Amelia SanJon Gallery
Archived Content


 

For a number of years this was the website for the Amelia SanJon Gallery in Fernandina Beach, FL. It evolved into also presenting her lengthy newsletters.
Content is from the site's archived pages as well as from other outside sources. One newsletter is presented  below providing a glimpse of Sandra Baker-Hinton's posts which covered her art work, what was happening in her life along with
her comments on numerous photographs of nature.


UPDATE from YELP

Sandra Baker-Hinton, has after owning her own gallery for the past 15 years, in order to concentrate more on creating her own art work has moved into her own studio located in a new local gallery called Fern and Dina's Gallery and Gifts.  She still has her own work for sale there as well as the lovely vintage copper jewelry, but is also available for teaching classes. Sandra still works with Sea Turtles, as well as Horseshoe Crabs and raises butterflies and baby Gray Squirrels.  You will find the same friendly atmosphere when you visit her studio as was in her gallery but with much more of her new artwork to show you.

History

Established in 2006.

When artist Sandra Baker-Hinton moved to Amelia Island in 2002 she moved into the current building at 218 Ash Street with just a studio.  In 2006 she expanded the studio to become a full fledged art gallery featuring a number of artists and calling it Amelia SanJon Gallery.  This year it has moved back to although an art gallery to become more of a working studio space with the addition of another artist Annie Hall-Hines as a working member of the gallery.

 

Amelia SanJon Gallery
Sandra Baker-Hinton
218A Ash Street., Fernandina Beach, FL 32034
904-491-8040,  904-557-1195 cell

 

"I remember visiting the Amelia SanJon Gallery - it was a wonderful place to view the work of a number of very talented artists. One of the artists, Sally, (I wish I could remember her last name) was so kind to us. We had brought our dog Rorry along and she was incredibly restless due to the unfamiliar place, and was not sleeping well at night. Sally comforted Rorry and was able to calm her. She then suggested we get her one of the round cushion dog beds at her favorite dog bed site. This is a site that sells a particular style of round dog bed, similar to Rorry's bed at home (we foolishly didn't bring her bed on this trip - a mistake we'll never make again). We ordered online and paid for express shipping so we received the new bed the next day. What a difference that made! Who could have guessed that a simple dog bed could relieve canine anxiety so completely! We are forever grateful to Sally and that particular bed now travels everywhere with us. When you visit the gallery, take a walk out back and down to the shoreline - a gorgeous place to wander around and spend some quiet time in an amazing place." Gena Wills

 

Sandra Baker-Hinton

Artist – Photographer – Gallery Owner – Naturalist

Sandra Baker-Hinton is a watercolorist, who also works in acrylics. She is also a fused glass artist, an excellent photographer, and even creates one-of-a-kind jewelry. Sandra is known as the "Turtle Lady" for her volunteer work with the Ft. Clinch Park Service. Sandra is currently compiling a book of stories containing news on the Island, the Island Life, and nature in general.   

Sandra teamed up with Mikolean Longacre and together they have developed a hugely successful seminar–workshop organization, Amelia Island Artists Workshop, attracting top artist instructors and attendees from across the country.

Sandra Hinton-Baker's work can be seen at her gallery – Amelia SanJon Gallery. 
Conveniently located on the southwest corner of 3rd Street & Ash, just slightly off Centre Street, (one block south). 218-A Ash Sreet, in downtown Fernandina Beach, FL 32034

(904)491-8040

  

 Come on in, this is the view through the front door.   Once you get inside, you’ll find art by other artists also.  There is a good selection of pottery along with abstract lamps and vases.  You’ll find fused glass light catchers for your windows, pendants to wear, sometimes in combination with beadwork, with matching earrings.  



 

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

A love of the outdoors, inspired by growing up in the Appalachian Mountains of Northeast Tennessee, guides me and becomes the underlying theme used throughout my work. Whether working in an abstract or more realistic style the shapes, forms, colors, and textures in my work reflect our natural environment. I am constantly exploring, experimenting, and trying new directions with the various water media materials that I use. I am repeatedly drawn to water-based media because of the spontaneity it allows and how the unpredictability inspires me. I like letting what happens in the first loose, wet application of the paints, whether in watercolor or various acrylic mediums, suggest the direction I will take with the work. My paintings are very spontaneous and seem to have a life of their own; there are always areas of interest and mystery awaiting discovery by the viewer only after spending time with a piece—things not apparent on first glance.

