go to our website: www.accartbooks.com ACC ART BOOKS Sandy Lane, Old Martlesham, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4SD, UK Tel: 01394 389950 email: uksales@accartbooks.com 6 West 18th Street, Suite 4B New York NY10011, USA Tel: 212 645 1111 email: ussales@accartbooks.com
“Our collection includes artists from each US state, with pandemic stories that range from lockdown in city apartments to isolation on the farm. The artists represent diverse cultural backgrounds and work in a wide variety of media. While this project reflects that diversity, it also represents the ways in which the pandemic brought us together with one shared story.” — Ashley Weinaug
ISBN: 978-1-78884-196-2
9 781788 841962
55000 £35.00/$50.00
www.accartbooks.com
THE GREAT AMERICAN
Paint In
®
Artists sharing their pandemic stories
Gallery CERO presents the “working from home” version of their Wekiva Paint In®, an annual event where artists from all over come to paint en plein air in a celebration of the beauty of nature, and in support of helping to save it from the effects of our actions on the planet. When COVID-19 hit in 2020, individuals and families around the world were faced with isolation and confinement. Our lives have been changed drastically as we face a historical crisis of unprecedented scale. But beauty has also come from this hardship; Mother Nature has been given precious time to heal. Artists from all 50 states of America were asked to join The Great American Paint In® to bring that beauty to the forefront by painting their emotions during the pandemic, capturing this period of history in a “unique way” through art. This book curates the results of the Paint In®, as artists share their experiences, their losses, and their hopes for the future. In doing so, they reveal the real grit and backbone of the pandemic story that will resonate with people the world over. Like so many enduring these difficult times, they discovered a whole new world and a brand new “normal” that allows them to live, work, survive, and, most importantly, to create. These stories have been shared by Wekiva Island online, at Gallery CERO, and around the country in several traveling art exhibits. Now, for the first time, they are being brought together in a single volume.
William and Ashley Weinaug
William and Ashley Weinaug
“We are living history right now. I believe we need to do more to document this unique moment in America, and who better to convey what we all are feeling than our country’s greatest artists? It is my hope that in 50 years, art history classes will pull this book off the shelf and understand the deep emotion of this time.” — William Weinaug