A Painter’s Legacy

Friends, family, and fans of Phil Fisher gathered Saturday evening, February 7, to remember him and celebrate his life and his art.

The celebration of life, held at the Guess-Fisher Gallery in the Naples design district, was packed with well-wishers, many of whom related decades-long associations with the prolific watercolorist and oil painter. Phil Fisher was a longtime Southwest Florida resident and painter who focused on the natural beauty of this area, painting the vibrant colors of the tropical surroundings, the water, the foliage, and perhaps most of all, the skies.

The beauty of his canvases depicting local skies inspired another Florida artist, singer/songwriter Marie Nofsinger, to write a song in his honor, “Phil Fisher Skies.” The song was performed at Phil’s celebration of life Saturday evening, but sadly, not by Marie. Like Phil Fisher, Marie Nofsinger died last autumn.

But for the event at the gallery, sadness was not on the program. Natalie Guess, an accomplished artist working in batik, and Phil’s life partner, made it clear the gathering would be an upbeat, loving, positive affair. This resonated with the vibe that Fisher gave off, according to many who knew him.

“Everybody loved him. He was always so kind, so accessible,” said Paul Arsenault, one of the few painters with roots in this area as deep and long as Fisher’s. The two are primary exponents of what could be called the “Naples School” of art, depicting Southwest Florida landscapes with bright color and maximum saturation.

“I met Phil in the ’70s and shared a house with him and others. Phil was always great company, easygoing, with a great appreciation of life,” said Arsenault.

Fisher, Arsenault, and Guess, along with Tara O’Neill and Rick Wobbe, collaborated for decades in “Five Painters and a Potter,” an annual outdoor show held on the grounds of the Clay Place off Davis Blvd. in Naples, the studio of potter Jim Rice. The event will take place again this year on Sunday, March 22, with Phil Fisher still as one of the five, represented by his canvases since he cannot be there in person.

At the Guess-Fisher Gallery on Saturday evening, on what would have been Phil’s 81st birthday, many of the attendees were the same regulars who show up for “Five Painters and a Potter,” and many were artists themselves as well as art lovers. Muffy Clark Gill, Marvin Rouse, and Dennis Goodman were among those trading stories of Phil and the old days of the Naples art scene. Steve and Nancy Beights showed photos from the summers in northern Michigan, where they hung out with Phil and he painted lake scenes. Roy Caple brought along a canvas he purchased from Phil in the 1970s, showing the old Mercantile Building on Third Street South.

The reminisces were personal for this reporter as well. I dug out a brochure for which I commissioned Phil in the late ’80s to paint a beautiful scene for a real estate brochure, and another he did for me for a foldout brochure for what was then still called “Jungle Larry’s.”

Stacey Allison and Guy Guerra played music for the gathering, happy tunes including “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, which you can’t get much happier. Jan Ellen Atkielski and Jeff Fessenden took the mics for “Phil Fisher Skies,” landing an emotional direct hit singing of Marie’s escape from the concrete canyons of East Coast Florida to “where the wild winds blow over the Gulf’s blue eyes, where every day sunlight brings Phil Fisher skies.”

The Guerras also had an original tribute, “The Ballad of Phil and Natalie.”

Marie Nofsinger loomed large in the original and roots music scene in Southwest Florida, as well as on the East Coast. She was an award-winning songwriter, national touring performer, and recording artist. Musician, writer, and producer JRobert Houghtaling remembered her from all the shows they did together.

“Each season I invited Marie to be my co-host and regular headliner at the 10,000 Songs from the 10,000 Islands Show. She was a clear-headed performer with keen humor and spontaneous wit,” said JRobert.

“I billed her as ‘Marie Nofsinger – Outlaw Cowgirl. It was our own personal joke because she was such a feisty free spirit that even the Florida Folk musicians considered her “outlaw folk. I’m proud to call Marie my “Little Sister” in my heart,” JRobert said.

Tales of outlaws, anarchists, the common working man, Jesus, and broken hearts fill her original repertoire. Lilting melodies, swamp stomp rhythms, as well as jazzy swing tunes carry the lyrics into your memory.

A published BMI songwriter, her credits include: Her CD “Boots,” which was voted City Link Magazine’s “Best Acoustic CD of 1999,” and the latest 2010 release “The Wildlife Rides Again,” chosen as “Best Roots and Acoustic CD of 2010” by the Palm Beach Post Entertainment Editor. “I’m Drunk Again” and “The Ash is Gone” are in the movie “Borderline Murder,” and “Honey Bee” is in a series called “Sasquatch in the Kitchen” in Alaska.

Marie will have her own memorial remembrance on Sunday, February 22, at the Goodland Civic Center, said Tara O’Neill.