Glass became an extension of my creative work because the flow of the colors in blown glass has always held a fascination for me. I saw the same characteristics in the glass as in and the transparency of the colors that manifests itself in the flow of wet-in-wet watercolors that I loved. Being an environmentalist, recycling the glass into something useful and beautiful was very appealing.


Sandra Baker-Hinton

For several years now, there has been a photo-story newsletter series by Sandra with her exploits as “Senior Volunteer Turtle Lady” for the Ft. Clinch Park Service. One or two per week during the nesting season, and even some, though fewer, during the entire rest of the year! Stories of news on the Island, the Island Life, and nature in general.   

 

www.volunteermatch.org/
Sandra Baker-Hinton

People call Sandra Baker-Hinton "Turtle Lady." It's not because she looks like a turtle, and it's not because she owns a bunch of them as pets. Sandra is an artist specializing in beautiful watercolors, and she also works with acrylics and fused glass. So why the strange nickname?

When she lived in Georgia, Sandra would often vacation on Cumberland Island, just north of Florida off the east coast of Georgia. She would see young girls out on the beaches doing something called "Sea Turtle Patrol." She always thought to herself, "If I lived here, I would do that."

In 2002 Sandra made the permanent move to nearby Amelia Island. She first found an art studio for her painting, and then she found VolunteerMatch. While browsing the website she happened upon the profile of Fort Clinch State Park, located in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. She contacted them directly.

"I ‘hounded' them until they agreed to let me work with the sea turtles," Sandra says. Now she is still the only regular volunteer the Park uses with the sea turtles. She even trains the Park Rangers on how to do turtle patrol.

"I feel I'm doing important work," says Sandra of her beach patrols. She monitors sea turtle nests and dead turtles, as well as horseshoe crab nesting areas. "Through learning about the sea turtles I have become passionate about them."

Sea turtles, which are federally listed as endangered, face a number of both natural and man-made threats, including predators, commercial fishing and the sea turtle shell trade. Each year thousands of hatchling turtles emerge from their nests along the southeast U.S. coast and enter the Atlantic Ocean, but only about one in 1,000 to 10,000 will survive to adulthood.

Simple actions like reducing your amount of plastic garbage or not using helium balloons can make a difference for sea turtles, and organizations like the Sea Turtle Conservancy are educating consumers about how to get involved, including providing opportunities to become volunteers like Sandra.

Sandra loves her early morning ATV rides on the beach and has integrated photography into her art as a result. She contributes impressive photographs to the Park for use in publications, interpretive panels and displays. She even chronicles her experiences and the changing scenery each day in an online diary.

Through her generous and dedicated volunteering, Sandra has gained a reputation on the island and a following for both her art and her adventures with the sea turtles. In April 2012 she was named District 2 Volunteer of the Month for Florida State Parks.

Marie Bucher, Park Services Specialist and Sandra's nominator, said, "Sandra captures the beauty we hope all visitors are able to see and experience. We truly enjoy her presence in the park and treasure her giving spirit."

Sandra herself just feels lucky to have the opportunity to volunteer doing something she loves, and that helps drive her art. She credits VolunteerMatch with getting it all started.

"I have a soft spot in my heart where VolunteerMatch is concerned," she says. "When you first move into an area, you don't know what the resources are. It was nice to find the site because it started me on a path that led to 10 wonderful years doing some of the most rewarding work any lay person could have."

 



 

POST FROM ONE NEWSLETTER


Turtle Season officially, for us anyway, goes from May 1 until October 31.  The exceptions are that the Amelia Island Sea Turtle Watch do their daily beach walks until August 31.  In the park, we do patrol until the last nest hatches, which can be before October 31, or can go beyond the official date of October 31.  The turtles usually don't lay nests up here until the middle of May.  In the park, though, with about 8 miles round trip each day, there is a lot to keep our minds occupied while we wait on that first turtle to make its first crawl onto our beach. 
 


