Location. Arsenault Gallery opened May 7, 2012 at 764 12th Avenue S in Naples’ Crayton Cove artists community. Located adjacent to Bleu Provence and across from Chez Boet, the gallery is just a block from the City Dock and Naples Bay. Revitalized in 1996 with a roundabout, new landscape and hardscape, and enhanced parking and pedestrian access, Crayton Cove contains an intriguing mix of offices, retail and marine businesses and upscale restaurants. So it’s no surprise that the art community has made Naples’ historic “town center” (which will celebrate its centennial in 2015) an exciting gallery district filled with history, fine dining and, of course, fine art.

Genres and Media. Although it hosts special exhibitions and solo shows by select artists throughout the year, the gallery primarily showcases the impressionism of local artist Paul Arsenault, a plein air artist whose craft has been informed by nearly four decades of extensive travel to destinations in the Caribbean, Central and South America, Hawaii and the South Pacific, Indonesia, Australia and Europe.

Although born in Montreal, Arsenault grew up in Hingham, Massachusetts, where he fomented his lifelong love for the sea and travel. Following his graduation from the Art Institute of Boston in 1973, he took a job as deckhand on a research vessel. And even after he put down roots in Naples six months later, he continued to travel by sea, hitching a ride on a produce boat in the Caribbean in the 1970s, unloading bananas at one spot and taking on peppers and tomatoes at another, weathering a storm so bad one time that the boat’s captain was “screaming at the crew to throw things overboard.”

Many of Paul’s travels have been funded by patrons who are impressed by Paul’s rare talent for capturing the essence of a place in watercolor or oil. One commission, for example, sent him packing to Vietnam’s Tonkin Alps and Cambodia’s ancient city of Phnom Phen. As a result, Arsenault’s paintings, and their buyers, are spread throughout the Bahamas and the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, Hawaii, Asia and Indonesia, as well as Naples and Nantucket, where he maintains his studio/galleries.

As is true of any impressionist worth his salt, Arsenault endeavors in every composition to bring something new to his ongoing study of the interplay of shadow and light. As a result, his paintings are characterized by a  rhythm, pattern and vibrancy that readily distinguish them from artists working in the impressionist genre today. His lifelong pursuit to paint contemporary life in coastal communities is enhanced by his passion for history and his natural storytelling ability. As he recently told NaplesNews.com writer Harriet Howard Heithaus, ”I want the [viewer] to know that I have been working very steadily at what develops my art … and that in my travels I have tried to call attention to things that are important about our world and our lives.” (“Brigadoon’s mapmaker, Dec. 9, 2012.)

Hours. The gallery is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Telephone Number and Website. You may reach the gallery by telephone at 239-263-1214 or visit it at http://www.ArsenaultGallery.com. You may also follow the gallery on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paul-Arsenault/260702010666989.

Ownership. The gallery is owned by Paul R. Arsenault. Kerri Meehan serves as Gallery Director.

Fast Facts.

Related Articles.

• Portraiture of Naples artist Reisha Perlmutter opens doors of self-awareness (05-15-13)
• Eponymous Naples gallery showcases plein air impressionism of Paul Arsenault (05-14-13)
• ‘Anne Morgan’s War’ photo exhibit on view at Arsenault Gallery until March 29 (03-25-13)

Here’s a summary of everything there is to see and do in the River District this Friday night:

1. For this month’s Art Walk, the Art League of Fort Myers presents “Beautiful Color,” a two-dimensional show open to members of the Art Council of Southwest Florida.  This show will feature oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, collages, original prints (including etching, lithographs and wood block,), photography and fiber art. The exhibition will be judged by Barbara Albin.

Albin is the latest in a succession of uber qualified art professionals to judge Art League shows. Her credentials include memberships in the Visual Arts Center in Punta Gorda (where she’s taught watercolors for eight years), the Arts & Humanites Council of Charlotte County (where she helped curate “Charley Through the Eyes of the Artists,” an exhibit designed to help the healing process in Charlotte County after Hurricane Charley devastated the town), the Lee County Alliance for the Arts, Women Contemporary Artists in Sarasota, the Florida Watercolor Society and the National League of American Pen Women Inc., the oldest arts organization for women in America. She was also one of the founders of the “Spirit of Punta Gorda” (an event that earned national recognition as well as a metal sculpture permanently displayed in Laishley Park) and Co-Chair for three years of “Women’s Works” (a prestigious national juried show which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2012). She is represented by Sea Grape Gallery in Punta Gorda, and Wild Child Gallery in Matlacha.

The Art League is located at 1451 Monroe Street. For more information, please call 239-275-3970 or visit www.artleagueoffortmyers.org.

2. Art of the Olympians occupies one of the most picturesque locations in all of Fort Myers. Situated on a narrow peninsula that juts out into the Caloosahatchee River, AOTO is framed by the Fort Myers Marina to the east and the River District’s Myers newly-completed 1.8-acre river basin to the west. Designed to collect stormwater run-off from the downtown’s 15-acre hardscape, the basin utilizes a series of  percolating fountains to aerate the water and plants to absorb fertilizers and other nutrients that don’t belong in the river, downstream estuaries or the Gulf of Mexico. For April’s Art Walk, AOTO brings the River District Full Circle, the art of two Olympian cyclists, teammates and artists, Bill Kund and Skip Cutting. For more information, please call 239-332-5055 or visit www.artoftheolympians.org.

3. Articulture Gallery & Tattoo Studio is holding a group exhibit. Articulture’s tattoo artists have had work featured in numerous online magazines. They specialize in original art, cover ups, and all around quality tattoo work.

4. Arts for ACT Gallery & Boutique is featuring AQU-The Art Quilters Group’s display of fiber art, photographer George Mitchell’s “Ronda at Eye Level” documenting a 1980’s streetwalker and addict, and “Cupcakes and Tea Anyone,” the whimsical art of Cassandra Schulz.

The Art Quilters Group AQU will be displaying works of fiber art, including hanging art quilts, fiber jewelry, purses, clothing and more.  From Sanibel, Fort Myers, Matlacha, St. James City and the Cape Coral area, this talented group of novice to experts are interested in expanding their knowledge and pushing the boundaries of fiber art creativity. They meet the second Saturday of each odd month at the Alliance for the Arts from 1-3 p.m. – new members are always welcome.  This is the second exhibit that ACT Gallery has hosted for the Art Quilters Group.

Georgia transplant George Mitchell will be exhibiting Ronda at Eye Level as well as some of this landscapes and landmarks of the Fort Myers area. But Ronda is a story that will touch your heartstrings and tug at your soul. It’s street photography of a different ilk, documenting a prostitute and addict that Mitchell met in Georgia during the 1980s. On his first encounter with Ronda, Mitchell studied her through his viewfinder, but when he studied the photographs his brother developed for him (yes, this was long before digital photography and Photoshop), what got to George, what riveted his attention, was the quiet desperation he saw in Ronda’s eyes. “Look at me…Look into the camera,” he’d urged. “She had,” Mitchell relates. “She had looked dead-square into the lens…and had revealed something of herself. I’m taken by the picture. Totally taken. I barely notice that her face is broken out and her hair isn’t that clean.” He barely notices these tell-tale signs of a hard, broken life because her eyes tell Mitchell all he needs to know. “Sensitive and vulnerable, they openly reveal so much disturbance. They are…haunting …”

Arts for ACT curator Claudia Goode calls Ronda’s story “moving” and hard to view.” And she is absolutely right. Ronda at Eye Level takes you from George’s first meeting with her outside the Diaz Market, a Cuban mom-and-pop store facing Ponce de Leon, through happy moments and into Ronda’s “dark struggles with her demons of addiction.”  This is Mitchell’s second exhibit at Arts for ACT Gallery, and while his previous collaboration of blues photography and folk art with Lennie Jones  was sensational, there is little question that Ronda at Eye Level will be an exhibition that Art Walkers will discuss and remember for years.

Cassandra Schulz was born in 1987 and was raised in the paradise of South West Florida. Throughout her years at school, Cassandra developed a passion for art. During her collegiate years at Florida State University, she explored every type of technique and style available in the effort to find her voice.  It was at Florida State that she earned her bachelor’s degree in studio art, as well as a minor in art history and anthropology. Cassandra continues to work to grow and develop her artistic career. She continues to discover and explore other creative outlets, such as most recently jewelry design.

Cassandra’s artwork developed from the simple idea of comfort. When pondering this concept the first thing that came to mind was food. Food is so much more that just providing nourishment. It is something that brings families together, bonds relationships and fosters happy memories. Everyone has that one iconic food from their childhood that transports them to happy times and lifts their spirits. Her “Cupcakes and Tea Anyone?” brought about the whimsy and fun of both past and present.  Growing guests that may be at the Mad Hatter’s tea party to a world all their own and full of dangers and perils, this exhibit will make you smile.  The creation of these pieces begins and ends with feelings. Representing and experiencing them in the process, Cassandra is having fun with her art.

5. Enjewel is the hip First Street boutique that caters to confident and fashion-forward women. Operating under the banner that “with the right accessories [a woman] can do anything,” Enjewel offers vintage purses, handmade Mother of Pearl and natural horn bags, art jewelry, faux fur scarves with pockets, and chic dresses galore. “We love supporting local designers with our made in the USA collections,” Lynne Routhier posts on Facebook. “These apparel pieces will provide your wardrobe with classic colors and fun prints and you’ll be sure to turn a few heads.” Enjewel is located at 2266 First Street in the downtown Fort Myers River District, across from Arts for ACT.

6. At the Franklin Shops, Art Walkers will find artistic treasures in Blind Dog Gallery, Creative Images by Judi (photography, wildlife and Florida scenes), David Krupick Photography, Fusion Art Glass Factory (functional art and decorative pieces made by Carrie Keohane of Fort Myers), Glass Girlz, John James Audubon Collection, Joe Rossi Art Studio (acrylic, watercolor and mixed media), Julien Miville (contemporary American impressionist with some works in Pointillism), Natasha Cuevas Photography, and Upcycle Beach.

The Franklin Shops on First is also home to True Tours, which offers a highly informative historical walking tours, spooky haunted history tour, architectural and public art walkingtours. So if you’ve ever wondered about the history of the old buildings downtown or the public artworks that dot the River District, then stop into the Franklin Shops during Art Walk and book your tour with Gina Taylor. (For more information, you can reach Gina by phone at 239-945-0405 or at www.TrueTours.net.)

The Franklin Shops are located at the corner of Broadway and First in the downtown Fort Myers River District.

7. Part of the InterContinental Hotel Group, Hotel Indigois known for plush guest rooms and swank public spaces that are transformed seasonally through changing signage, aromas, music and artwork. With Vino de Notte, a newly-renovated lobby lounge and its Phi in the Sky rooftop lounge, Hotel Indigo always figures prominently in the Art Walk scene.

Phi in the Sky is home to David Acevedo’s mural, The Heart of the City’s Sky. Owners Tim and Catherine O’Brien commissioned the work in August, 2011 following a month-long competition that Acevedo won because of his superb attention to detail, space, color and deep concentration on Fort Myers’ cultural society. Says the hotel’s social media director, Kayla Dacosta, “David is not only a sensational artist, but his spirit runs deep and his work is an obvious statement of all things beautiful and exceptional in the world. He grasps color and moves paint in such a way that viewers feel awakened by his work. Hotel Indigo is very pleased and grateful to have David lending inspiration to the Phi in the Sky!”

8. Ocasiocasa Studio Gallery presents Jackalopes and Rattlesnake Eggs – an art collection in foolery. It’s the newest artwork by owners Jeff & Dale Ocasio. Giving a nod to the fool’s errand played throughout the world, this collection also includes a hoop snake, dropbear, and their own version of a bunyip. Ocasiocasa is located at 1540 Broadway, between First & Main, in the Fort Myers River District.

