Celebrate Life Gallery was founded by award winning photographers and artists, Dave and Debra Vanderlaan. The couple split their time between their home in downtown Murphy, North Carolina and their cottage in Lake Worth, Florida. Their love of travel, the outdoors, photography and bicycling provide them with unique opportunities to explore the countryside with the aid of the camera lens. Celebrate Life Gallery photo collection includes images from Tropical South Florida, Appalachia, and many other beautiful locations around the world. Quite a number of their fine photos have been displayed at various museums, galleries and shops, including in Washington DC in the Smithsonian Museum. The Celebrate Life Gallery is located in downtown Murphy, NC at the Murphy Art Center.
They feature many of their most popular photos in this gallery, but they don’t display only their works, they also invite some of the best national and regional artists to be featured along with them. After 30 years in the plant and floral nursery business, the couple decided to turn their life-long photography passion into full-time business, so they sold both businesses. Being both award-winning photographers, they are well known domestically and internationally and so it was easy for them to market their images and to get clients. Their images have been displayed in the North Carolina Museum of Art, Smithsonian Museum, Palm Beach Photography Museum, Turchin Art Center in Boone NC, and in many other galleries and museums around the country. Many of their images showcase the South Florida tropical landscapes.
