​

 

Instructor and HAL President Larry Felder’s career was a perfect match for teaching painting and overseeing the mission of the Highlands Art League. Felder earned a BFA in Studio Painting at the University of Texas at Austin in 1974. His career included numerous design studios and advertising agencies in his home state of Texas. In 1991, he and two partners founded an educational publishing company which produced products to help teach children and adults with disabilities. Until his early retirement in 2002 he oversaw the development and marketing of over 500 print, electronic, and software products which sold to Special Ed departments in every school district in the nation.

 

Larry Felder and his wife Linda started Felder Gallery in 2004 in the coastal town of Rockport, Texas where Felder became known for his large coastal oil paintings of harbor and birding scenes. He also became president of the Rockport Heritage Association and then Associate Director of the Rockport Center for the Arts. Felder retired a second time to Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast when his son Robby took over Felder Gallery and continued to sell his work.

 

The Felder’s moved to Bradenton, Florida in 2014, then to Lake Placid in 2020 where Felder joined the Highlands Art League and began teaching oil painting. Felder’s work has been in numerous shows and has won many awards. Recent shows included Oil Painters of America’s national and regional exhibitions, and most recently he was honored with a show at Art Center Manatee titled, “Fine Tuned.” Felder has juried numerous art competitions in Texas and Florida. His teaching experience started as a teaching assistant for two professors at UT, and later as an adjunct professor of Graphic Design for Texas Wesleyan University and Texas State University.