9. Reverie & Rock Art Gallery features the digital surrealism of Kathy Kuser and the rock and country concert photography of Jamie Kuser. “With my art, I want to bring a fresh and contemporary twist to a long established medium – surrealism,” says Kathy Kuser. “I find that through tragedy comes hurt and healing. At 50, I am at a point of re-evaluating life’s direction and I find myself invigorated by my new form of artistic expression. Using my skills as a graphic designer, I create 2D/3D digital surrealism. Through a mystical and fantasy driven vision, a story emerges from my canvas. I use stark details with transitional blending; thus my art takes flight.”

The new downtown Fort Myers art space also showcases the concert photography of Jamie Kuser. For more than 15 years, Jamie has been photographing national recording artists while they perform on stage. From AC/DC to ZZ Top, and from Alan Jackson to Sugarland, Jamie has photographed more than 150 national artists live in concert. His photos have appeared on national tour T-shirts, VH1’s Behind the Music, the Associated Press Photo Archives, published in daily newspapers and, of course, in Southwest Florida’s own Happenings Magazine.

In conjunction with May 3′s Art Walk, Reverie & Rock will host Young Artists Awards‘ vocalists Halie Boring (right), Peyton Davis and Garrett Nowlin from 6:30-8:30 p.m. All three performers attend Cypress Lake High School and were winners of the 2013 Young Artists Awards competition. Beginning its eleventh year of programming, the Young Artists Awards is a not-for-profit education, performance, audition and scholarship program for students from throughout Southwest Florida.

For more information on the Young Artists Awards, please visit www.youngartistsawards.org or Young Artists Awards on Facebook. For more information about Reverie & Rock Art Gallery, please visit http://www.reverieandrock.com/ or telephone 239-278-5236.

10. The Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center is presenting the art of London Amara in May. Educated at the Columbus College of Art and Design, Amara is known for large-scale industrial, gestural and metaphoric sculpture, paintings and drawings. Intensely driven, she is constantly experimenting with different mediums and consistently intuits the use of handmade charcoals, graphite, water based paint, oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, enamels, oxidized metals, assemblage materials, and welded steel sculptures to visually excavate and capture brief moments of strength and fragility.

“The use of such a wide variety of mediums in unconventional ways allows for multiple dynamics and layers of expression,” Ms. Amara explains. “This is why abstract art can communicate and cross the boundaries of language. In creating art, the true subconscious surfacing to be expressed connects with a vast array of people. Art that is created in raw honesty touches the deepest and most sacred places we as humans encompass.” In Amara’s view, large scale, bold art with immediacy cuts right to the heart of the matter, and allows connection and ultimately healing. “CHAOS is a series of work created over the last year. Its inspiration surfaced from life-altering events personally experienced,” she expounds. “The willingness to create from those events is the heart of the power behind the intensity of the work.”

The Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center is located at 2301 First Street in the heart of the downtown Fort Myers River District. For more information, please telephone 239-333-1933 or visit www.sbdac.com.

11. Outside the Art Center during Art Walk from 7-9 p.m., Dr. Sketchy will be on hand. The Dr. provides models attired in intriguing costumes who assume exaggerated poses for sketchers to capture on paper. But there’s a catch. The muses only hold each pose for several minutes, forcing sketchers to work quickly. There’s no time for a detailed, full-blown drawing. The trick is for sketchers to focus on big picture subjects like  mood, character and the inner spirit of the muse rather than on trying to get all the details right. By compressing session times into five and ten minute increments, participants gain in just a few short hours experience it would take weeks to glean in a conventional classroom setting.

“Prepare to have another Nerdgasm,” posts organizer Heathyre Perara. “Pixel Winters is back, and this time she is celebrating (a day early) Star Wars Day aka ‘May the Fourth Be With You!’ One of these days Art Walk will fall on the right day, until then we’ll just have to pretend. ”

Pixel describes herself as a spunky, quirky, fun loving person. “I am a giant geek,” she proudly professes. She appropriately loves “anything that is Star Wars, Dr. Who, Zelda, Scott Pilgrim, zombie related and anything on the same lines.” If her poses possess a lyrical quality, it is because Winters has danced for 15 years, with her repertoire including ballet, hip hop and jazz. “I also have been acting and singing for the same amount of time,” she notes, but it “has only been in the last 5 years I have taken up costuming and cosplay.”

Some local sketchers have already had the chance to capture Pixel on paper. She reprised the role of Khaleesi, Queen of the Dothraki, when Dr. Sketchy celebrated the Game of Thrones during its monthly event at the Red Rock Saloon on April 17th. But if you missed out, fret not. You can catch Pixel as Slave Leia during Art Walk. “This will be a free event but I will be putting out a tip jar so anything you can throw in will go toward paying the model and the extra paper/pencil supplies as well as a portion to the Art Center,” adds Perara.  ”We will also be giving away prizes as well as having an online contest for anyone who posts their art and photos from the evening on our Facebook Wall….”

12.  UNIT A Contemporary Art Space will host a closing reception for Raw during Art Walk on May 3. The Marcus Jansen/Jonas Stirner exhibition drew over 250 people to its opening during the Space’s anniversary party on April 5 and has been both critically and popularly acclaimed.

Stirner’s industrial-themed sculptures were first introduced at UNIT A during its Art Walk reception in March. Jansen and Stirner then decided to collaborate on Raw, which juxtaposes Sitrner’s unique sculpture with Jansen’s post-apocalyptic urban landscapes to produce a highly complementary visual impact. Robert Rauschenberg’s artist assistant for more than 14 years, Stirner previously collaborated with artist Shepard Fairey to produce more than a hundred fine art prints of Fairey’s work to benefit the New York City Coalition for the Homeless. Stirner last exhibited work locally in 2009 at group shows at the Alliance for the Arts and the Naples Museum of Art in Naples. He currently has work on exhibit at Sacks Fifth Avenue’s “Metropolitan” group exhibition in Miami through May 15, 2013.

For more information about Raw, Jansen or UNIT A, please visit the gallery online at http://www.unitaspace.com or telephone 239-338-8449.

More than 35 participants make Art Walksuccessful each month and they include the Art League of Fort Myers, Art of the Olympians, Arts for ACT Gallery and Boutique, Charme, Cigar Bar, The Deli, Downtown House of Pizza, Enjewel, First United Methodist Church, Florida Repertory Theatre, Ford’s Garage, Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency, French Connection, Franklin Shops, Gulf Coast Times, Happenings Magazine, Hotel Indigo, HOWL Gallery/Tattoo, Legacy Harbour Hotel & Suites, Linen Cottage, Lush Bakery, Market America Realty & Investments, The Nest Home & Garden, Ocasiocasa Gallery Studio, The Open Door Shoppes on Hendry, Palm Printing, River District Alliance, The Shoppes at Broadway, Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, Spirits of Bacchus, Twisted Vine Bistro, UNIT A Contemporary Art Space, United Café Bar & Bistro, The Veranda Restaurant and the Young Artists Awards Program.

Held the first Friday of every month from 6 to 10 p.m., Art Walk features local and national artwork in the downtown art galleries and several art stops in the Fort Myers River District. Now that the night air is cool, thousands will be making their way to the River District for this month’s Art Walk. But fret not, there’s plenty of free parking. So call your friends and meet downtown in the city on the Caloosahatchee that’s quickly gaining a worldwide reputation as the art center of southwest Florida.

Location. After spending four years on Fifth Avenue South, Random Acts of Art has relocated to the artists’ enclave in Crayton Cove. The gallery is located at 761 12th Avenue S, a block from the City Dock and Naples Bay. Revitalized in 1996 with a roundabout, new landscape and hardscape, and enhanced parking and pedestrian access, Crayton Cove contains an intriguing mix of offices, retail and marine businesses and upscale restaurants. So it’s no surprise that the art community has made Naples’ historic “town center” (which will celebrate its centennial in 2015) an exciting gallery district filled with history, fine dining and, of course, fine art.

Genres and Media. Random Acts of Art is a contemporary American craft gallery that exudes a quaint, whimsical  aura that makes visitors feel at home the instant they step inside. Much of the artwork in the gallery is functional. There is an aggregation of pottery, plates, bowls, vases, salt and pepper shakers and wine and bar accessories that you can use at home on a daily basis, as well as wood and metal furniture, mirrors and other home decor items. Other items are purely aesthetic, such as glass art, sculptural ceramics, and mixed media sculpture. Also found inside is a wide selection of art jewelry.

Ninety percent (90%) of the work in this gallery is handcrafted by artists and artisans residing in the United States, with the addition of a few special pieces made by artists in Canada and Europe. Random Acts of Arts is purely an arts and crafts boutique, meaning that you will not find original oils, acrylics or watercolors here.

Representative Artists. Artists featured by Random Acts of Art include:

Byron Wood. With more than 30 years of metalworking experience, Florida artist Byron M. Wood has built a reputation as a notable wildlife sculptor, although his repertoire includes more contemporary designs. He is one of the few metalworkers in the county who’s accomplished in cold forging, a  process that has evolved as an alternative to casting done hot in a foundry. The technique involves grinding bronze, copper, aluminum or steel into fine powder, which is then mixed with resins and a casting medium that is then poured or painted on the inside of a cast. As the quarter-inch skin hardens, it bonds with the resins and casting medium in a way that allows Wood to acid-etch, carve and hammer the surface before polishing the finished work into a lustrous sheen. However they are made, Wood’s tarpon, seagulls, herons, anhinga, osprey and fantasy fish are denoted by unique artistry and remarkable quality.  The finished pieces are pleasing to both the eye and the soul, for this generation and for those to come, and that’s one reason why they are among the first artworks seen by visitors as they enter the gallery.

Josh Simpson. Since learning glassblowing at Goddard College, Josh Simpson has made thousands of large and small planets, as well as tremendous glass platters that resemble the sun’s corona or Saturn and its rings. He has also crafted artificial meteorites that are physically and chemically similar to the real ones, embedded with glass inlays. The largest planets, a foot in diameter and weighing 50 pounds or more, are in the permanent collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Art, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Yale University Art Gallery and other institutions. Others have been included in the White House Collection of American Crafts USA Tour. But Random Acts of Art patrons can find Simpson’s

Natalie Blake. Natalie Blake’s pieces are thrown, carved, fired with stone-matte surfaces in rich colors, and finished with hand built lids in porcelain. Her carving is inspired by aquatic, botanical, industrial, and mythical elements. The sculptural components and layered colors create a lush depth of surface, an inviting texture, and a sense of three-dimensional space. Her carving has been referenced to folded fabric, conjuring the image of expandability through breath. Creating a piece that conveys fullness and ripeness is what satisfies artist Natalie Blake.

Hours. The gallery is open from noon to 9:00 p.m. on Monday through Saturday, and from noon until 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Telephone Number and Website. You may reach the gallery by telephone at 239-435-0668 or online at http://www.randomactsart.com. You may also follow the gallery on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RandomActsOfArt.

Ownership. The boutique is owned by Random Acts of Art, Inc. which was incorporated on June 13, 2007. Rani Raquel Richardson serves as president and CEO of the company. Richardson is a graduate of the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. She has an 16 year background as the buyer, merchandiser and senior manager for Seldom Seen Gallery, Inc., a large high-volume craft gallery and gift store in Fort Lauderdale, as well as a photographer at Moment in Time.

Fast Facts.

• As a public service to its female clients, the boutique holds Guys Shopping Night from 6-9 p.m. on Wednesday, December 14th. No girls are allowed in the store that night, and Random Acts of Art provides the guys with food, beer and free gift wrap. To eliminate any possibility of mistakes, girls are encouraged to leave “Get a Clue!” cards with the shop just in case their guy suffers a brain cramp or Christmas anxiety.
• The gallery moved in 2013 from its location in the Provident Jewelry building at 505 Fifth Avenue South.
• The gallery participates each year in American Craft Week, a 10-day celebration in October of the work made by thousands of American artists and craft retailers who produce amazing handmade decorative and functional objects. American Craft Week is a project of Craft Retailers & Artists for Tomorrow (CRAFT). CRAFT is an association of galleries, shops, schools and artists who are dedicated to presenting work with one common characteristic – it’s handmade in the U.S.A. The goal of CRAFT is to promote awareness of American made craft through marketing, networking, education and communications programs.