Not always are the big White Egrets out in the marsh or along the water's edge.  Once in a while I see one strolling along the streets around the gallery.  They like picking off our little lizards and Anoles, the green ones.   We don't like to lose them, but if it is some of the invasive Cubans then go for it.

We seem to have had a very good year with our little Wilson's Plovers whose nesting season begins a bit earlier than Sea Turtle season and extends on into the early part of July.  Time is spent documenting nest locations, how many nests, and hatchlings there are each year.  This mom has two very young ones in this photo.  Can you find them?  Usually there are 3 in a nest and the mom and dad are both actively involved parents, trying to ride herd on these speedy little fluffs of fuzz.  Like baby chickens, these chicks also are ready to hit the beach almost as soon as they are hatched.  No sitting in the nest with a wimpy weak neck for these little ones.
 


One way to protect her babies is to let the chicks run underneath her white breast feathers and hide.  Of course there is really room for only two under there and that's possibly one of the reasons the family finds it hard to raise all three.



A new tourist activity which looks to be a lot of fun.  It is a guided tour much like you would get on the Amelia River Cruise but more personal as it is only the guide and up to about four of the jet skis on each trip.  They are not your typical jet ski, with more like lawn chairs in which to sit rather than a motorcycle seat.




The deer are more visible and seemingly tame, probably because my friend Amy (Beach Junki) spends so much time photographing them.  Poor Amy had a very bad car accident this Spring, just in time for her active beach season, breaking her pelvis in two places.  She can't put weight on it for another couple of months, but being the strong willed person she is she has managed on crutches and one of those walkers with wheels to get out there anyway.  Even on crutches and carrying the walker chair to sit in near her subjects, she can still follow them with her camera.  Where there's a will there's a way.


With birds the focus the first few weeks I am aware of seeing how many of the old timer species are around...the Ruddy Turnstones and the Sanderlings in this case.

It is a familiar but changing scene which takes me from the coolness of the morning Maritime forest to the sunshiny, treeless beach.  Sometimes the air is full of moisture and the rays of the sun are accentuated but today is not one of those days.  Today the Spanish Moss is all aglow.

 

I believe this to be one of the most active Horseshoe Crab nesting seasons we have had.  Every morning for weeks we would all be busy rescuing the ones who managed to become disoriented, flipped upside down, or stuck in the sand.  These are a species almost unchanged from their prehistoric ancestors, a line in existence since before the dinosaurs.  They are very useful in todays medical world.  Their blood, which is taken from them, but leaving the Crab still alive, is used for testing medicine for impurities.  This one seems to think he is going to give me a run for my money by entering the art market with this pretty interesting sand sculpture.

This couple was caught with the female's big snowplow like front end firmly stuck in the hard sand which becomes extremely hard as the tide takes the water away.  The fellow is still wagging that tail and seeming to not at all be deterred.

Our babies begin to grow into long legged gangly teenagers still living under the watchful eye of their parents.

I invited a new to the island gal, who is from Switzerland, to go with me one morning.  Her dad owns the restaurant behind my gallery, Bright Mornings Cafe' and Bistro.  She learned quickly how to handle the Crabs and return them to the water.  She didn't get a chance to find any turtles but it was a full morning anyway.  I am hoping Marischa will find the morning interesting enough to volunteer to do other things in the park.  We are always looking for young enthusiastic volunteers.  (That was not to happen since the powers that be in the immigration system says her visa is up and she must return to Switzerland and will have to wait a long time before she can come back.  She had worked so hard passing all the required GED and other tests to get ready to go to college.  To bad she didn't just go to Mexico and come in that way.  Something wrong when you get punished for following the rules.)

This is an example of one load of Crabs we had rescued.  There were so many we started putting them in the back of the beach buggy and taking them a group at a time to the water's edge. 

But for now the only species of turtles on the beach were plastic beach turtles, in this case the rare "Purple" Plastic Turtle.

Our squirrels are very insistent on getting fed both morning and evening as they start waiting at the back door with some willing to take a peanut from your hand.  This especially fat one I call Tilley who is starting to shed her winter coat for a shorter cooler one.

