Spotlight on visual artist Carolyn Gora’s exhibit in Theatre Lobby Gallery during Biennial Show
Carolyn Gora will be at the City of Fort Myers Biennial Grant Recipient Show. Not as a grant recipient. Not because she is a long-standing member and past Chair of the City’s Public Art Committee. But in her own right as an accomplished visual artist. She will have work on display in the Foulds Theatre Lobby Gallery during the Biennial Grant Recipient Show.
Carolyn is a native Floridian and has lived in Fort Myers since 1977. She raised two wonderful, creative daughters, helped her late husband, Bruce, open 
an architectural firm, and taught art for a total of 30 years in local elementaries, middle schools, high school, USF, FGCU and ECC(FSW).
Carolyn’s artistic endeavors include designing jewelry (and teaching Jewelry Design classes at ECC for 5 years) and fused glass (which she taught at a National Art Education Conference). Currently she works in many mediums including fiber (embroidery and embroidery) and glass lamp work.
Her latest 
venture is her Birds of Paradise from Paradise series. Originally, the idea came from her birds of paradise that finally bloomed after being dormant for years. The plant’s exotic, crested, iridescent orange-and-blue flower resembles a colorful bird in flight. Native to South Africa and related to the banana plant, birds of paradise are commonly used in urban landscaping beds in both residential and commercial environments.
Seizing 
on the flowers’ similarity to tropical birds, Carolyn created bird of paradise characters to illustrate clever sayings that mention birds, birds of paradise and gardens. All the plants in Gora’s paintings are plants found in Florida, with most actually coming from her garden.
The colors in Gora’s paintings are bright and colorful, very Floridian. Her birds are painted in watercolors and tempera paint. Her Birds in Paradise from Paradise are intended to be fun, wistful and make viewers smile.
Carolyn Gora’s Birds of Paradise from Paradise paintings will be on display along with the entire City of Fort Myers Biennial Grant Recipient Show at the Alliance for the Arts May 3rd through June 1st.
April 17, 2024.
About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.