Related Articles

Byron Wood’s cold-forged wildlife sculptures on sale at Random Acts of Art (04-11-13)

The galleries participating in Art After Dark include Arsenault Gallery, Art Gallery Old Naples2, Earth & Fire, Guess-Fisher Gallery: Nestled in the Cove, Nora Butler Designs, Phil Fisher Gallery and Random Acts of Art. All hang new art and exhibits and offer complimentary wine and hors d’oeuvres, and Guess-Fisher even provides entertainment by local musical talent. Also open during Art After Dark are the Naples Ship Store and The Beached Boat Co. With its collection of museum-quality ship models, maritime collectibles, paintings, gifts and marine/fishing supplies, the Naples Ship Store has catered to the nautical enthusiast since 1986. And at The Beached Boat Co, locals and winter residents alike will find “Coastal Cottage” furniture in vibrant colors and classic styles perfect for a beach house or casual coastal lifestyle.

With restaurants like Bleu Provence, Chez Boez, The Dock and Boathouse Restaurant, most people taking part in Art After Dark cap their evening of fine art with a sumptuous gourmet meal.

Acclaimed by locals, visitors and critics alike for superb French Mediterranean bistro cuisine, an international wine list and attentive service, Bleu Provence is an epicurean favorite. Inspired by their native France and passion for fresh food and great wine, co-owners Jacques and Lysielle Cariot have blended elegant French dining with a romantic tropical setting to create a never-to-forget epicurean experience right here in Olde Naples.

Originally called Bamboo Cafe, Chez Boet opened in the Crayton Cove waterfront in 2003. That first year, owners Lisa and Philippe Boet made a commitment to cook with locally grown organic and seasonal produce as well as locally-sourced seafood. A majority of their menu items are also gluten free. Known for French home cooking, Chez Boet also speaks the language of French fondue.

The Boathouse is the only restaurant in Southwest Florida that sits entirely over the water. It is the reader’s choice champion for seafood and waterfront dining five years running, featuring local and Northern seafood as well as the exclusive license to sell Allen Brothers steaks from Chicago.

The Dock at Crayton Cove features bay views, great food and a laid-back atmosphere that have made this dining hot spot a Naples tradition since 1976.

The experienced concentration of professional artists who make Art After Dark an exciting art evening is located at the intersection of 8th St. S. & 12th Ave. S., all within a one-block walk. For more information, please visit www.GalleriesOfCraytonCove.com.

Articles and Links

• Final ‘Art After Dark’ of season takes place in Crayton Cove on Saturday, May 11 (05-07-13)
• Next to last ‘Art After Dark’ of 2012-13 season takes place Saturday, April 13 (04-02-13)

Here’s a summary of everything there is to see and do in the River District this Friday night:

1. For this month’s Art Walk, the Art League of Fort Myers presents “Through the Lens” photography show which is being judged by Andrew West.  Whereas most Art League exhibitions are only open to Art League members or members of the Art Council of Southwest Florida, “Through the Lens” is open to the public, ensuring that Art Walkers will be treated to the very best art photography in this area. The Art League is located at 1451 Monroe Street. For more information, please call 239-275-3970 or visit www.artleagueoffortmyers.org.

2. Art of the Olympians occupies one of the most picturesque locations in all of Fort Myers. Situated on a narrow peninsula that juts out into the Caloosahatchee River, AOTO is framed by the Fort Myers Marina to the east and the River District’s Myers newly-completed 1.8-acre river basin to the west. Designed to collect stormwater run-off from the downtown’s 15-acre hardscape, the basin utilizes a series of  percolating fountains to aerate the water and plants to absorb fertilizers and other nutrients that don’t belong in the river, downstream estuaries or the Gulf of Mexico. For April’s Art Walk, AOTO brings the River District Full Circle, the art of two Olympian cyclists, teammates and artists, Bill Kund and Skip Cutting. For more information, please call 239-332-5055 or visit www.artoftheolympians.org.

3. Articulture Gallery & Tattoo Studio is holding a group exhibit. Articulture’s tattoo artists have had work featured in numerous online magazines. They specialize in original art, cover ups, and all around quality tattoo work.

4. Arts for ACT Gallery & Boutique is featuring The S.W. Florida Penn Women Group, photographer Andrew Miller and the painted furniture, gourd and naive art of Kim Kraft-Beckler.

The Southwest Florida branch of the National League of American Pen Women will be showcasing paintings, mixed media, photography, digital art, glass, pottery and jewelry at Arts for ACT Gallery & Boutique during this Friday’s Art Walk, while its writer-members will display their published books. Coming from Sanibel, Fort Myers, Matlacha, St. James City, Cape Coral and the Port Charlotte area, this talented group includes visual artists Barb Albin, Cheryl Fausel, Christine Reichow, Honey Costa, Janis Balabon, Joan Klutch, Dr. Kyra Belan, Pam Brodersen, Peg Cullen, Sharyn Dahn, Shirley Hales and Lynn Berreitter. Beverly Spana will display her glass works and Gay Cable will show her jewelry, while authors j.d. daniels, Lorraine Walker Williams, Marsha Perlman and Dr. Kyra Belan will have books for sale.

Andrew Miller is a downtown Fort Myers based photographer, with a preference for shooting on 35mm film. Displaying a passion for ‘street photography,’ Miller’s photographic influences include Henri Cartier-Bresson and contemporary actor Jeff Bridges. He’ll be in the house at Arts for ACT Gallery duringthis Friday’s Art Walk when RAW IMAGES opens in the downtown Fort Myers bastion of contemporary art. RAW IMAGES is a series of fine art nude portraits that’s the artist’s ‘answer’ to the ‘over-photoshopification’ of the commercial photo environment. Believing that far too many images are created in post-production by a photo edit program, the photos in this series remain untouched by any electronic medium. Using a vintage Polaroid camera and contemporary Fuji film, the images you see on display are the very photos that were literally pulled from the camera.

Kim Kraft-Beckler is an award winning gourd artist and her work can be found is in many personal and corporate collections here and abroad. She also paints canvas and unique furniture. Kim finds inspiration in both gourds and found objects. From gourds, the Florida resident of 28 years creates turtles, frogs and many other specimens of Florida wildlife. But she is equally adept as creating exciting works of art from furniture, knick-knacks, doors and windows. A naive painter with a degree in commercial art, Kim paints on anything she can get her hands on, with recycling serving as the driving force behind her art and her love of nature, color, and the simple pleasures of life informing all her work. Kim last exhibited at Arts for ACT in October of 2011.

For more information, please call 239-337-5050 or visit www.artsforactgallery.com.

5. Enjewel is the hip First Street boutique that caters to confident and fashion-forward women. Operating under the banner that “with the right accessories [a woman] can do anything,” Enjewel offers vintage purses, handmade Mother of Pearl and natural horn bags, art jewelry, faux fur scarves with pockets, and chic dresses galore. “We love supporting local designers with our made in the USA collections,” Lynne Routhier posts on Facebook. “These apparel pieces will provide your wardrobe with classic colors and fun prints and you’ll be sure to turn a few heads.” Enjewel is located at 2266 First Street in the downtown Fort Myers River District, across from Arts for ACT.

6. Gallery Showcase and Information Center at IberiaBank (Bayview Court at First Street) is the place for Art Walk T-shirts as well as buttons, maps, and brochures.

7. At the Franklin Shops, Art Walkers will find artistic treasures in Blind Dog Gallery, Creative Images by Judi(photography, wildlife and Florida scenes), David Krupick Photography, Fusion Art Glass Factory (functional art and decorative pieces made by Carrie Keohane of Fort Myers), Glass Girlz, John James Audubon Collection, Joe Rossi Art Studio (acrylic, watercolor and mixed media), Julien Miville (contemporary American impressionist with some works in Pointillism), Natasha Cuevas Photography, and Upcycle Beach.

The Franklin Shops on First is also home to True Tours, which offers a highly informative historical walking tours, spooky haunted history tour, architectural and public art walkingtours. So if you’ve ever wondered about the history of the old buildings downtown or the public artworks that dot the River District, then stop into the Franklin Shops during Art Walk and book your tour with Gina Taylor. (For more information, you can reach Gina by phone at 239-945-0405 or at www.TrueTours.net.)

The Franklin Shops are located at the corner of Broadway and First in the downtown Fort Myers River District.

8. Part of the InterContinental Hotel Group, Hotel Indigois known for plush guest rooms and swank public spaces that are transformed seasonally through changing signage, aromas, music and artwork. With Vino de Notte, a newly-renovated lobby lounge and its Phi in the Sky rooftop lounge, Hotel Indigo always figures prominently in the Art Walk scene.

Phi in the Sky is home to David Acevedo’s mural, The Heart of the City’s Sky. Owners Tim and Catherine O’Brien commissioned the work in August, 2011 following a month-long competition that Acevedo won because of his superb attention to detail, space, color and deep concentration on Fort Myers’ cultural society. Says the hotel’s social media director, Kayla Dacosta, “David is not only a sensational artist, but his spirit runs deep and his work is an obvious statement of all things beautiful and exceptional in the world. He grasps color and moves paint in such a way that viewers feel awakened by his work. Hotel Indigo is very pleased and grateful to have David lending inspiration to the Phi in the Sky!”

9. HOWL Gallery/Tattoo on Broadway Street is holding Stewed, Screwed and Tattooed, a group show featuring the work of non-virgin artists who drink and have at least one tattoo.  The exhibit showcases a group of talented local artists in a variety of mediums, including Justin Bryant, Matt Lackey, Scott Snyder, Mandalin Paul, Christina Penuel, Alisha Koyanis, Danielle Branchaud, David Thomas, Hoolie Huffer, Sherri Malkinson, Steve Dargis, Dale Weber, Danielle Thomas and David Paddock.

This will be HOWL Gallery’s final downtown Fort Myers Art Walk exhibit. HOWL is moving to a larger 3,300 square foot gallery and tattoo studio across from the Edison Mall in May. The new location is behind David’s Bridal and Brent’s Music in the Miracle Plaza. HOWL will continue to host the very best art shows and tattoo artists at its new location, and will be launching a new art/music monthly event in partnership with Brent’s Music. Details TBA.

10. Ocasiocasa Studio Gallery presents Jackalopes and Rattlesnake Eggs – an art collection in foolery. It’s the newest artwork by owners Jeff & Dale Ocasio. Giving a nod to the fool’s errand played throughout the world, this collection also includes a hoop snake, dropbear, and their own version of a bunyip. Ocasiocasa is located at 1540 Broadway, between First & Main, in the Fort Myers River District.

11. Reverie & Rock Art Gallery features the digital surrealism of Kathy Kuser and the rock and country concert photography of Jamie Kuser. “With my art, I want to bring a fresh and contemporary twist to a long established medium – surrealism,” says Kathy Kuser. “I find that through tragedy comes hurt and healing. At 50, I am at a point of re-evaluating life’s direction and I find myself invigorated by my new form of artistic expression. Using my skills as a graphic designer, I create 2D/3D digital surrealism. Through a mystical and fantasy driven vision, a story emerges from my canvas. I use stark details with transitional blending; thus my art takes flight.”

The new downtown Fort Myers art space also showcases the concert photography of Jamie Kuser. For more than 15 years, Jamie has been photographing national recording artists while they perform on stage. From AC/DC to ZZ Top, and from Alan Jackson to Sugarland, Jamie has photographed more than 150 national artists live in concert. His photos have appeared on national tour T-shirts, VH1’s Behind the Music, the Associated Press Photo Archives, published in daily newspapers and, of course, in Southwest Florida’s own Happenings Magazine.

Students from the Young Artists Awards will be performing at the gallery.

