Tucked into a residential corner of West Palm Beach, The Artwork of Reuben Hale Gallery & Sculpture Garden occupies a Spanish Colonial-style house on South Olive Avenue that’s eye-catching but easy to miss if it’s not on your itinerary. The same could be said of its late owner: The name Reuben Hale might ring a bell, but it doesn’t automatically pop up in conversations about the arts in South Florida.
MOSAIC 2025 graphics by Jeanne Martin
That could change in 2025. As part of MOSAIC, Palm Beach County’s annual springtime “Month of Shows, Art, Ideas and Culture,” the Hale gallery is offering discounts on scheduled small-group tours of the century-old, art-filled house. Hale lived and worked there until his death in 2018, and his figurative sculptures and vibrant abstract paintings populate the house and grounds.
The Hale gallery joins an expanding roster of organizations that participate in MOSAIC, a public-private venture led by the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County. Now in its eighth year, MOSAIC connects locals and offseason travelers alike with the cultural attractions in their midst, and keeps visitors coming to the county’s museums, playhouses, music venues and art studios after most tourists have headed back north.
“We’re helping locals know that they can be tourists in their own backyards,” Lauren Perry, the Cultural Council’s Associate Vice President of Marketing and Cultural Tourism, tells PureHoney. MOSAIC deals and perks in May span visual art, theater, live music, flora, fauna, science, ecology, and DIY arts and crafts.
Several of the county’s anchor institutions are aboard, including Norton Museum of Art, Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, Palm Beach Dramaworks, and Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum. Alongside the bigger names is a very full month’s worth of discounted attractions and activities: getting inked at TBA Tattoos; immersing yourself in regional black history at Spady Cultural Heritage Museum; wandering Mounts Botanical Garden; making candles at Melted Aroma; discovering homegrown talent at the 561 Music Festival (May 3); experiencing dance at Paris Ballet and Dance; or seeing sea turtles up close at Loggerhead Marinelife Center. That’s a partial list; sign up for the full roster and offer details at mosaicpbc.com.
MOSAIC also happens in tandem with Open Studios, the countywide weekend art crawl (May 17 and 18) where more than 100 artists open their spaces to visitors, give talks about their work and offer pieces for sale. Tying everything together is a visual theme, beginning with artist Jeanne Martin’s panoramic poster for MOSAIC 2025, “Our County TOONS,” whimsical figures and landscapes conjured in a Japanese Risograph style to represent life in the Palm Beaches. Free collectible pins with Martin’s MOSAIC ‘toons will be handed out at sponsored events.
The Cultural Council’s Perry says that 4,300 people are employed in the county’s arts economy. Martin is one of them, a former brand and marketing manager for the Palm Beach Post who now produces commercial and fine art on commission. The Cultural Council tapped Martin for this year’s campaign after seeing her work with Urban Sketchers and recruiting her for exhibitions and promotions — just one example of the networking that helps sustain local culture. “There’s really a lot of great artists here,” Martin tells PureHoney.
Part of Perry’s job is acquainting Palm Beachers with that creative energy and making them “aware of the opportunity to have so many cool experiences within a few miles of where they live.”
Which brings us back to Reuben Hale, an artist, professor, local college humanities chair, early Cultural Council member, and advisor on construction of the Kravis Center. The former Lannan Museum in Lake Worth, whose collections Hale oversaw, is now the historic deco headquarters building of the Cultural Council.
The Hale gallery is not the only landscaped art oasis opening its doors for MOSAIC. Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, one of the county’s best-known attractions, is also participating. But it’s not an exaggeration to say that MOSAIC and the active cultural scene it supports are indebted to Hale’s artistic and civic labors. Gallery founder and president Irma Hale certainly hopes you’ll think so. “My goal in doing all of this is to build a name for Reuben Hale,” his daughter tells PureHoney.
Sign up for MOSAIC 2025 offers and events at mosaicpbc.com ~ Sean Piccoli
