This Saturday, Wekiva Island will be closed until 5:00 p.m. for our annual Fall Egg Fest. We’d love for you to join the fun—grab your ticket and be part of the festivities. After 5:00 p.m., the Island will reopen and welcome guests as usual.
At Wekiva Island, we have three core pillars: Sustainability, education and art. When you visit the Island, you’ll see works of art everywhere from our shipping container mural to the walls of our wine room. It has always been one of our passions, and in a stunning setting like ours, it makes sense. That’s one of the reasons we started our own Orlando art gallery upstairs—Gallery CERO.
This special space overlooks the Wekiva River and holds beauty of its own inside. Haven’t been? Keep reading to learn more about the gallery and plan your visit.
Gallery CERO is our art gallery, located on the second floor above the Tooting Otter Craft Beer & Wine Bar. It opened in 2021 and was the realization of the vision we had for Wekiva Island from the start. We have been the longtime host of the Wekiva Paint Out, which brings world-class artists to the Island every spring, and we host a monthly Wine & Paint event.
Gallery CERO allows us to take that further. The space features rotating exhibitions and regular special events, including artist demonstrations and receptions. CERO takes its name from our dedication to going carbon neutral. It stands for Conservation, Efficiency, Renewables and Offsets—our toolbox for being more sustainable.
Our Orlando art collection at Gallery CERO is vast. From hyper-realistic paintings to multi-media creations, each exhibition and our permanent collection showcase different styles, cultures and points of view. You never know what you’ll find and fall in love with when you step inside.
While we love every piece that comes in the gallery for different reasons, here are just a few of our favorites right now.
Todd Fox’s mixed media work includes found and created objects, all inspired by African culture, primarily West Africa. He is also an African artwork collector. His works use boxes found around the country and the world. Each is carefully curated and combined with clay inclusions, which are Raku fired. Fox’s pieces combined his influences with allegory and tell the story of life events, which he hopes connect with the viewer.
Mimi Hwang’s artwork fuses her vast influences. She is an Asian American artist, and her works combine her ancestry and Western birth, Chinese and foreign, ancient and modern. Her paintings are poetic and visual expressions meant to make the viewer feel the weight of their expansive emotions and the stillness needed to contemplate life and the connection to the universe.
Cindy Anderson’s “Midnight’s Guard” has meaning beyond the soulful look in the owl’s eyes. Before she starts a painting, she delves into the symbolism of the animal across cultures. Owls, like the one depicted here, are associated with wisdom, magic, transformation and the connection between physical and spiritual. They can be seen as messengers, guiding us through life’s transitions and prompting us to embrace change. Anderson will sometimes write this symbolism on the canvas before painting, and if you look closely, you might see hints of it coming through.
Chris Carr’s work will make you look—and think—twice. His photos show the world through reflections in puddles of water. He takes interest in the imperfections the water’s surface creates. “Snow & Mud Winter Sky” shows the beauty of the muddy earth around the trees reflecting under the clear blue sky. The work highlights the contrast in the juxtaposition of the natural elements.
“Hijinks” is part of Debbie Rose Miller’s “Off the Wall” series. Look closely and you’ll see a figure emerge clad in a print that nearly matches the background. The inspiration comes in part from Miller’s visit to Washington, D.C., to see the work of French Post-Impressionist Pierre Bonrad, who was an innovator with point of view, color and compositional surprises. Miller’s take on the influence combines fashion, color and pattern, which have always been passions of hers. Miller is dedicated to completing a small painting each day, which has brought her immeasurable joy.
Looking for a new gallery to explore in Central Florida? Check us out at Gallery CERO! We have several exhibitions each year, curated to highlight local talent and artists from around the world. Each show is tied together with one theme, regardless of media—the intersection of art and nature.
Through August 29, we’re highlighting the works of artists from McRae Studios in Orlando, an artist-run collective that offers affordable studio space. Previous 2025 exhibitions have featured the work of the Wekiva Paint Out and Lucious Landscapes, which shared varied perspectives of artists who share a studio but differ in style.
Be sure to check out our website for the latest exhibition schedule.
There’s always something creative in the air at Wekiva Island and Gallery CERO. Want to get in on the action yourself? Our monthly Wine & Paint class takes place on the first Wednesday of the month from 6 to 8 p.m. But hurry! Those spots almost always sell out.
We also regularly invite artists in to the gallery to share their technique and point of view in a live art demonstration. And of course we celebrate each new exhibition with an opening night event. Keep an eye on the Wekiva Island calendar here to see what’s coming up.
As most in the art world know, just seeing a piece on the screen or reading about the background are only one part of viewing art. You simply have to see the piece in person to learn more.
Gallery CERO is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday and Sunday by appointment. Stop by next time you’re at Wekiva Island, or drop us a line here. We can’t wait to share these works and more with you.
This Saturday, Wekiva Island will be closed until 5:00 p.m. for our annual Fall Egg Fest. We’d love for you to join the fun—grab your ticket and be part of the festivities. After 5:00 p.m., the Island will reopen and welcome guests as usual.
Join Wekiva Island and 3 Daughters Brewing this Saturday for a seafood feast benefiting the Central Florida Zoo. Enjoy a pound of jumbo shrimp, clams, corn, potatoes, sausage, and three pours of beer, all for $45!