12. On April 5th, the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center and Woody Hanson, in collaboration with Harvey A. Moore, Ph.D., Luke Roman, Amy Williams, Tracy Haun and Houston Cypress, present a creative and engaging visual experience that reveals the personal and social relationships which informed two of Florida’s most diverse cultural communities during the first half of the 20th century, the pioneers of Fort Myers and Florida’s Seminole-Miccosukee Indians. “Interpreting these parallel cultures is something I’ve wanted to do for some time,” says fifth-generation Fort Myers’ resident Woody Hanson. “The juxtaposition of life in Fort Myers, a young and prospering town, and life in the Everglades or the Big Cypress Swamp, where ancestral cultures have been a constant for time eternal, is unimaginable – but real,” Hanson says. Parallel Worlds – Parallel Lives includes over two hundred images of early Fort Myers and its pioneers, as well as rare views of one of Florida’s most remote regions and the lives its Seminole and Miccosukee Indians lived there. The exhibit will be on display until April 24, 2013. For more information, please telephone 239-333-1933 or visit www.sbdac.com.

13. Outside the Art Center during Art Walk from 7-9 p.m., Dr. Sketchy will be on hand. The Dr. provides models attired in intriguing costumes who assume exaggerated poses for sketchers to capture on paper. But there’s a catch. The muses only hold each pose for several minutes, forcing sketchers to work quickly. There’s no time for a detailed, full-blown drawing. The trick is for sketchers to focus on big picture subjects like  mood, character and the inner spirit of the muse rather than on trying to get all the details right. By compressing session times into five and ten minute increments, participants gain in just a few short hours experience it would take weeks to glean in a conventional classroom setting.

“Our muse for the evening will be Alex Holmes modeling unique clothing created by Sinister Urge, a unique clothing line hand-made with love…and a dash of poison,” reports organizer Heathyre Perara. “Horribly sassy. Slightly macabre. Visit the Sinister Urge facebook page: www.facebook.com/sinisterjoannie.”

An aspiring actress and Barbizon model, Holmes has assumed past Art Walk roles as Indian Jones (below right) a Steam Punk time traveller, Alice from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass (right), Jack from Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas, an Anime-style Lolita, and Robin, the Batman’s Boy Wonder. “I like making my face and body almost tell a story within the picture,” remarks Alex, who’s been modelling since she was eleven. “I love the crazy photos that get me in odd positions in a weird place,” which is why she’s the perfect fit for Dr. Sketchy and the Davis Art Center Art Walk crowd.

“This will be a free event but I will be putting out a tip jar so anything you can throw in will go toward paying the model and the extra paper/pencil supplies as well as a portion to the Art Center,” adds Perara.  ”We will also be giving away prizes as well as having an online contest for anyone who posts their art and photos from the evening on our Facebook Wall….”

14.  Marcus Jansen’s open studio headquarters, UNIT A Contemporary Art Space, is celebrating its one year anniversary during Art Walk on April 5. The extravaganza will include a DJ, a special guest artist appearance and after-party. The Art Walk celebration is open to everyone, but the Fire Marshal limits entry to 140 people at a time, so get there early.

More than 35 participants make Art Walksuccessful each month and they include the Art League of Fort Myers, Art of the Olympians, Arts for ACT Gallery and Boutique, Charme, Cigar Bar, The Deli, Downtown House of Pizza, Enjewel, First United Methodist Church, Florida Repertory Theatre, Ford’s Garage, Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency, French Connection, Franklin Shops, Gulf Coast Times, Happenings Magazine, Hotel Indigo, HOWL Gallery/Tattoo, Legacy Harbour Hotel & Suites, Linen Cottage, Lush Bakery, Market America Realty & Investments, The Nest Home & Garden, Ocasiocasa Gallery Studio, The Open Door Shoppes on Hendry, Palm Printing, River District Alliance, The Shoppes at Broadway, Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, Spirits of Bacchus, Twisted Vine Bistro, UNIT A Contemporary Art Space, United Café Bar & Bistro, The Veranda Restaurant and the Young Artists Awards Program.

Held the first Friday of every month from 6 to 10 p.m., Art Walk features local and national artwork in the downtown art galleries and several art stops in the Fort Myers River District. Now that the night air is cool, thousands will be making their way to the River District for this month’s Art Walk. But fret not, there’s plenty of free parking. So call your friends and meet downtown in the city on the Caloosahatchee that’s quickly gaining a worldwide reputation as the art center of southwest Florida.

Verve

The hanging fused glass sculpture will grace the lobby atrium of Marieb Hall, a recently completed Health Sciences building. “The artwork will be made of handmade sculptural glass and be suspended on stainless steel cables and a custom crafted aluminum truss,” reports News Briefs, the monthly online newsletter of the Florida Association of Public Art Professionals. “The subject of this proposed work is based on the representation of neurons and dendrites and relates to the celebration of human communication.”

“The artwork will illuminate the university’s mission by celebrating and inspiring connections students are making with each other and with their own potential,” Gutlove notes. “Although human brain cells are the seeds of my inspiration for this piece, viewers will discover other imagery as they view the sculpture over time. My concept is that students will make their own connections, and the art will inspire curiosity, exploration and education.”

While public art delivers myriad benefits, one of its chief functions is to engender a deeper interaction with a place by the people who visit, work and study there. Public art creates human scaling of open areas by framing the space, draws people together by inducing strangers to talk to one another, engages the faculty and student body, and adds to their visual quality of life. But good public art does more than stimulate conversation and make a space seem more welcoming. It relates to the environment in which it is located, a goal Gutlove will strive to accomplish by creating hundreds of pieces of fused glass to conjure the nuclei and dendrites of three neurons.

“Neurons are essentially the brain’s messengers, relaying messages electronically throughout the human brain and spinal chord,” Gutlove explains. “Many intricate trees of highly branched extensions called dendrites extend from the surface of each cell body and serve as receptors to collect signals from other neurons.” After light enters your eye, for example, it is turned into signals that are picked up by dendrites. Neurons carry these signals almost instantaneously to various parts of the brain, prompting your eyelids to squint, the muscles in your hand and arm to catch a ball, or more neurons to create new signals that send inklings of thought darting through your brain.

The glass that Gutlove will use to create her nuclei and rangy dendrites will appear both clear and colorful as it scatters the light which floods Marieb Hall’s atrium and casts dynamic, colorful reflections and refractions on the walls, floor and ceiling. Images of Michele Gutlove’s other public art pieces can be viewed at www.studiogh.com.

Materials, Dimension and Weight

• Each nucleus will consist of between 18 and 24 pieces of fused glass.
• There will be 110-140 dendrites.
• The nuclei and dendrites will be hung by stainless steel cables from two slightly serpentine trusses.
• The truss will be hung with clamps from the bottom cord of the steel beam that supports Marieb Hall’s third floor.
• The entire sculpture will weigh just 156 pounds.
• The sculpture requires minimal maintenance. “About once every year or two, it will need a light dusting.”
• Marieb Hall houses the College of Health Sciences.
• Florida Gulf Coast University is located at 10501 FGCU Blvd. South, Fort Myers, FL 33965.

A Word About Michele Gutlove

Michele Gutlove has been working in glass for the last 16 years. Her formal education, however, is in architecture and years of architectural practice provides her with a strong foundation in structural engineering, solar energy and day lighting, as well as art history and painting. It also inspires her to utilize a collaborative design process involving individual clients and client groups.

“I understand the creation of large-scaled spaces, the value of attention to detail and, of course, building codes. As an architect, I have managed teams of designers and engineers on multi-million dollar projects for institutional and commercial clients as well as self-performed design and fabrication for smaller projects.” As a painter, Gutlove possesses a passion for the interplay of color and light, and she employs her abilities and experience as an architectural renderer to communicate design intent to her glass art clients. “As a glass artist working with kiln-formed glass to create glass art installations, I celebrate the opportunity to combine all of these skills.”

For exterior and unprotected environments, Gutlove works with polycarbonate, and for other individual projects, she routinely works with glass temperers, safety laminators, mirror silverers, lighting consultants, aluminum and steel fabricators and other trades. “However, I personally shape and fire every piece of glass to assure conformance with design intent and quality. All of my art projects have been delivered and installed in accordance with my clients’ schedule requirements including integration into on-going construction timelines.

Michele has public art installations in:

• Gainesville, FL – Elemental Energy (a suspended glass sculpture depicting flames, sparks and water commissioned by the Gainesville Regional Utilities for the lobby of their new firefighters’ training center).
• Lauderhill, FL – Bromeliad Sunshower (a suspended glass sculpture depicting a tropical sun shower with bromeliad lilies, palm fronds, monstera deliciosa and dichroic sun and rain commissioned by the City of Lauderhill for the lobby of their new city hall).
• Cedar Rapids, IA – Emergence (a tribute in glass to transformation, installed in the new Juvenile Justice Center, in which hundreds of caterpillars emerge as dichroic glass butterflies in a forest of native wildflowers, ferns, deciduous leaves, and evergreen needles).
• Corvallis, OR – Suislaw Sunshower (impression of the Siuslaw National Forest in the atrium of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library containing 1280 pieces of glass that represent native wildflowers, deciduous leaves and evergreen needles, pierced by the sun).
• Monmouth, OR – Bright Day (dynamic reflections, refractions and shadows from 20 pieces of hand-made glass create the illusion of a bright sunny day in Western Oregon University’s Werner Center).
• Natick, MA – Western Well – Wall of Reflection (wall of fused glass mounted on mirrors in a mikvah lobby, with deep green colors below the sea fading to blues for the Earth and sky to purples for the universe beyond).
• New Orleans, FL – Random Thoughts (an impressionistic tribute in glass to a healthy mind, made of hundreds of pieces of hand-made glass suggesting a neuron’s nucleus, axons, and dendrites).
• Salt Lake City, UT – Inklings, Musings and Notions (three triptychs depicting impressionistic neurons and dendrites, installed at the University of Utah’s new James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building).
• Springfield, MA – Aqua Luminance (a hand-formed hanging glass sculpture representing aquatic plant life growing in water towards the day-light, installed in the Daly Lobby of the Baystate Medical Center).

About Her Process

There exist three traditional methods for creating art glass. The first is referred to as cold glass, of which stained glass is the chief example. Stained glass is formed by cutting and assembling pieces of cold glass together with strips of metal caning. Hot or blown glass is formed from molten glass, which is manipulated as it cools and becomes more viscous. Fused or kiln-formed glass is formed from cold glass that is manipulated as it heats up and becomes less viscous. But whereas hot or blown glass is heated to temperatures exceeding 2100 degrees Farenheit, the temperature of fused glass never exceeds 1700 degrees, prompting some to refer to it as warm glass.

Michele Gutlove works in the medium of fused glass. “My glass art works are composed of fragments or ribbons of cut glass,” she explains. They are fired multiple times, which each being slowly annealed over a period of hours or even days depending on the size, shape and complexity of each piece. “I often layer thousands of elements of transparent, iridescent and/or dichoic glass and fuse them together at temperatures between 1450-1700 degrees Farenheit until they are fully fused into a smooth sheet.” Afterward, additional layers of glass may be “tack fused” onto the smooth sheet in a slightly cooler firing (1300-1425 degrees). “These tack-fused elements add texture, enhancing the diversity of reflections when seen from different angles.”

But she’s far from done. Gutlove then gently and slowly bends the glass into sculptural forms in yet another, even cooler (1175-1275 degree) firing. “In nature, no two neurons are exactly the same,” the artist observes. “Similarly, each of the pieces of sculptural glass that I create are unique in color and form” as each is individually hand-crafted.

Cooled to an amorphous solid, each piece of Gutlove’s sculptural glass will hold its finished shape for thousands of years. “Like our planet, each piece of glass comes from a process of immense transformative heat followed by cooling,” Michele adds. “A combination of art and science, fused glass is the ideal material for this project.”

