By Savannah Whaley

“It’s a small town,” said Constance Ruppender, who has lived 38 of her 74 years in Wilton Manors. “They’ve tried to make it into a tourist destination, and I guess in some regards that’s worked, but it’s really a small town. The longer you live here, the smaller it gets.”

As one of the three co-founders of  Art Gallery 21, this small town champion has delivered some great big public art. In addition to the art on its walls, the gallery hosts the Island City Art Advisory Committee that identifies public art projects and raises the money to fund them.

“I just can’t begin to tell you about why public art is so important,” she said. “It sets a tone for what the community is about. It’s about creativity and enlightenment and sharing. Just being together in the same space, maybe not at the same time, but in the same space.”

One of the non-profit’s first public art projects was transforming the Island City Cultural Center from a dark gray to a vibrant yellow with a whimsical manatee painted on the doors in honor of Justin Flippin, the city’s late mayor and manatee fan.

Other projects enhancing the quality of life in the city include contributing to  the colorful parking meters along Wilton Drive created by Claudia Castillo, coordinating the installation of the inspirational signs found throughout town, orchestrating the painting of the “BE PROUD” mural at the Wilton Discount Liquor store, aiding the completion of the mural on the wall of The Grille and, most recently, collaborating with the city to transform nature photos from one of its exhibits into utility box wraps.

One of the most notable public art projects was the installation of Thunderbunny, the 13’ 7” glass mosaic bunny rabbit sculpture at Justin Flippin Park by renowned artist Hunt Slonem. Art Gallery 21 paid for the engineering required for the installation and is the sponsor of the selfie spot now located next to the work.

This month the gallery will present “The Public Art Continuum: A Reflection of Our Place and Time,” which marks the 50th anniversary of Broward County’s support of public art and is presented with support from the Broward Cultural Division and the City of Wilton Manors.

“We’re looking for people who have photos of public art installations that were done that are no longer,” she previewed as the gallery put out a call for submissions. “We’re looking for art, artistic renderings, paintings and photography of current public art exhibits around Broward County and there are over 300 public art installations. We’re also looking for either a rendering or a scale model, either 1/6 or 1/12 scale of a proposed art installation. If it’s the right one, I think the city of Wilton Manors may go forward with it as a public art installation.”

It is the latest in a line of engaging and captivating shows.

“We’ve done exhibits that people laughed at when we told them what we were going to do and it turned out to be a really good thing,” she recalled. “One that has been just a phenomenal success for us was the “Art of Barbie” back in 2019. It was overwhelming. We were just stunned at how many people were interested. Young and old, It didn’t matter. Some were Barbie doll people and some were just curious. We had international reporters come so that was a lot of fun.”

Other notable exhibitions include “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend,” a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian “The Way We Worked,” “Mermaids and Manatees” in honor of Mayor Flippin, and “The Book Project: Speaking Volumes,” inspired by books. Every year, Art Gallery 21 gives its space to Arts United for a Pride exhibit.

“This will be our fourth year,” she explained. “The first year they did it it was a little crazy but we got it done. After that, it just seemed to be the right thing to do and we kept doing it every summer in June. You know, a lot of our artists are gay. We’ve got transgender artists who have come through the gallery. We really don’t care about any of that. We’re really just interested in the art and making sure that they know that they’re welcome regardless of what their background is or who they are. They’re artists and so none of that other stuff really matters to us.”

In addition to the art on its walls, the gallery has also preserved and maintained as its home the former Woman’s Club of Wilton Manors built in 1956.

“The city’s been very good and every year they’ve done things to improve the building,” she shared. “It’s available for rentals and other groups use it so there’s a lot of eyes on the art. We leave our cards out and they’ll call and say, ‘I saw a piece of art in your gallery and I’d like to buy it.’ I would encourage people to buy art as a gift, a birthday gift, a Mother’s Day gift, I love you gift. Don’t go buy art at HomeGoods or Target. You can get original art for the same amount of money. We want to see people collect art and bring art into the home. It’s amazing what hanging a painting on the wall can do for your spirit.”

With a small budget of $15,000 in a good year, Art Gallery 21 is entering its 14th season and Ruppender is still engaged in the possibilities of her small town.

“As long as I can walk and breathe, I’ll be doing this as long as the city will let us,” she said. “I think we’ve done a good job of increasing awareness of the importance of art in everyday life. It hasn’t been a solo thing, but I think we were part of the beginning and now they started this Wilton Manors Art District. It’s been really inspiring to me as a senior citizen to see these younger people coming in and the energy they bring. They know what they want to accomplish and they’re doing it. It’s really fun to see that happen and know that we were there at the beginning. We’re here in the middle and I hope we’re there until it stops. And I hope it never stops.”