Fort Myers Beach Art Association to celebrate 75 years
The Fort Myers Beach Art Association is celebrating 75 years as an organization with its “Celebration” exhibit beginning Monday.
The special exhibition, at the association’s gallery at Cypress Square Shopping Center in Fort Myers, began Monday and runs through Dec. 5.
“We asked our artists to bring their best work from the last three years,” Fort Myers Beach Art Association Communications Coordinator Sue Simoneau said.
A special celebration marking the 75th anniversary will take place Saturday, Nov. 1 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The day will include music, raffles, door prizes, food and refreshments.
The actual 75th anniversary of the organization is in January though the organization is getting a little head start. The organization’s gallery, which had stood since 1968, was destroyed by Hurricane Ian. “We have been wandering since then,” Simoneau said. The association has moved its gallery to several locations before settling into their new home earlier this year.
“It’s been an incredible new chapter for us. We have enrolled 40 new members,” Simoneau said of the group’s move to Cypress Square.
In the early years of the art group, they worked without a standing gallery.
“They literally started on the beach. They sat there and gave people lessons,” Simoneau said.
“This new gallery honors the spirit of the beach while giving us the chance to share our work with a broader audience,” Simoneau. “We are trying to establish ourselves in Fort Myers where there is already an arts community and we just want to be part of that.”
The new hours for the gallery are Mondays through Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. The gallery is located at Cypress Square Shopping Center, next to Prawnbrokers Restaurant and Blu Sushi Restaurant at 13451 McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers.
Special presenter Nov. 8
The Fort Myers Beach Art Association will be welcoming Elyse Olney as the gallery’s first presenter of the season on Nov. 8 at 10 a.m.
A ninth generation Floridian, Elyse Olney’s life has revolved around the ocean. At 18, she moved to the Florida Keys to become an offshore fisherman. After running a charter fishing boat one day, she decided to draw on the long bill, or sword, of a swordfish fish she had caught. Her ink and graphite work resembles scrimshaw.
She will discuss the preparation of the long swordfish bills and will also show her painting techniques. Each piece is later epoxied to preserve it. Fishermen who have made the catch of a lifetime have commissioned her to document the event.
She has no formal art training, but rents a studio in Fort Myers to devote full-time to her art. During the slow season, she works at a local marina, where our plein air painters met her.
The 10 a.m, talk is free and open to the public.