A Word About Dichroic Coatings

Dichroic is a term that normally refers to glass that is made with tiny proportions of minutely ground metals (like gold and silver) or oxides (such as titanium, chromium, aluminum, zirconium, magnesium or silica) mixed into the glass. The suspended particles in the glass cause certain wavelengths of light to either pass through or be reflected. This causes an array of color to be displayed which shifts depending on the angle of view and the location of the sun or artificial light source.

The oldest example of dichroic glass is the Lycurgus Cup, a Roman glass cage cup that can be found in the British Museum. The cup appears red when lit from behind and green when lit from in front. As a result of this optical quality, it has been described as the most spectacular glass of the period and is the only complete Roman object made from this type of glass.

Today, dichroic glass is influenced by research carried out by NASA and its contractors, who developed it for use in dichroic filters. Dichroic filters are sometimes called color separation filters because their purpose is to separate incoming visible light into separate colors or into beams of different wavelengths. Dichroic coatings achieve this color or wavelength separation with a much higher degree of accuracy than conventional filters. Applications of dichroic filters or color separation filters include color correction and light balancing, and they are found in architectural, studio and  theatrical lighting, color TV or camcorder cameras, automated color  sorting systems, color enlargers and color projectors.

The filters and coatings are made by vaporizing metals or oxides with an electron beam in a vacuum chamber. The vapor condenses on the surface of the material in the form of uni-axially arranged crystal structures. A protective layer of quartz crystal is also sometimes added. The coating that is created is very similar to a gemstone and, by careful control of thickness, different colors may be obtained.

Another artwork located on the FGCU campus that employs dichroic coatings is Depend du Soleil by Mark T. Fuller.

Articles and Links.

Natick sculptor Michele Gutlove wins commission for next FGCU public artwork (03-11-13)

Name:

Genre: Abstract

Gallery:

Website: http://www.veronennis.com

Facebook:

Her Art:

Veron Ennis is a Fort Myers-based modernist painter concerned with the intimate characteristics of the layered painted medium, the language of color, and the interplay between precision and chance application. Using an underlying grid format, she utilizes an assortment of media to create her paintings, including water-based paints, acrylics, polymer-based grounds, cotton rag paper, raw canvas and wood panel. “I discovered early on that oils are not my medium. “The cost, drying times and fumes interfere with what I want to do,” Ennis relates. But acrylics solve all of her technical questions and empower her to express herself within the confines of her self-imposed creative time constraints.

Her work can be divided into three series, Paper Milk, Chroma Tone and Transference.

Paper Milk Series

“In the early stages of my career, I was in search of an identifiable, consistent style,” Ennis relates. “I had to go through different approaches to find out what I was looking for, but I arrived there three years ago.” Paper Milk was Ennis’ jumping off point. The series was white, clean, and fresh, presented on free-hanging paper suspended from above by white string attached to the upper corners of each artwork by miniature white clothespins. Although well-received, Ennis has no immediate plans to return to the series given the limitations it imposes in terms of theme, content and the difficulties in pulling paint across such a fragile support as paper. [Depicted above is Kingdom from the Paper Milk series.]

Chroma Tone Series

Following Paper Milk, Ennis embarked upon a bold, experimental body of work called Chroma Tone. “Chroma- the intensity of a distinctive hue, and Tone- the quality or character of a sound considered with reference to a source, are the blanketing concerns of this series,” explained Ennis in September of 2011. “The meticulously formulated palette in this series synchs with the carefully chosen typography to create a particular tone for each painting. The work creates a phonetic sound when viewed and ‘read,’ which echoes in the mind while the image is interpreted, leaving the impression of not only image- created by color and form, but also sound created by text.” [Depicted above is Scaffold from the Chroma Tone series.]

Transference

Ennis calls her current body of work Transference. In these new tightly-structured abstracts, Ennis strives to transfer to her viewers elated feelings of love and joy in a non-objective manner. “The transference of information during the creative process from artist to painting, and then from painting to viewer when the work is completed, is the reason why art can transcend time and why abstract painting has the ability to communicate. Transferring specifically positive information through the means of creating a non-objective painting is a graceful way to connect with people and is freeing and enlightening for the artist. Transference is a series of work, continued from the series Chroma Tone, that conveys a gentle and calm message, created through the artist and medium, and open to a relaxed and perceptive interpretation. Positive artwork is no less serious than work of any other nature, in fact, it is essential,” Ennis explains.

From a theoretical perspective, Transference operates from the premise that art has a measurable effect on people. Regrettably, that impact has been largely negative for too many years. “For decades, the art market has been saturated with works that portray negative positions on life and the world around us,” Veron writes in the December 2012 edition of Gulfshore Life. “Intriguing and arresting as they are, the sheer volume of such pieces compels me to ask, ‘How much negativity can the art world handle?’” Ennis believes that art lovers have reached their saturation point, coming to the sudden realization that they need to prevent dark, dreary and dreadful imagery from penetrating their home and office spaces and, derivatively, their psyches and souls. Believing that the feelings she conveys in her abstract compositions are transferred to the people who view her work, Ennis feels it is incumbent upon her to strictly regulate the emotions she experiences leading up to and during the creative process. “I won’t paint while I’m mad, sad or tired because that could be transferred to the viewer.”

“A new movement is on the rise and will answer the call of the counter-culture,” Ennis postulates in the Gulfshore Life piece. “In styles from completely abstract to figurative realism, artists are embracing aesthetic beauty and spiritual expressions.” This doesn’t mean sweet, sentimental, shallow pieces that cater to unthinking enthusiasts spouting Coue’-inspired mantras and aphorisms. “We are talking about art that conveys beauty, truth or goodness,” insists Maureen Watson, owner of Watson-MacRae Gallery on Sanibel. “This is what humans always search for and what I search for all over the country. Technical proficiency is a given. This work goes beyond the technical into the spiritual, the metaphysical.”

For her part, Ennis is all about conveying her own copious positive energy in order to heal viewers physically and psychologically. “I want to bring people to a peaceful place, a place in which they can find balance, a good place where although bad things may happen, people and the world are inherently good.”

While her new artistic approach requires her to exercise vigilance over her emotional state, Veron willingly yields large segments of the creative process to serendipity, happenstance and pure chance. It’s a technique called aleatoricism, and it acknowledges and embraces the role of fate, the laws of physics and the continuum of perpetual chaos in the creation of works of art. By collaborating with the forces that govern the universe, aleatoric artists like Ennis find they are able to transcend the limitations of the mind and body to reach previously unattainable artistic plateaus.

The interchange begins with Ennis choosing the amount of paint, palette and areas to mask at the start of her composition. “Carefully pre-mixing each color in large containers, I find the precise tone of each hue that will communicate a feeling of comfort and well-being before ever starting a series of work.” But then fate intervenes as she pulls the paint across the un-taped surface to create “a delightful depth accented by drawn line.” The large sections of paint determine the landscape of the composition; the landscape, in turn, determines the detail, whether prominent or barely there. “Each time I apply a layer of paint, I stand back and evaluate the painting to see if it’s done.” If not, she applies and pulls another thin layer, yielding again to that higher, universal force in the creative process.

This back and forth, alternatively yielding and then seizing control, is highly meditative, forcing Ennis to be and stay in the moment. “It requires me to focus intently. Every decision, every application matters intensely” as she engages in a dialogue with the canvas, discovering the painting in its making. “When the painting feels in complete balance, I know it’s finished.” This can occur in a single session or, more commonly, over a period of days, weeks or even months.

One component that did not transfer over from Chroma Tone to Transference is text. Ennis wove numerals and letters into her Chroma Tone compositions as a means toward exploring form, sound, and meaning. “But over time I became aware that the text misdirected viewers into asking what the painting signified rather than how it made them feel. ‘How does this make me feel?’ is always the operative inquiry when it comes to abstract art.”

“For 2,000 years, the world has been predominantly masculine,” Veron asserts. “But we’re going through a phase shift to the feminine perspective, which will be characterized by healing, spirituality and enlightenment.” Positive transference and aleatoricism are earmarks of this new perspective, and Veron Ennis is planted firmly at the forefront of these new artistic movements. Transference, therefore, is not just a new, transitory series, but the advent of a lifelong artistic pursuit with masterwork ramifications.

Education and Background:

Veron with son Liam at Chroma Tone opening at Fort Myers' daas Gallery in 2011.

Growing up in northern Virginia, Veron Ennis was blessed with the opportunity to frequent the museums in the nation’s capital, which allowed her to develop her own artistic vision and voice at an early age. She attended Virginia Tech University, where she studied graphic design and art history. ”I wanted to take painting classes, but they were reserved for painting majors,” Ennis recalls. “So I loaded up on art history classes.” That background provides context for her art and a solid foundation for her technique. More importantly, it “taught me how to learn, how to continue to educate myself and develop and grow.”

Veron works from an in-home studio that provides the artist with bountiful sunlight and a commanding view of both Fort Myers and the Caloosahatchee River. Outfitted with brushes, archival pens, charcoal, rags, trowels, knives, drills, rulers, squares, buckets full of jar lids, scrap canisters, odd metal shapes, various widths of tape, razors, a hand sander and other tools of her trade, it’s an ideal venue for crafting uplifting non-objective paintings designed to make a positive, uplifting impact on the people who view them, including husband Duncan and son Liam. Both her studio and the rest of her home contain the beginnings of her personal art collection. While there are samples of her own art from the Paper Milk and Chroma Tone series, Ennis and husband Duncan support local artists and have amassed a modestly-sized collection of local work.

Exhibitions

Veron has exhibited her works at some of Southwest Florida’s top galleries, including solo and group shows in Fort Myers, Sanibel, Naples, and Cape Coral.  Her work has also been featured in Miami, as well as at  New York’s Lyrical Luminosci-T and Amsterdam Whitney International Fine Art Gallery at a show curated by Ruthie Tucker.[Right: Veron at Daas Gallery in 2011 with son Liam.]

Her exhibition schedule for 2013 includes:

• INCOGNITO at Friends of Art, Naples Museum of Art, Curated by Richard L. Tooke, Naples, FL (January 31);
• OPT – Exhibition!, Mercato Pop-up Gallery, Saturday Nights Alive, Naples, FL (February 9, 6-10 p.m.);
• Veron Ennis: Solo Show, HOWL Gallery, Downtown Fort Myers, FL, Curated by Andy Howl (March 1, 6-10 p.m.);
• FLOR500 Native Wildflower Art Exhibition (part of Florida’s quincentennial celebration), Collier County South Regional Library in Naples; and
• Veron Ennis : Transference, Solo Show, Sydney and Berne Davis Art Center, Downtown Fort Myers, FL (August 2, 6-10 p.m.).

Curatorial and Art Journalism Backgrounds

Ennis with Marcus Jansen in front of "Imminent Threat" at UNIT A.

Ennis is the former Director of UNIT A Contemporary Art Space, a 7,000 square foot urban loft space exhibiting and housing the permanent collection of internationally acclaimed urban expressionist, Marcus Jansen. She served as the global expert on his work, launched the gallery in March of 2012 and implemented successful gallery systems for the growth and advancement of the space. She previously served as the curator for the Ferrari Gallery in Cape Coral, where she designed shows by noted artists including David Hatchett, Uri Berger and Jeffrey Scott Lewis.

As an arts journalist and critic, Ennis has written for such publications as ART DISTRICTS magazine, Times of the Islands, RSW Living, Bonita & Estero, Gulf & Main, and Gulfshore Life magazines. Immersing herself into the vast contemporary art world provides an energetic drive, inspiration, and a constant flow of challenges beyond the private, contemplative life of painting in her studio.

Positive Transference Theory

“Art is the transfer of emotions from one person to the other,” Leo Tolstoy once wrote. But until recently, that process was thought to be one in which both artist and viewer play an active role. “Such a transfer best occurs when both artist and the viewer have mastered the language and vocabulary of the visual arts—form, pattern, color, line, space, emotion, spirit, and metaphor — have a well-honed ability to see beyond the surface of things, and have a desire to work and live at the cutting edge of human understanding,”  suggests art critic Rob Mohr. “The element most often ignored or forgotten is the viewer’s responsibility to gain both the understanding and education needed to develop their capacity to appraise the artist’s work with sense and sensibility.” In other words, a common understanding of an artwork’s embedded emotion can only be reached through successful “affective participation”— the visual exchange between an artist (what he or she creates) and the viewer (what he or she sees in the work).

