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Brightly colored galleries are indicative of the artists’ work – and personalities.
Galleries on Matlacha & Pine Island
Entice all of your senses with a trip to the many art galleries on Matlacha and Pine Island. You’ll enjoy the variety of artistic expression including sculpture, jewelry and paintings.
By Juliette Reynolds
Entice all of your senses with a trip to the many art galleries on Matlacha and Pine Island. You’ll enjoy the variety of artistic expression including sculpture, jewelry and paintings.
By Juliette Reynolds
  Matlacha Art Gallery |
Perhaps it's the water on all sides, or the lingering remnants of Calusa culture. Maybe it's the distinct quality of light, and life, that infuses this tiny community long used by fishermen to haul in their catch at the end of a fruitful day on the water. Whatever the reason, the cares of the world recede, and I begin to relax. As warm and rustic greens and browns give way to vivid Technicolor, one-story buildings lining Pine Island Road, I feel like Dorothy as she stepped into Oz and exclaimed, "We're not in Kansas anymore."
It's the artists who've brought their particular, rainbow-colored world to this stretch of Matlacha, their brightly colored galleries indicative of the work – and personalities – inside.
Lovegrove Gallery & Gardens
The pioneer is Leoma Lovegrove, an effervescent woman whose passion for art is contagious.
At Lovegrove Gallery & Gardens , the outside looks like a tequila sunrise – deep tropical orange fades to a frothy yellow. Inside, you'll find prints and originals of Lovegrove's work, and that of other local artists.
As I take in the variety of images, I find myself humming a Beatles tune, inspired by Lovegrove's series that pays homage to the Fab Four. A few decades back in time, and I'm following the yellow brick road as I take in her delightful Wizard of Oz group. Other visual treats include photographs by Kimberly Hambour, who infuses her local images with an other-worldly quality using infrared techniques. Their silence speaks volumes.
 WildChild Gallery |
Next door on the same side of the street is Wild Child Art Gallery, where you'll find an eclectic mix of creations from more than 110 Southwest Florida artists, including those of owner Peggy McTeague, who specializes in metal sculptures and fountains. Wild Child has an outdoor space with a colorful waterside deck and a garden bench made in part from welded horseshoes, among other artistic expressions. The gallery hosts weekly demonstrations by area artists October through April.
Traders Hitching Post
Cross the road to Traders Hitching Post, featuring silver and turquoise jewelry and award-winning art with a Southwestern aspect. Owners Jerry and Cindee Tolliver seek out traditional and contemporary Native American pieces, such as kachina dolls, Navajo pottery, peace pipes and faces carved (or are they revealing themselves?) out of cottonwood. Trader's is the original Matlacha art gallery, and has been in the same location for more than 20 years.
Matlacha is a blend of old and new, of grounded earth and mercurial water, and of an artistic community living in harmony with an historic fishing village.
I am loath to leave magical Matlacha and its friendly people in touch not only with each other, but with the beauty in their world.
Crossed Palms Gallery
But I'm off to the tip of Pine Island in search of Crossed Palms Gallery and the old settlement of Bokeelia, which I find to be a charming outpost overlooking Charlotte Harbor. And there are, indeed, a pair of palms, framing the waterfront view and crossed decorously. As soon as I can tear myself away from the incredible view, I open the gallery door and am greeted by Terri James, a smile on her face – and in her heart.
Crossed Palms represents about 130 painters, sculptors, potters, jewelers and glass artists. Terri says pieces for the gallery are chosen if they are handcrafted and unique, and the selection is show stopping. Blenko glass shares space with famed Sanibel artist Ikki Matsumoto's graphics-inspired paintings, and there's lovely gold sealife jewelry from the imagination and workbench of Evan Lloyd. Pottery glazes range from the subtle to the sublime, and I'm tempted more than once to buy.
Koucky Gallery
Did I say this area supports the spirit of individuality? It's alive and well at Koucky Gallery (pronounced Koo-ske)near the turn off to Pineland on Baypoint Road on Pine Island. Nancy and Chuck Koucky bought the old plant nursery called McGowan's Farm and made it their home, gallery and Chuck's pottery studio, where he teaches classes and creates his functional pieces in the colors of earth, sea and sky. I love the idea of his brie bakers, which come with a variety of recipes inside. The Koucky's participate in the Friday Art Nights, and even had a mullet fry for local painter Mel Meo's opening at their gallery one year!
I am reluctant to leave Pine Island and Matlacha and their mangrove-laced shores. I promise myself I'll return soon to these enchanted isles to revel in their indelible creative spirit.
If you go…
Crossed Palms Gallery, 239-283-2283, www.crossedpalmsart.com
Koucky Gallery, 239-283-4414
Lovegrove Gallery & Gardens, 239-282-1244, www.leomalovegrove.com
Traders Hitching Post, 239-283-4040, www.hitching-post.com
Wild Child Art Gallery, 239-283-6006 www.wildchildartgallery.com
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