ArtiGras Podcast · ArtiGras Fine Arts Festival

Art, History, and Community at the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse with Peter DeWitt & Katrina Heller

·59 min·3 clips

The Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse grounds were protected by a 2007 bipartisan act after the community lobbied Congress.

The lighthouse is personal here. Sarah LaPierre talks with Peter DeWitt and Katrina Heller in a conversation full of local affection and long service. Katrina calls the lighthouse home. Peter comes in from the Bureau of Land Management side as program manager, while Katrina brings the nonprofit view from the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum after more than a decade with the site. Their shared history gives the episode its ease. Again and again, the talk treats the landmark as a place where nature, history, art, and everyday belonging all fit. A shared canvas nudges things open. New additions, including a lighthouse and a palm tree, let Sarah move into the larger question of art on the grounds. River to Reef has been simmering for a while. Peter says he and Katrina had already been thinking about ways to bring artists to the site. Earlier events, including artists and a quilt show, showed that art could draw in people who might not arrive for history alone. Peter is careful about that point: art is not trim around the property. It is a way to make a memory with the natural area and the lighthouse's past. The name comes from a friend who had wanted to use River to Reef, then let them use it for the festival. The unpaid royalties joke keeps the mood easy. Nature still sets the terms. Peter wants art tied to natural inspiration, history, and the meaning of the place. The 250th anniversary of America adds room for patriotic art at the March event. Katrina also points to a VR headset that helps people who cannot climb, or do not want to, still look around. Sarah gets it right away. The swivel chair image makes access feel real: a little funny, a little dizzy, and useful.

As heard by us

A steady conversation that connects the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse, local history, and the River to Reef Arts Festival.

This episode keeps its focus on the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and the people tied to it, with Sarah LaPierre giving Peter DeWitt and Katrina Heller room to talk about the site as a lived place, not just a landmark.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for a lighthouse conversation about Jupiter's waterfront history and the new River to Reef Arts Festival.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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