In 1698, French painter and co-founder of the French Painting Academy Charles Le Brun (1619–1690) went so far as to develop a standardized guide for how to convey emotion to viewers. TitledConférence sur l’Expression, Le Brun’s rule book set forth specific instructions and illustrations of how to visually represent various emotional states. Using popular stories from literature, religion, and mythology as examples, artists in the eighteenth century followed “the code” with the idea that a given emotion would be “read,” and thus interpreted by viewers the same way every time. But Le Brun and his devotees clearly didn’t think that there was anything subtle, nuanced or unconscious about conveying emotions to viewers. Quite the opposite. To ensure a common reading and understanding by the viewer, they actually exaggerated their visual representations or cues, and an artist’s success was measured by his technical skill and ability to accurately convey these badges of emotion in his compositions.

A few hundred years did not change much in evocative perception. In his essay “Aesthetic Hypothesis,” 20th Century art critic Clive Bell still felt that tremendous skill and gargantuan effort were required in order for a painting to communicate emotion to viewers. Postulating that good art has ability to evoke aesthetic emotion, Bell wrote that “a work of art must take the unassumingviewer into the beating heart of its world—a world that encapsulates more than pedestrian emotion, impulse, and imagination.” In Bell’s estimation, while viewers had to be open to the experience, whether the art has an impact is based largely, if not wholly on the artist’s skill and ability. And museums around the globe can point to the unquestioned few – Caravaggio, Michelangelo, da Vinci, van Gogh, Gorky or Rothko – who’ve had that rare ability to trigger a Stendhal reaction, a phenomenon in which viewers are moved to faint by their mere proximity to great art. Lesser artists have struggled to make any connection with viewers at all, forcing more and more artists since the mid-1950s to turn to shock art in an attempt to engage viewers both intellectually and emotionally in their work. Tracey Emin is perhaps the most visible example of this dynamic.

Emin’s work is known for its immediacy, raw openness and sexually-provocative attitude. Nowhere was this more in evidence than in her 1999 show at the Tate Gallery in London, where she exhibited her own bed covered with objects and traces of her struggle with depression during relationship difficulties. My Bed generated strong media attention due to the presence of bodily fluids on the sheets, as well as used condoms, empty liquor bottles and slippers on the floor. Taking advantage of her celebrity and reputation as an art outsider, Emin sought through the exhibit to present to viewers the world of her hopes, failures, success and humiliations that contains both tragic and humorous elements, engaging them with the unrestricted exploration of universal emotions.

As exhibits like My Bed demonstrate, art can dazzle us with its energy, its originality, its technical virtuosity. It can amuse, unsettle, or outrage us. It frequently comments on the culture in which we live, gives us pleasure, and provides us with intimations of mysterious beauty. It can touch us in ways that transcend the limitations of language. In one recent exhibit at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, it even left viewers tearful, shaken and inspired to permanently memorialize the experience through tattoos. Titled The Artist is Present, the exhibit featured artist Marina Abramovic seated in a chair staring intently across a small table at an empty chair. Members of the audience took turns occupying that chair as Abramovic peered through their eyes and seemingly into their very souls. Some laughed self-consciously. Many broke down in tears. Virtually all experienced some type of dramatic, raw emotion.

The Artist is Present took the principle of affective participation to the extreme, but can a work of art convey emotion if the viewer refuses or fails to participate in the process? Can the mood or emotional state expressed by the artist while creating an artwork pass subliminally to the viewer without he or she even noticing?

Artists and interior designers have long understood that color itself can dramatically affect moods, feelings and emotions. It is a powerful communication tool and can be used to signal action, influence mood, and cause physiological reactions. Certain colors can raise blood pressure, increase metabolism, or cause eye strain. Several ancient cultures, including the Egyptians and Chinese, practiced chromotherapy – the use of colors to heal. Sometimes referred to as light therapy or colourology, chromotherapy is still used today as a holistic or alternative treatment. However, psychologists have universally expressed doubt about the effects of color on mood and psychological health, and several studies have suggested that responses may be short lived. So while a person is initially calmed by a blue room, the state wears off as the person acclimates to the color.

Russian painter and abstract expressionist pioneer Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) would counter that the impact color has on a spectator depends on multiple variables not accounted for in these studies. Two of the most important are the use of opposing colors and the viewer’s level of spiritual development. Kandinsky developed a comprehensive color theory, complete with color chords, maintaining that color contains within itself a little studied but enormous power that can influence the entire human body. But to release this powerful affect, colors must be matched to produce a plus/minus, warm/cool, active/passive, female/male relationships. When this occurs, color operates intuitively, setting up “vibrations with the soul” that convey emotion and ideas to the spectator.

But Kandinsky also opined that color’s effect on people depends on the “level of [spiritual] development” of the individual. People at a low stage of development experience only fleeting “superficial” effects from color, while those at a higher level experience “a more profound effect, which occasions a deep emotional response.” In such people, color “call[s] forth a vibration from the soul.” As with pure sound, pure color could, in the right people, communicate directly, unmediated by symbolic conventions. Whatever might eventually prove to be the correct set of correspondences for the “sensitive” soul, color was a ‘keyboard” and it was the artist’s job to “purposefully set the soul vibrating by means of this or that key.”

Rooted in Symbolist principles of artistic excellence, Kandinsky’s aesthetic assumes a certain universal harmony underlying the apparent chaos of the natural world, and he felt a someone with a ‘higher consciousness’ could tap into this. It was the spiritual force of color that most concerned Kandinsky, who felt that through color he could give artistic form to form to inner nature. ”Art can only be great if it relates directly to cosmic laws and is subordinate to them. One senses these laws unconsciously if one approaches nature not outwardly, but inwardly.”

Of late, a number of scientific studies have been conducted to test the impact of both color and imagery on viewers. For example, a study conducted in 2011 for The Center for Health Design by Dr. Upali Nanda, Vice President and Director of Research American Art Resources, established through systematic behavioral observation that providing positive aesthetic images and artworks in a hospital waiting room reduces restlessness (which can be an indicator of patient anxiety and stress), reduces people watching (which has implications for privacy), and increases socialization (which could improve social support). “We can, therefore, conclude that a simple visual intervention, like still and video art, can improve the patient waiting experience in [hospital waiting rooms].”

But while the scientific community gathers empirical evidence from which to measure the conscious and subconscious impact of works of art on viewers, younger artists and collectors are beginning to re-evaluate the emotional message embedded within the colors, brushstrokes, media and overall composition of the works they produce and hang in their homes and offices. Underlying this inquiry is the growing recognition that much the same as the earth grows what is sowed, so our brains also grow the thoughts (the ‘thinking seeds’) we entertain. Our brain cultivates them and gives them nutrients and sustenance. These ‘thinking seeds’ ultimately determine who we become, how we deal with issues, how we solve problems and how we present ourselves. The challenge then becomes how to control what is planted in our brain – how to sow the right ‘thinking seeds’.

The brain/mind doesn’t care whether these thinking seeds are positive or negative. It will grow whatever’s planted. However, if  you plant negative seeds in your brain, pretty soon your entire thought process will be negative and critical, and you become a person who sees only the negative side of everything. As a result, your productivity in all areas of your life will become only a fraction of what it could be. Conversely, positive natured thoughts will have the opposite effect. They will enable us to be more connected to our natural genius, spot new opportunities, increase productivity and dramatically improve our prospects for success.

The relationship between thoughts, emotional state, mental health and physical well-being has been noted by philosophers from Socrates and Buddha to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Earl Nightingale and Brian Tracy. The latter has stated in his book Maximum Achievement that “your subconscious mind is an unquestioning servant that works day and night to make your behavior fit a pattern consistent with your emotionalized thoughts, hopes, and desires. Your subconscious mind grows either flowers or weeds in the garden of your life, whichever you plant by the mental equivalents you create.” Like Kandinsky, Tracy believes there exist immutable cosmic laws, such as the Law of Concentration, which states that whatever you dwell upon, grows. “The more you think about something, the more it becomes part of your reality.”

Given all of this, Veron Ennis posits in her paintings the rule of Positive Transference, and it compels her to closely monitor and strictly control the thoughts, feelings and emotions she conveys in the paintings she produces so that they will have the best possible effect on the psychological state and physical well-being of her collectors.

Aleatoricism

Aleatoricism is the incorporation of chance into the process of creation, especially the creation of art or media. The word derives from the Latin word alea, the rolling of dice. A small group (29) of international artists have formed a group called MAMA or the Movement of Aleatoric Modern Artists, a worldwide collaboration of chance-based artists who promote the principles and techniques of aleatoric methods in the execution of contemporary art in modern times. The movement pays tribute to the DADAists of the early 20th century, who employed a variation of the parlor game Exquisite Conversation to tap into a universal dynamic to create art and poetry.

In the parlor game, the first participant writes a phrase or sentence on a sheet of paper, folds it to conceal part of the writing, and then passes it to the next player for a further contribution. Nicolas Calas characterized the resulting fragment as the “unconscious expression of the personality of the group” through a process that Max Ernst called “mental contagion.” Surrealism founder André Breton reported that cadavre exquis started in fun, but quickly proved effective for enabling surrealists to exploit the mystique of accidental relationships. Breton claimed surrealists began using the technique around 1925, but Pierre Reverdy wrote that its use dates back even farther, to some time prior to 1918.

Since then, many other artists have bravely chosen to relinquish partial control of their creative processes to the hands of fate, the laws of physics, and the continuum of perpetual chaos which prevails over our universe by design. By developing a deeper understanding of the forces that govern our universe, these courageous innovators have discovered unique ways of collaborating with nature to produce some of the most beautiful and compelling images in the world of contemporary art.

Articles and Links.

• Fort Myers modernist Veron Ennis now represented by Naples’ HW Gallery (04-24-13)
• FLOR500 ‘Native Wildflower Art Exhibition’ opens March 4 at S. Regional Library (02-27-13)
• Artist Veron Ennis brings art history tradition to OPT abstracts (02-25-13)
• OPT abstract artist Veron Ennis in midst of ambitious 2013 show schedule (02-24-13)
• Veron Ennis doesn’t leave everything to chance, but fate plays a role in her art (02-23-13)
• HOWL Gallery welcomes OPT abstract artist Veron Ennis in March (02-22-13)
• Post-OPT conversation with sculptor Todd Andrew Babb (02-16-13)
• Post-OPT conversation with sky king Greg Biolchini (02-13-13)
• Post-OPT conversation with emerging figurative artist Arturo Samaniego (02-12-13)
• OPT Exhibition at Mercato draws hundreds of positive, upbeat viewers (02-11-13)
• How artists have transferred emotion to their viewers through the centuries – 3 (01-25-13)
• How artists have transferred emotion to their viewers through the centuries – 2 (01-24-13)
• How artists have transferred emotion to their viewers through the centuries – 1 (01-21-13)
• The OPT 5 artists (01-17-13)
• OPT exhibition at Mercato injects positive feeling into local art marketplace (01-16-13)
• ‘Open Positive Transference’ group show coming to Mercato February 9 (01-14-13)
• Veron Ennis leaving UNIT A to pursue graduate studies and independent dealer op (09-07-12)
• Veron Ennis to be featured with solo exhibition at daas Gallery in October (09-03-11)

Though it may be removed from Fifth Avenue South and the Third Street Gallery District, Shirley Street and the Pine Ridge Industrial Park seem to have more creative juices flowing than any other area of Southwest Florida. Sandwiched between Goodlette Frank Road and Airport Pulling Road, the area acts as a refuge for local artists, allowing them to hone their craft with other like-minded artisans in an area that is still rent friendly. “We have the largest concentration of professional artists in southwest Florida,” says Richard Rosen, owner and artist of namesake Rosen Gallery & Studios, and member of the North Naples Art Alliance. “We hear from so many people they never realized there were so many studios and galleries in the industrial park.”

