Coastal Breeze News

Vickie Kelber  [email protected] The upcoming broadcast of the 84th annual Academy Awards has me thinking about films. I enjoy films almost as much as I enjoy travel and particularly like watching films that are set in locales I have visited and those that evoke a strong sense of place. It brings back fond memories, sates a bit of my wanderlust, and inspires future travel. The best film my husband and I have seen recently both in quality and ability to evoke a locale is Woody Allen’s love poem to the City of Lights, Midnight in Paris. Although we typically don’t ... Read More »

By Natalie Strom  [email protected]  The Marco Island Shell Club is busy preparing for its upcoming Marco Island Shell Show. The 32nd annual event will be held March 8th through the 10th at the United Church of Marco Island. The show, which features awards in both artistic and scientific categories, is also part shell art fair. Not only are shell works juried upon but they are also for sale. The Marco Island Shell Club originated over 30 years ago by a group of women who wanted to do more with the shells they were collecting along Marco’s beaches. As the years ... Read More »

Tara O’Neill It was a simple enough question, “what compels a man in his eighties to take on the Herculean task of publishing a book?” William Ward Moseley is retired from a successful and highly regarded career as an architect, he has spent decades in seemingly tireless work as an artist. He and his disarmingly charming wife, Pat, spend these years between lovely homes here and in rural Virginia; homes filled with art and graced with waterside views. “Well, I thought I had something to say,” explained Moseley in his luxurious Virginia accent,. “I do believe my life has a ... Read More »

March 23rd • 11am-4pm Participating Artists: Artist Colony at the Esplanade Diane Reed Eiler ·Edythe Newbourne ·Inez Hudson ·Marco Island Center for the Arts ·Malenda Trick ·Pat Perotti ·Phyllis Pransky ·William Ward Moseley Cost: $20 RESERVATION DEADLINE: March 19th Support the Arts and Register Today! 394-4221 Read More »

Historic Everglades City is buzzing on Saturday, March 10, with something for everyone. Art-in-the-Glades opens at 10:00 a.m. in McLeod Park (next to City Hall on the Circle) where the playground is a diversion for kiddies while adults browse among arts & craft stalls. Live music will entertain all ages. For information, phone 695-2905. Then, at 1:00 p.m. the Everglades Homes Tour starts. You can visit historic private houses, open to the public especially for this event. Included are some of oldest buildings in Collier County, dating from the early 1920s when Everglades City was the county seat and headquarters for the completion of the Tamiami Trail. For tickets, seewww.evergladeshistorical.org. Finally, ... Read More »

The Marco Island Foundation for the Arts (MIFA) will award scholarships to deserving students who reside on Marco Island, have demonstrated excellence in visual, literary or performing arts, and intend to study (or continue study) one of the arts at the college level. Up to 3 scholarships will be awarded, each a maximum of $1000. Scholarships will be awarded to students who are graduating from high school, or have completed one or more years of study at the college level. Applications are available from high school guidance counselors, MIFA’s website: www.marcoarts,org. Completed applications must be sent to Marco Island Foundation ... Read More »

The paint hadn’t dried, but 120 art aficionados had been fed and watered and were in the mood for a live auction at the Marco Island Center for the Arts.  This was, after all, “Wet Paint Live”, an ingenious event in which 21 artists spend just one day painting in and around Marco Island and have their pieces auctioned off for charity.  The painters worked everywhere from the Isles of Capri to the top of the Jolley Bridge to the Esplanade to Goodland and points in between. On February 10, Chris Lombardo, celebrated auctioneer and partner in the law firm ... Read More »

ART  UNCOVERED  Tara O’Neill  Tyler MacDonald is not only a remarkable photographer, he’s a remarkable 16 year old. A junior at Lely High School, Tyler’s fascination with cameras began around age 10. That fascination developed into a passion, and now the young Marco Island artist is not only selling his work at local art shows, he’s also a show organizer. I first met Tyler at his very first art festival appearance – the 2009 Left Bank Art Fest held at the Esplanade on Marco – he was 13. Today he’s the event’s chairperson. Then, as now, his photographs create awe: ... Read More »

By Coastal Breeze News Staff  One of the remarkable things about the Marco Island Historical Museum is how the outside world has been incorporated into each part of the complex. This even extends to the gem of a gift shop. Laurie Wagor, a long-time Marco Island resident, is Chairperson of Events for the Museum, and also guru of the gift shop. After an eight year stint with the Marriott as Director of Tennis, and 18 years as Sports Center Manager, Laurie moved over to the Museum. With a strong background in retailing and sales she joined with Nancy Garrison to ... Read More »

By Monte Lazarus [email protected] Twenty years ago Heidi Saletko and her husband were clearing palm fronds from their yard for recycling. Heidi is an artist; her husband was clearly very perceptive. He suggested using the fronds for her painting. Voila! The Frond Zoo was born. Heidi began using parts of five types of fronds to create animal masks. She began with an elephant, and expanded the menagerie to zebras, lions, cheetahs, panthers, gorillas, giraffes, hyenas, wolves, fish and just about any other wild animal we know. Aside from the fronds all she uses are a few staples and her paint. ... Read More »