 


But then a friend called with two baby Marsh Rabbits.  So tiny.  The mother had been killed by her cat and one of these, the largest, had been bitten in the ear by the cat.  I could not see where the bite was, just that it was deep inside the ear and by morning the germs picked up from the cat took its life.

 


Realizing that I was down to the wire on getting the next 2015 Turtle Trot Painting done, I sat looking at an abstract painting I was working on.  The thought ran through my mind that there was a shape in that painting which would work very well as a turtle, so the idea set me off and running in that direction.  What transpired was a very different Turtle Trot painting which I think will make a great T-Shirt.  This is the early stages of making it work.  Remember that I will be selling the T-shirts once again after the race is over.  It is a necessary money maker for the gallery to make up for the August and September doldrums.

 


And finally it happened, the middle of the month, right on schedule, we get our first nest.  The first of many!!

 


Our little Plover Chicks continued to hatch and run like little baby roadrunners all over the beach.  Our trips were slowed to a crawl with us constantly on the watch for them.  What a tragedy it would be to run over one of these little ones.

 


Everyone is running for cover as Mom already has one under her apron and two more looking for cover.

 

The same is happening in this photo with Mom squatting over one chick and two others heading toward her for cover as protection from our being too close.  We try to avoid them by swinging away from them but it is hard to figure out which way they are going to head sometimes.


 


Early Spring had the beach filled with birds near the pier but as mating and nesting season came the numbers have dwindled.  Off to follow their primeval directives and reproduce their species

 


This spider with bright green irridescent markings rode with us almost every morning for a good while, but I think one of the volunteers got tired of trying to figure out where he was going to be and moved him.  A man in the park who seemed to be knowledgeable (not a ranger) told us one day that these spiders were genetically modified, maybe at UF, and were not a natural species.  He said they produced them to specifically target certain pests of the bug world, however I have not heard that from anyone else.  He seemed to know a lot about them.  I would be interested to know if anyone else knows about these spiders.  I am very leery of any type of engineered bugs or bringing in species that don't belong in an environment to try to assist in solving some type of problem.  Like Kudsu sometimes these things backfire.  I know that this Spring these spiders were everywhere around the island and my yard.

 


Nest #2 was one I found and it was the only one I found this year that I was not sure was actually a nest.  When the Momma Turtle crawls up into the dune it is very difficult to tell for sure they laid, and in the park we do not dig into the nests to see if eggs are there, we simply think if it shows the definite signs of being a nest then it is a nest.  There was not a big pile of sand to tell me it was a big "fluffy mound" because it was laid right on the tip top of the dune but there was some sand spray and there were plants pulled up by the roots which is a sure sign.  So I marked it, and this week I was proven to be correct as it just hatched, stay tuned for the rest of the story.

 


Our little birds are looking more and more like little awkward teenagers, whose legs have suddenly grown too long for its body.

 


The Horseshoe Crabs were extremely active, more so than I have ever seen them.  I have since changed my ideas on exactly how these guys do their mating activities.  I was under the impression from what I read that they came on the beach, usually at night, and laid their eggs allowing the high tide, with full moon and new moon times, mostly to cover the eggs.  However what I learned was that the mating happens in the edge of the water as it rises and goes out with the tide change.  The reason so many get caught is that the tide moves out from underneath them and while the water still has the sand mushy, and they get their snowplow like front ends stuck.  As the water leaves the sand it becomes very hard.  The other scenario is that the surf itself will upend mostly the male's turning them upside down in a helpless position.  It has been a good season for the Crabs which means a good year for the shorebirds who eat the thousands of eggs the Crabs have laid as one of their main food sources.

 


Meantime little Suzique was a very sweet distraction, and we became very attached to her.  She seemed to us to be thriving.

 


A very good example of the many nests we were to accumulate this year.  One of the easier ones to read.  Nest #3 was very near #2 and with my doubts that 2 was actually a nest having a new nest so close by made my doubts even more acute.