The crowd at 3rd Weekend ART is as eclectic as the art on display. In addition to art lovers and collectors, the event regularly attended by interior designers, lighting engineers, architects and other professionals who are looking for paintings, sculpture and other artworks for their design projects and commissions.

This community of artists and artisans have pooled their resources to give Neapolitans the opportunity to not only explore this commune of creativity, but to experience art in action. Many studio and gallery owners are either working on projects, giving art demonstrations or holding special exhibitions during the course of the weekend. This affords art lovers an unmatched opportunity to see the techniques and process that goes into creating a work of art for themselves. “This is something special that people really seem to enjoy,” says Rosen.

Weekend ART is free, and many of the galleries and studios serve complimentary wine and light fare. Participating galleries and studios have maps and information sheet so that you can find your way around the Pine Ridge Industrial Park, which lies north of Pine Ridge Road and west of Airport Pulling Road.

Included among the galleries and alternative spaces that participate in 1st Wednesday Underground ART are:

1. Art2D Gallery & Custom Art Studio, 2076 J & C Boulevard
2. Arts on Fire Studio & Gallery, 5850 Shirley Street, Suite 207
3. Botero Gallery, 1998 Trade Center Way, Suite 1
4. Naples Fine Art Studio and Gallery, 1719 Trade Center Way, #10
5. Rosen Gallery & Studios, North Line Plaza, 2172 J & C Boulevard (right)
6. Samaniego Art Gallery, 2220 J & C Boulevard, Suite 6
7. Sophie’s Art Factory, 2154 Trade Center Way, Suite 1
8. Sweet Art Gallery, 2054 Trade Center Way

Among the artist studios that participate in 1st Wednesday Underground ART are:

• Alice Jacobs & Carol Lader Studio, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 3
• Annabelle Johnson Pottery Studio, 5850 Shirley Street, Suite 102
• Art by Patty Kane Studio, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 9
• Artworks by SRB Studio, 6230 Shirley Street, Suite 102, rear
• Barbara Groenteman Fine Art Studio & Gallery, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 7
• Barrow Art, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 16
• Beth Sistrunk Fine Art, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 15
• Casa | Art | Studio, 5850 Shirley Street, Suite 104
• Color Plus Studio/Gallery, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 5
• DNG Naples Studio, 1819 J & C Boulevard
• Gallery 100 – Deborah Martin, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 14
• Hampel Art Studio, 2084 J & C Boulevard
• House of Gaia, 1660 Trade Center Way, Suites 1 & 3
• JAMA Art Studio, 1719 Trade Center Way, Suite 6
• Joel Shapses Studio, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 17
• JuJo Studio, 2081 J & C Boulevard
• Lindy Anderson Art Studio, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 2
• Lynn Leon Loscutoff Studio, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 8
• Marco Bronzini Art School and Studio, 5567 Taylor Road, Suite #4
• S. Kelley Studio & Gallery, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 19
• Spheres of Life / Art Center, 1826 Trade Center Way, Suite B
• Susan Alexander Shipman Studio, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 4
• Susan Doerflinger Art Studio, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 6
• Tammra Sigler / Red Box Studio, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 11
• The Gallo Gallery of Art, 5760 Shirley Street, Suite 10

For more information, please telephone 239-821-1061.

Articles.

• Last 3rd Weekend ART of season takes place in North Naples April 20-21 (04-15-13)
• Three new art events appeal to Southwest Florida art lovers this weekend (03-13-13)
• This weekend, ’3rd Weekend ART’ returns to North Naples design/gallery district (01-16-13)

Genre: Surrealism

Galleries:

Website: http://www.cindyjane.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cindy.jane

Her Art:

In the world of art, Cindy Jane stands apart. She characterizes herself as a Surrealist, but even within that genre, her art is without rival or comparison. It does not just explore an array of highly personal socio-political and metaphysical themes. Rather, Jane’s art invites – no, demands – contemplation of the impact on all life if we fail to protect our planet from the dangers implicit in genetic engineering, nanotechnology (the manipulation of matter on a molecular level) and climate change.

Many today predict an impending apocalypse, but destruction in most of these accounts is predicated on war, super-eruptions or celestial threats such as comets, meteors and asteroids. But destruction of life as we know it today could just as easily result from genetically-engineered super bugs, self-replicating matter-gobbling nanobots  or super storms like Hurricane Sandy.

“Our climate is changing,” said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg following the storm. While the connection between Sandy and climate change is the subject of debate, a 2010 National Academy of Sciences report unequivocally found that global surface temperatures have risen by roughly 1.4-degrees Fahrenheit over the last century, driven largely by burning fossil fuels that release warming “greenhouse” gases to the air. In addition, there is general agreement that sea levels have risen worldwide over the past century by about one foot due to climate change. Even more alarming is the prediction by a number of experts that sea levels will rise by as much as three feet this century due to the ice sheet melting in Greenland and elsewhere.

Weighty concerns like these lie at the root of all Surrealism. In fact, it was despair over the devastation caused by World War I that gave rise to the seminal Surrealist movement of the early 1920s. Jane’s expression of the genre emanates from the desolation she feels as she considers the deleterious impact that science, industry and modern society are wreaking on the environment on a daily basis. The ecological damage leads Jane to ponder through her art the regenerative aftermath of a post-apocalyptic world. “Life will go on,” Cindy states confidently, “but it won’t be the same.”

Thus, Jane’s paintings “delve into a world of transgenic and geomorphic landscapes made up of agglomerative shapes that merge terrestrial, aquatic and celestial environments to create an ambiguous terrain with forms reminiscent of anatomical and botanical structures.” Some of the images that populate these environments include fish, birds and other familiar wild and botanical life. But her compositions also contain “enlarged microscopic elements [that] lie perilously suspended in fluid contours among motifs of birth and decay, while figurative and erotic elements help to shape a futuristic and ecological narrative.”

But Jane’s paintings are neither dark nor dreary. To the contrary, they simultaneously convey both hope and joy. The upbeat mood expressed by Jane’s compositions derives partly from her tight pastel color palette, which gravitates towards soothing baby blues, spiritual violets and restful sea greens. The colors she chooses also engender harmonious transitions between multidimensional planes without the hard lines or modelling found in the Surrealist works of Breton, Dali or Yves Tanguy.

The hopeful cast of Jane’s environments is also achieved through a clever blend of familiar, friendly and non-threatening creatures (like dolphins, fish, birds, cows and even white rabbits) with unfamiliar morphed plants and microscopic anatomical structures. The juxtaposition imbues her compositions with immediacy. “The combination of familiar and unfamiliar is what draws you in,” observes urban expressionist Marcus Jansen. Which is what makes Jane’s contribution to the lexicon of the art world important. “It’s important for an artist to do something unfamiliar in a convincing way,” Jansen opines, which is precisely what makes his own art so collectable. There just isn’t anyone else doing what Jane and Jansen are doing in their respective genres. Each is totally unique. Each occupies his/her own niche.

“The use of anatomical shapes is not really the intention,” Jane clarifies. “I’m more interested in [naturally-occurring] repetitive shapes, contours and patterns.” Jane does a lot of gardening, which undoubtedly informs the organic imagery that populates the terrain her compositions depict. “It’s never about the objects or subjects,” Cindy adds. “It about the atmosphere within each painting.”

If the Surrealism of Breton and Dali was a rejection of the reason and intellectualism that gave rise to the nihilism that led to and followed World War I, then Jane’s surprising transformative imagery can be viewed as a rejection of the blind acceptance of the “convenience and benefits” provided by science and industry without  regard to the harm they do to the ecology. But it is ultimately left to the viewer to ascribe meaning to Jane’s poignant and enigmatic landscapes. “I always prefer that the viewers interpret [my imagery] for themselves,” Cindy insists. “I don’t like to impose my meaning on them.” Instead, her goal is to open a dialogue between viewers and her paintings that they can contemplate for years to come. And that explains why Cindy Jane is clearly emerging as a talent of unique and resolute vision.

[Paintings shown above are (1) Strange Seed; (2) Treasures Deep; (3) Return to Cradle; (4)  The Impenetrable Bloom; and (5) Satyaaur Ahimsal.]

Bio

Completely self-taught, Jane has only been painting since 2004, although she began exhibiting after only a year of work in the medium. “A lot of experimentation,” is her ready explanation for her remarkable progress in both concept and technical prowess over that span. “A lot of experimentation.”

“I took a photography class years ago and that changed the way I looked at things,” Cindy explains. “At the same time, I was studying a little bit of art history [as well as drawing and basic design] at Edison Community College and became fascinated with painting and wanted to try it. I wanted to create things, not necessarily record them. I wanted that tactile quality that drawing and painting offer, and to have that connection to the work.”

Exhibitions and Shows

On February 1, 2013, Jane’s solo exhibition, Morphic Adaptations, opened at the prestigious Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in the downtown Fort Myers River District. The show featured a series of large scale works that included a 60×86 inch diptych titled The Encroachment (left) and two 60×112 inch triptychs, Broken Bough and The Emergence (below right), provocative dystopian landscapes in which organic formations and archetypal figurative representations take center stage with lyrical eloquence.

The show was both well-attended and well-received, with artist Marcus Jansen saying “Cindy has her own vocabulary and a different position than most other artists” in her genre; artist Daniel Venditti praising Jane’s unique ability to juxtapose “strong imagery with amazing softness and gentle transitions;” and fine art photographer Doug Heslep adding that Cindy’s “saturated and mind-blowing content is impossible to process in just a single view.”

In 2012, Jane had three paintings included in HOWL Gallery‘s Fourth Annual SWFL Lives! group show. That exhibition followed her solo show Pathos, Ethos and Origins at Arts for ACT Gallery in November of 2011. Cindy also participated during 2011 in Arts for ACT’s Fourth Annual Open Theme Exhibition and daas Gallery’s Skin 2011 competition and exhibition, where her entry, Potent Elixir, was awarded Best of Show by a three-panel jury consisting of Canterbury School art instructor Nick Grey, Gulf Coast Times editor/writer Yahanna de la Torre, and professional photographer Suzanne Smith.

Potent Elixir gives insight into Cindy’s process. In the center of the composition is a nude female torso which appears to be under water, at least based on the green bubbles and fish swimming above the figure’s two perfectly-formed pale breasts. But from there, the imagery gets sketchy and is filled with male and female genitalia. “I started with the figure in the center and then I just worked myself around the painting imaginatively. I didn’t plan ahead of time what I was going to do. I don’t like to have a preconceived idea of what I’m going to do. That way something unexpected always seems to happen.” Like the floppy-eared white rabbit in the lower left-hand portio of the canvas.

This is how she prefers to work. “My paintings begin without preconception and take shape organically, as I work with biomorphic forms, repetitive patterns, and metaphorical imagery,” the artist shares. “I am interested in evolutionary processes within biological, cultural and socio-political parameters. Through an unconscious flow of ideas, I am often led to the unexpected, ambiguous and universal.”

A Word about Biomorphism in Art

The term biomorphism refers to life (bio) and transformation (morphism). It was coined in 1935 by the British writer Geoffrey Grigson and subsequently used by Alfred H. Barr in the context of his 1936 exhibition Cubism and Abstract Art. Biomorphist art focuses on the power and resiliency of natural life, and uses organic shapes (with rounded, curvilinear and graceful free-form images that suggest the contours of plants and animals) as opposed to hard-lined geometrical forms.