ALL THAT GLITTERS Richard Alan [email protected] I mentioned in my last article that going back to basics just wasn’t working in this economy. But here on Marco Island or Southwest Florida, for that matter, the love of basic sea life jewelry hasn’t wavered. (No pun intended.) The love of the ocean is why people flock here. Those who visit for the first time are amazed by the beauty of the beaches and the joy of living life by the shore. Personally, I was astounded by the abundant fish and wildlife that the Ten Thousand Islands offer. My first years here were ... Read More »

ART UNCOVERED  Tara O’Neill  Oh, let’s get nuts. There are so many artistic goings-on in this peculiar area all the time that I’ve decided to pluck the next few days (randomly) out of the calendar to inspire you to get out there and see how many you can experience before you become over-stimulated. Not that that’s a bad thing. Remember to nap. January 28, Saturday, Chalk Art 2012 Festival: a good half-mile of 5th Ave. South, Naples, 8:00AM-5:00PM. A street painting extravaganza sponsored by the Naples Pelican Bay Rotary Club to help provide scholarships to area students. According to festival chairperson, ... Read More »

ART UNCOVERED Tara O’Neill Some say New Year’s Day is an arbitrary date, requiring no special observance (big fibbers). Yet, so many of us use it as an opportunity for both reflection and forward thinking. Wishing to set out on the right foot, we take stock, we aim to detour bad habits and cultivate better ones. Today I am thinking about the Emerging Artist – I meet so many – young ones courageous enough to aim directly for a life pursuing their passion; elders who, after decades devoted to raising families, building businesses, and answering untold obligations, are at last rekindling ... Read More »

A great new show of watercolor paintings by Michaela Castaldi is now in the Marco Island Library on Winterberry Dr. for all to enjoy. Michaela paints colorful realistic and abstract paintings with watercolor. She loves to carefully design, create and ultimately paint her projects. All paintings displayed at the library are for sale. To see more of her work, go to Michaela’s website www.artworksbymichaela.com. After high school Michaela Castaldi studied art at the Ringling School of Art and the University of New Hampshire. She and her husband lived in Rhode Island for over 40 years. They both retired and moved ... Read More »

By Kathleen Amantea Douglas  [email protected]  It’s that time again. Now that the holidays are here and families and friends are coming together we are presented with the perfect opportunity for a photography extravaganza. In our family we never missed a chance for a “monster” picture. You know the one where the entire clan stops hitting each other long enough to nuzzle together, crack a smile and get shot. Having recently returned from a certain workshop on the North Pole and, employing finely honed sleuthing skills earned by years of routing out the wiliest hiding places and flawlessly unwrapping and rewrapping ... Read More »

Vickie Kelber  [email protected] Through the years, we have taken many trips during the holidays. When we worked, we enjoyed getting away for a few days between Christmas and New Years. Now retired, we like to visit other locations either just before or on Christmas to see how they celebrate their holidays. From these experiences, I’ve developed my personal six rules for holiday travel. Rule #1. Use common sense. When planning the trip, avoid the high travel days by traveling a few days before or after Christmas or New Years. Airlines typically over book at the holidays, so make sure you ... Read More »

Tara O’Neill  Ethereal images pulsate from the work of Naples-based (but internationally collected) artist Bonny Hawley. The word is: entrancing. You look and look and, inescapably, must look some more. The more you look, the more you see. The more you see, the more you feel. The art is warm-toned acrylic mixed media collages: mono-printing, stenciling, gold and silver-leaf, metallic paints, digital imagery, hand-made and hand-painted papers; all deftly layered on flowing silk and richly textured Belgian linen. Sizes range from one square foot to ten square yards…so far. The technique is strictly Hawley, and so is the imagery. “I ... Read More »

The Marco Island Historical Museum proudly announces a new exhibit called Against All Odds. Back in the middle part of the 20th century, a group of young black artists (25 men and a woman) were trying to sell their paintings along the highways on the other side of Florida, without much success.  A kind white artist befriended them and taught them some  tricks of the trade in order to speed up their production time.  Eventually some of them could turn out 30-35 canvases a day, and would sell them while the paint was still wet. Their subject matter was mostly interior Florida ... Read More »

Be sure to stop by the Marco Public Library during the month of December to view the beautiful paintings of Rick Granneman.  Rick Granneman’s exhibit “Legacies” is featured throughout the library. The display includes paintings of SW Florida, and landscapes of the rural Midwest and Mediterranean Europe. Although his style is generally realistic, he is not a devotee of any particular historical art movement. “Art history over the centuries comprises works of hundreds of talented artists with various philosophies and trainings, ranging from the tender genre depictions by Millet to the dreamscapes of Dali, and we are all impacted directly ... Read More »

Bette McGilvray & Barbara Dasti Co-Chairs for Christmas Island Style Ornament Contest would like to report: 46 drawings from Charter Middle School Students entered our 4th annual CIS Or-nament contest for 2012. The 2012 theme was a “CRAB”. The judging took place at The Marco Island Center for the Arts Friday Novem-ber 18th. The winners were chosen and will be introduced at the CIS Tree Lighting Ceremony on December 3rd. All winners will be recognized at the CIS Awards Ceremony in January 2012. Read More »