Estero Fine Art Show

Name: Estero Fine Art Show

Dates: The Estero Fine Art Show is offered twice each season. This season’s dates are:

• November 5 & 6, 2011
• January 7 & 8, 2012

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Place: These shows take place in the parking lot of the Miromar Outlet Mall, giving art lovers an unparalleled opportunity to combine a day of art browsing and buying with shopping and dining at a venue that’s been voted Southwest Florida’s “Best Factory Outlet Shopping Center” 12 years in a row. Centrally-located at the Corkscrew Road exit (123) on I-75, Miromar draws shoppers and festival-goers from Naples to the south and as far away as Sarasota and Bradenton to the north.

Miromar boasts 140 outlet stores including iconic clothiers such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Aeropostale, Banana Republic, Eddie Bauer, Gap, Guess, Perry Ellis, Talbots, Tommy Hilfiger, Under Armour, and Van Heusen, as well as specialty stores like Coach, Fossil, Sunglass Hut and Bath and Body Works. All are set in Mediterranean-accented shops that are connected by palm-shaded cobblestone-paved walkways lined by landscaping beds, potted plants and gurgling fountains at every hub.

While the festival offers both food and entertainment, Miromar provides its own delicious dining options. With eateries such as All American Grill, Bon Appetit French Bistro, La Bamba Mexican Restaurant, Luna Rossa Italian Grille and Waterside Seafood and Grille, there is something for every discerning palette.

With names like these, it’s small wonder that an estimated 20,000 people attend the Estero Fine Art Show each November and January during art festival season.

Description. This top-notch fine art & craft event brings to Estero, Florida new original paintings, drawings, pastels, photography, ceramics, clay, glass, sculpture, wood working and carvings, fiber art and art jewelry from the ateliers, studios and workshops of some 120 local and internationally-acclaimed artists. All are present throughout the two-day event and eager to answer questions about their work and inspiration. Live art demonstrations afford numerous opportunities for patrons to witness first-hand the various the processes that the artists’ go through and the techniques they employ in order to create high-quality artworks in their chosen medium.

Cost: Admission is free.

Parking: Parking is free and ample.

Organizer: The Estero shows are produced by Hot Works, LLC, which also runs the award-winning Orchard Lake Fine Art Show in Michigan. In order to achieve a high-quality fine art and craft show, the Hot Works team travels continuously around the U.S. and Canada visiting art shows and recruiting the very best artists for Hot Works events. Those artists who do apply for inclusion in the Estero festivals must submit three images of their most compelling work along with one showing their booth presentation. Then, a group of art professionals (that include gallery owners, directors and curators, and artists) reviews the applications and images. “We judge based on originality, technique and execution, quality, and booth presentation,” observes show director Patty Norozny. Only the finest are admitted into the shows.

In order to encourage participating artists to bring their finest work to the shows, a second round of judging occurs on site on the first day of the show. The results are announced on Sunday, with the best artists in each category receiving ribbons, purchase awards and cash prizes. By pre-qualifying each one of the artists who come to this event and recognizing the best with ribbons and awards, Hot Works seeks “to help the general public with making their artwork purchase decisions by[giving them the knowledge] that they are purchasing quality work.”

Director: Patty Narozny. In addition to 25 years of media and event experience,  Patty has a corporate finance degree from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Currently, Patty produces high-quality, juried fine art & craft events in not only in Florida, but Michigan and North Carolina. Narozny is the founder of Hot Works Fine Art & Craft Shows.

Website: http://www.hotworks.org/esterofineartshow/

Facebook: You can follow these events on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=219253024762681.

Local Connections:

• Lee County Alliance for the Arts, the officially-designated arts organization for Lee County, will be participating at these events in order to help make the community aware of its mission to “facilitate and nurture the creation, development, promotion and education of arts and culture in Lee County.”
• In addition, Lee Memorial Health System’s Dis ABLEd Artist Program will help provide a venue at the Estero Fine Art Shows for individuals with disabilities to showcase and sell their Artwork.
• Hot Works produces the Estero Fine Arts Shows in affiliation with The Institute for the Arts & Education, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to educating and promoting fine arts and crafts among artists and students of all ages and diversity.
• The Institute invites local young artists from area schools to have their artwork displayed and judged by the artists who are juried into each show.
• There is an “Emerging Artists” section in each show where students at local colleges including Florida Gulf Coast University (which is less than a mile away) and Edison State College are encouraged to display their artworks.

Fast Facts:

• Miromar Outlet Mall is located across a small man-made lake from Germain Arena, home to the Florida Everblades hockey team and the Florida Firecats arena football team. The Germain Arena also maintains a full year-round schedule of shows and concerts that has included Elton John, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Kenny Rogers, Sting, Luis Miguel, Bob Dylan, Disney on Ice, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, The Harlem Globetrotters, Boston Pops Orchestra and many more. In addition, Germain Arena hosts ice skating, roller skating, and in-line skating events with competitions throughout the year.
• The Southerns Extreme Water Ski Team performs in the lake between Miromar and Germain Arena on Sunday afternoons.
• In addition to richly landscaped covered walkways throughout the mall, Miromar boasts a number of exquisite fountains. The one located in the hub fronted by Gap and Oakley is patterned after the Fontana della Tartarughe (Fountain of the Tortoises) in Piazza Mattei on Via Dei Funia in Rome, Italy. The original was built between 1581 and 1588 by Giacomo della Porta with bronze figures by Taddeo Landini using male figures riding dolphins, but when the fountain was restored in 1659 at the request of Pope Alexander VII, the dolphins were replaced with male figures pushing tortoises toward the upper basin.
• The Miromar Outlet Mall is located at 10801 Corkscrew Road, Estero, FL 33928-9436.