 


After marking nest #3 someone wanted to get me in the photo since I am seldom in them.  I don't remember who took the photo, maybe my sis, Susan, who is my riding partner on Thursdays.  Yesterday I found that my judgment had been right on as the hatchlings came out dead center of the screened area.  Hard to believe 60 days exactly have passed already. 

 


It is not usual that we see a Turkey Vulture on the beach, especially a Red Headed one.  We have Black and Red Headed ones.  The Black ones seem to be more family oriented sending out scouts to look for food then gathering them back to feast.  The Red Headed Ones seem to be more solitary types.

 


Bunnies need to chew...


And bunny kisses were especially sweet, as she liked to lick my face.  So very tiny are these rabbits but so very fragile.  I am told they are the hardest of all the wild animals to raise.  This species especially is difficult.  They are Marsh Rabbits different from Cotton Tails and like the Rabbits I had come visit and stay for a while the past two summers.

 


On the beach the Ring Billed Gull was enjoying a feast from something left in the tidal pool.  They are the garbage collectors of the beach.  Someone else has called them the rats of the beach.

 


Little Spot/Patty is growing at a good pace.  Things I have read about the Stink Pot Turtles say that after 6 months you should only feed them every couple of days.  This little Stink Pot runs out to collect his food sticks twice a day at least.  It would be very hard to turn down his request for food.  He seems to be growing OK with no mishapped shell as can be a problem if they eat too much and also I take him out into the sun so he can get some Vitamin D.


A nice portrait of our little Plover family.

Susique was never good at taking her milk from a syringe as bunnies like to lick and chew more than suck.  She mostly licked the end of the syringe as the milk came out.  They don't overeat as squirrels tend to do if left to their own to stop eating.  Bruce made a feeding tray where she could lap her milk out of a lid rather than take a chance on her swallowing some of the plastic she was chewing off the end of the syringe.  She seemed to adapt well.

 


This was a small pet carrier, but spacious to the max for one of her size.

 


The tracks from a new nest as they came more and faster than everyone else expected.  I have been telling everyone to wait for this year that all those turtles we had 3 years ago were going to come back in 3 years and have they ever!!

 


On a trip down to B.E.A.K.S., our bird rescue place, to drop of a woodpecker chick, I saw this big Gopher Tortoise crossing the dirt road.  Such funny gentle tortoises.  They look like a big tank with their big hard shell and their tough strong legs.  They can't completely go inside their shell like a Box Turtle but pull their legs up tight against the shell and tuck their head in until only their noses are exposed between their two drawn up front legs.  They don't bite but will hiss at you.

 


Trouble came suddenly to my precious little baby.  It was according to the material on raising wild baby rabbits the most dangerous time for a rabbit is when thy start to eat solid food.  Susique had been eating oats since Sunday and liked them and I had bought Timothy Hay to put in the cage.  She seemed to be doing so well that I gave her some grass from the yard.  She liked it and didn't want her oats anymore.  But on Thursday the day after she had started on grass she seemed to be getting spoiled.  She seemed to want me to hold her.  Bruce stopped by the gallery and said you're not going to get much done with one hand today.  She had drank lots of her milk that morning but evidently by mid morning she wasn't feeling well, but I didn't catch it until I noticed that her digestive system was in distress.  I had read that once they get diarreaha they will not usually survive.  I closed the gallery and ran to get her some pediolyte.  She took it, but in a matter of an hour she was dead.  So quickly was my heart broken, and I continue to ask myself why? I should have been more careful and introduced the food more slowly, and why I didn't do this, and why didn't I do that.  But hindsight is always 20/20.  Like the first squirrel I had and lost I longed for a second chance but it is doubtful that will ever happen again.  But she was loved and I was with her loving and comforting her until the end.


The painting was finished and the turtle season is going to be a really great one and life goes on.  Amy just sent me a message that there are six tame rabbits in the park today that someone has let go.  They will die if we don't catch them, so maybe that will be my redemption.  However I don't want a pet to have to feed and care for forever, I like to let the wild animals go to live their lives in the wild as only wild animals with the instincts they are born with to help them live, but who will still give me a sign of recognition to show they do still know who I am and that I was in their lives.  But in the morning we will set off on a new adventure, rabbit trapping.

 

 

 

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