Biomorphism has connections with both Surrealism and Art Nouveau. It’s first appearance in the annals of art appears to be Matisse’s 1905 painting Le bonheur de vivre (The Joy of Life). The Tate Gallery has posted an online article on biomorphic art. It states that while biomorphic forms are abstract, they “refer to, or evoke, living forms…” The Tate includes painters Joan Miró (1893-1983; Wadsworth Atheneum, 1933) and Jean Arp (1886-1966; Aquatique, 1953) and British sculptors Henry Moore (1898-1986; Reclining Mother and Child, 1961), and Barbara Hepworth (1903-75; Mother and Child, 1934) among artists whose work epitomizes the use of biomorphic form. Although both Dali (1904-89) and Magritte incorporated biomorphic forms in their Surrealist works, two other Surrealists, Yves Tanguy (1900-1955; Through Birds, through Fire, but Not through Glass, 1943, left) and Roberto Matta also beguiled and intrigued viewers with their unique and haunting biomorphic images. Matta, in particular, blended organic and cosmic life forms in his compositions.

Arshile Gorky also developed a biomorphic style of abstraction during the 1930s. Influenced by Miro and Arp, his important series of paintings and gouache studies known as the Garden in Sochi works marks Gorky’s transition from the biomorphism of Joan Miró to his own independent painting style after a two-decades-long apprenticeship to a series of modern artists. The brightly colored, free-floating forms of these works memorialize his father’s garden in the Armenian village of Khorkom, near Lake Van, although the deliberately obfuscating title confusingly references the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, in line with Gorky’s efforts to camouflage his background. Gorky later described his father’s garden as filled with poplars and apple trees, as well as “incalculable amounts of wild carrots,” and he based these paintings on his childhood memories of this idyllic place as filtered through Miró’s lexicon of abbreviated natural forms.

However, as the biomorphism embraced by these artists springs from different concerns, it is much different than Jane’s iteration of the genre. Artists like Dali, Magritte, Miro, Arp and Gorky were inspired not to build or construct rationally, but to emulate the germinal forces found in nature. Their biomorphism emerged as the result of a cluster of ideas about nature, automatism (the painterly technique for Freudian free association), mythology and the unconscious. Jane’s inspiration inheres in the conviction that life will go on in spite of any biological cataclysm that may befall mankind. Thus, her biomorphism combines both abstract and representational imagery which is uniquely transgenic, evolutionary and geomorphic. In that, she stands alone and her artwork is without equal or even parallel.

Fast Facts.

• Cindy and her husband are planning a garden based on permaculture principles. Once installed, it will integrate non-invasive food-bearing plants with medicinal cultivated species under a “forest” canopy of trees, with energy being provided by solar and wind-generated sources.

Articles and Links.

• Surrealist Cindy Jane’s Morphic Adaptations exceeds expectations (02-04-13)
• It’s ‘Morphic Adaptation’ time at Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center (02-01-13)
• Musician Peter Taylor to provide ambient sound for ‘Morphic Adaptations’ exhibit (01-15-13)
• The new art of Cindy Jane opens for Art Walk at the Davis Art Center (01-14-13)
• Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center announces culturally rich February schedule (01-14-13)
• Cindy Jane’s surrealism reacts to planetary threats from science and industry (01-09-13)
• Local artist Cindy Jane pioneer in genre of modern biomorphic surrealism (12-22-12)
• Modern biomorphic surrealist Cindy Jane to exhibit at Davis in February (12-15-12)
• Surrealist Cindy Jane to exhibit at Arts for ACT in November (09-25-11)
• Conversation with Skin 2011 Best in Show artist Cindy Jane -2 (07-13-12)
• Conversation with Skin 2011 Best in Show artist Cindy Jane (07-13-11)

To help Public Art Committee members Ava Roeder, Sharon McAllister, Janet McCormack, Gwen Middlebrooks, William Taylor, David Acevedo and Patricia Collins envision the possibilities, Collins flashed a number of artists’ renderings across the monitors stationed in front of each of them. The drawings depicted a 1.8 acre inlet of water extending from the Caloosahatchee River all the way to Bay Street, lined on three sides by a 10-foot wide sidewalk edged by a wire cable railing anchored by 48 concrete pedestals that have smooth faces designed for murals, frescoes or perhaps bas reliefs.

“There will also be four monuments on Edwards Drive,” points out Don Paight,  Executive Director of the Fort Myers Redevelopment Agency. “They will be 13 feet high and there will be an opportunity to place artwork on them that’s visible from the street.” Public art will be needed for the gateway that will be constructed at Hendry and Bay to mark the transition from the riverfront into Fort Myers’ historic downtown district.

While Collins and Paight are thinking in terms of 2-dimensional art, artists will be invited to submit proposals for the basin project that could certainly opt instead to use the stanchions and monuments as pedestals for either free-standing, spiral or wraparound sculptures made from Corten, stainless steel, aluminum or even dicroic-coated panels containing solar-powered luminaries that light up after dark. Their only restrictions will be budgetary and the need to use materials that won’t rust or corrode in the hot, wet environ of the water feature.

Ultimately, it will be up to the Public Art Committee to determine the project’s parameters and scope when they issue their call to artists in the coming weeks. And that’s when the fun really begins.

N.B.: The last time the Public Art Committee issued a call for qualifications, 162 artists responded to the Art Committee’s call. The Committee winnowed that pool of talent down to three finalists, with David Black winning the competition with his proposal for Fire Dance, the newest addition to the city’s public art collection.

Fort Myers new river basin discharges city’s obligations as stewards of the Caloosahatchee’s health

Since the day Brevet Major Ridgely of the 4th U.S. Artillery sailed up the Caloosa River and landed on the site of the ruins of long-abandoned Fort Harvie with orders to build a new and expanded military outpost, Fort Myers has enjoyed a special relationship with the Caloosahatchee River. Fort Myers’ first settlers, Manuel A. Gonzalez and his son, came by boat. Tarpon fishing and the river’s scenic beauty were what attracted early developers like Ambrose and Tootie McGregor to the fledgling town. These factors were also important to Thomas Edison, who liked to wet a line himself from time to time.

“Until the railroad came in 1904, most goods and supplies came to Fort Myers via boat,” notes historian Gina Taylor of True Tours. Beginning with the fort, a series of piers were built across the shoals in order to facilitate unloading the boats that plied the Caloosahatchee’s wide waters. Even Thomas Edison built a pier when he purchased his acreage on the river so that workers had a place to off-load his pre-cut house, The Seminole Lodge, when it arrived by schooner from Maine.

But the city not only owes its existence to the river, it has a duty as its steward to preserve and protect the Caloosahatchee’s waters. And those waters are sick. Not just sick. Endangered. In fact, American Rivers named the Caloosahatchee in 2006 as the 7th most endangered river in the nation.

“The scale of the damage to water quality, aquatic habitat, fish and wildlife … [is] a national level ecological tragedy,” said American Rivers, noting that intense algae blooms have severely depleted oxygen levels in the Caloosahatchee, resulting in the decimation of the river’s commercial seafood and sports fishing species. Since 2000, there have been 570 days when the algae has been so bad that health officials have been compelled to issue orders prohibiting swimming in the river.

Five National Wildlife Refuges depend on the Caloosahatchee River for water, including J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Caloosahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Island Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Matlacha Pass National Wildlife Refuge, and Pine Island National Wildlife Refuge. Many are showing signs of impaired ecosystems as a result of the polluted waters of the Caloosahatchee. Estuaries at the river’s mouth have suffered devastating damage. Hundreds of square miles of the Gulf of Mexico are also adversely impacted by the freshwater plume emanating from the Caloosahatchee River.

Much of the damage is attributable discharges from Lake Okeechobee. During the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, for example, heavily-polluted releases were discharged into the Caloosahatchee to prevent flooding around the lake. But that only accounted for 40 percent of the pollutants found in the river and its fragile gulfside estuaries. The other 60 percent was attributable to stormwater runoff, with the River District being a major source of contaminants.

And that’s what gave rise to the River District’s new 1.8 water basin. While the inlet will bestow numerous business, historic and artistic opportunities, its primary purpose is to improve water quality in the Caloosahatchee River by serving as a stormwater detention pool that collects and filters water from the surrounding 15-acre downtown area. Percolating fountains aerate the water while plants absorb fertilizers and other nutrients that don’t belong in the Caloosahatchee.

“I equate it to a pool filter,” analogizes Don Paight, Executive Director of Fort Myers Redevelopment Agency, who notes that these environmental benefits also helped the city secure about $900,000 in grants from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Funding also included about $2.5 million left over from bond money the city borrowed for the Streetscape project.

But just as the need to screen cars in the Lee County Justice Center Parking Garage from public view gave rise to New York artist Marylyn Dintenfass’ 30,000-square-foot Parallel Park public art installation that has the whole nation calling Fort Myers an art center, the basin too will give rise to opportunities in a number of different sectors.

The next phase of the redevelopment project includes tripling the size of Harborside Event Center and adding an adjoining 12-story, 220-room convention-quality hotel that will overlook the basin and a wide swath of the Caloosahatchee River. Walkways and shops will ultimately surround the new basin, with as many as four new restaurants making the basin their new home. And as Assistant City Manager Marc Collins told the Public Art Committee in June, the basin will ultimately provide space for upwards of a hundred new pieces of public artwork, thereby firmly establishing Fort Myers as a locale where “the arts mean business.”

Once completed, the combined riverfront/River District will be poised to attract conventions, business meetings, tourists and new residents. In fact, Aquest Realty, the city’s lead planner for the Riverfront Redevelopment Plan, estimates that the redevelopment could generate $376 million in spending and 3,000 jobs, with ongoing operation generating 780 jobs and $4 million in tax revenue each year. And by engrafting a public art component on the new aesthetic landscape, the community’s nonprofit arts and cultural organizations will be even better equipped to build upon the 2,000 jobs, 522,000 out-of-town cultural tourists and $68.3 million in revenues they currently contribute to the area’s economy each year.

As with Parallel Park, necessity can spawn invention. At its heart, the basin affords the city of Fort Myers with the opportunity to reinvent itself as a convention destination, an arts and cultural center, and a shining example of how people and businesses can flourish when city leaders and planners address ecological problems with imagination and foresight.

Fast Facts.

• Long ago, the Caloosahatchee River and Lake Okeechobee were separate bodies of water.
• In the 1890s, a Philadelphia businessman and real estate developer by the name of Hamilton Disston had a canal was constructed connecting Lake Okeechobee to Lake Hicpochee, from which the Caloosahatchee springs. In order to make the river navigable and keep Lake Okeechobee from flooding its southern perimeter, Disston also had the river channelized to remove its many oxbows.
• Releases of water from Lake Okeechobee into the river totalled approximately 855 billion gallons in 2005. That’s 44% of the total Lake Okeechobee discharge volume from 1996 to 2005.
• A South Florida Water Management District study found that from 1993 to 2003, Lake Okeechobee was responsible for nearly 40% of the nutrient input the Caloosahatchee River received. This number may have been even higher in the very wet 2004 and 2005 years.
• The high levels of nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorous, that come from Lake Okeechobee contribute to algae blooms. The discharges also contain high levels of sediments that can smother sea grass beds.
• The other 60% of the nutrients the Caloosahatchee receives comes from its own watershed where urban and agricultural run-off and inputs from densely-developed areas dependent on septic systems. Stormwater from these areas also represents a significant source of pollution for the river.
• Rivers in Florida have been named to American River’s endangered list 5 times in the past 21 years: the Everglades in 1992 and 1993, Chattahoochee River in 1998, Apalachicola River in 2002, and the Peace River in 2004. The purpose of this list is to heighten awareness among the public and the local, state, and national officials in an effort to prompt action.

Articles.

• River basin first step in rebranding Fort Myers convention and tourist locale -1 (12-09-12)
• River basin first step in rebranding Fort Myers convention and tourist locale -1 (12-09-12)
• Born of necessity, new river basin gives Fort Myers chance to reinvent itself (11-30-12)
• Fort Myers river basin provides opportunity for dozens of public artworks (06-22-12)
• Study says Lee’s arts industry generated $68 Million for county in 2010 (06-08-12)