Country’s first 3D fluorescent art museum

Artwork special to Alachua County Today

This piece demonstrates how artists can use the 3D effect to give depth to their work.

 NEWBERRY – In what some people might have seen as a place for rent in Newberry, a local Gainesville man saw his vision in action.

“I got a really good feeling about the place,” said Robert Roberg, who teaches foreign students English at the University of Florida.

This little place for rent on 25310 W. Newberry Road is now America’s First 3D Fluorescent Art Museum. The museum will have its grand opening on Feb. 21. Open on Friday nights from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. with special events on Sundays, the museum will also be offering both children and adult classes.

He came across the place for rent when he went out to visit the Firehouse Gallery. Newberry has always been a place that appealed to him ever since he and his wife started frequenting the local Backyard BBQ for their anniversary, he said.

Now, Newberry is becoming the place for one of his favorite things.

“I was always painting my whole life,” he said. “One of those things you love to do, so you just keep doing it.”

He has been serious about painting since 1985. Roberg has two paintings on display in the Smithsonian Museum of Art.

Entry to the 3D art museum is free and the 3D glasses will be $3. Since Roberg first laid eyes on it in the middle of December, he hoped it will bring a unique, family friendly experience to the area.

“It’s a chance to let people see another level of art,” Roberg said. Different from any other museum in the world, those observing the painting can feel like they are a part of the scenery because of the 3D effect.

He also hopes to offer 3D black-light films and puppet shows. His wife will be teaching the classes for children, and he will be teaching the adults.

“She’s excited,” he said. “She’s very creative, and loves working with little kids.” Any artwork produced at these classes will have an opportunity to be displayed in the museum for free.

Roberg first came across the 3D idea several years ago when he found a website on the internet that was selling 3D glasses, featuring a tutorial that explained how one could combine a certain technique of painting and glasses that could result in a 3D image. “It’s not perfect yet,” he said. “But, it’s a lot of fun trying to sketch it.”

“The goal is to make the image come out of the canvas as far as you can, or recede into the canvas as deep as you want,” Roberg said.

He hopes that a lot of people in Alachua County will become inspired to become black-light painters, and that the museum will become a place where they can send their art.

His goal is for the museum to have about 100 paintings by the time the grand opening comes along. Right now, there are about 50. An artist from Tallahassee, Perdita Ross, came down this weekend and brought 30 fluorescent black-light paintings.

“The ultra violet light makes the paint glow, and the 3D glasses make it look like its floating in the room, and you can reach out and touch it with your hand,” Roberg said.

The only other museum like this in the world is a fluorescent museum located in Amsterdam. Two years ago, when Roberg was in the country, he tried to visit three times, but to no avail.

“I was never able to go inside. But, once I saw it in Amsterdam, I knew that I had enough material to open my own museum,” he said.

He said he wants the museum to be a new, interesting experience that will attract tourists to Newberry. The museum will also provide educational skills and give artists from Alachua, High Springs, Newberry, Archer and other small towns a new inspiration for people who want to become black-light artists.

“I know I have something unique,” Roberg said. “I just want people to see it.”

#     #     #

Email berickson@

alachuatoday.com