Tuesday, December 9, 2014

January 2, 2015 ACT Gallery features Martha Dodd, Ellen Sayet and John Scopps

Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, January 2, from 6 to 10 pm for the opening reception and art walk for our January featured artists: Realist Oil Painter Martha Dodd in the main gallery. Showing off the main gallery: Stills and Figurative Works of Ellen Sayet and the Abstracts of John Scoppa.  This exhibit continues through February 2, 2015.  


In the Main Gallery – Martha Dodd  Painting has been Martha Dodd's passion and full time occupation for the past 27 years. 
Martha Dodd resides in Fort Myers, Florida, and works in her art studio there. She enjoys painting people, animals, and landscapes. While Martha often travels to client's homes to paint unique murals, working hand in hand with interior decorators, designers, and architects, her goal is to focus more and more on portraits, and capturing life in a natural setting. Her original paintings are created in oils, and occasionally acrylic. She prefers to work on large canvases, and her subjects include horses, birds, people, and mermaids.  This past summer she traveled to Europe for a 6 week long tour to study art in Rome, Florence, Vienna, Split, and Paris.  Website, www.followyourartllc.com.   When Martha isn't painting, she enjoys horseback riding, and sailing with her best guy, Marc.




In the White Gallery – John Scoppa

John Scoppa grew up in Boston, MA. He is now a resident of Cape Coral, FL., moving here 3 ½ years ago from Palm Springs, CA. John was a hair and makeup artist for 20 years and began painting 4 years ago.  Intrigued by abstract art and its fascination, John began painting in California beginning with a course at the College of the Desert in Palm Springs.  What attracts John to abstract versus reality paintings are movement, flow and shape. He strives for a composition that moves your eyes through the painting and provides stopping points for you. Allowing your eyes to move through the painting creates a thought or completing an image.

 Off the Main Gallery – Ellen Sayet


Ellen Sayet has always loved sketching and painting but they took a secondary position between two successful careers.  The world of art has opened up as my primary focus since being retired.  Self taught with an occasional drawing class, I enjoy painting realism with “an edge”.  Ellen’s figurative paintings are classic drawings with an inventive and creative side.  Most important to her is producing works of realism and figurative portraiture in oil and pastel, and capturing the mood, personality and inner soul of the subjects.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Arts for Act: Paul Rodino, Julie "Tink" Markytan and Terry Lynn ...

Arts for Act: Paul Rodino, Julie "Tink" Markytan and Terry Lynn ...: Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, November 7, from 6 to 10 pm for the opening recep...

Paul Rodino, Julie "Tink" Markytan and Terry Lynn Spry Featured Artists for November at ACT Gallery

Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, November 7, from 6 to 10 pm for the opening reception and art walk for our November featured artists: “Drive-By” by Paul Rodino. Showing off the main gallery: a surrealist exhibit by Terry Lynn Spry and the mixed media art sculptures of “Tink” Julie Markytan.  This exhibit continues through December 01, 2014.   
Paul Rodino
 In the Main Gallery – “Drive-By” by Paul Rodino
Paul Rodino was born in New York, raised in Cape Coral and then went west to find his muse. Receiving his initial photography training at the Colorado Institute of Art in the early 80's. He later went and changed his environment and major to get his degree in Fashion Illustration and Graphic Design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.

For the past 28 years he¹s worked as a Graphic Designer/Art Director for various ad agencies and publications throughout Southwest Florida. Over the past 14 years, he has been using a combination of traditional and modern photo techniques to expose and explore moments in everyday life. He finds relaxation observing and finding those little moments of time to capture, each one becoming its own keepsake.

 SHOW STATEMENT: "Drive-By" is a showcase of the great American automobile, the roads they travel and the signage that guides them on their journey. Each composite image is transferred to a series of vintage maps from the 50's, 60's and 70's.

"Tink" Markytan


In the White Gallery – Julie “Tink” Markytan
Julie “Tink” Markytan arrived in Fort Myers in 2002 traversing the nation from my previous home in Seattle. In so doing, she retired from my previous career in the film business.  Her artwork encompassed various mediums through the years until settling upon sculpture. The alchemy of creativity ignites within her as she physically touches and works the materials, allowing them to guide her to the result. “Tink” loves using recycled materials. A journey to the salvage yard is like finding buried treasure for her, each item an inspirational jewel. "To everything there is a purpose" and then the potential to becoming art, “ states Tink.

Off the Main Gallery – Terry Lynn Spry

 Terry Lynn’s paintings have been exhibited in national and local juried art exhibitions.   In addition, her work can be found in private collections across the country.   She won honourable mention in Artist Magazine in December 2012 issue.  She graduated from Phoenix Institute of Technology with a degree in production art and went onto study under Nina Conner.  Terry Lynn paints in oils on canvas.  She loves to create paintings that tell stories.  She considers painting same as breathing and better than chocolate.  

Terry Lynn Spry

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Arts for Act: Danielle Branchaud - Sandra Yeyati - Marianne Cush...

Arts for Act: Danielle Branchaud - Sandra Yeyati - Marianne Cush...: Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, October 03, from 6 to 10 pm for the opening recep...

Danielle Branchaud - Sandra Yeyati - Marianne Cushing at ACT Gallery

Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, October 03, from 6 to 10 pm for the opening reception and art walk for our October featured artists: “Disparate Forces” by Artist Danielle Branchaud and the photography of Sandra Yeyati.  Book signing with Marianne Cushing, “Mahalas Lane.”   This exhibit continues through November 3, 2014. 

Dissolve by Danielle Branchaud

In the Main Gallery – “Disparate Forces” An exhibition of selected works by Danielle Branchaud for Domestic Violence Awareness Month
“Disparate Forces” will try to convey Branchaud’s  work as contrasting forces within or without a person that affects the progress of our lives. Most of the artwork features the emotional and subconscious translation of such forces, be it violent and unbalanced or hopeful and uplifting. Regardless of where such reactions fall on the emotional spectrum, each is essential to the development of the human spirit.  “In recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the purposes of the ACT program and gallery, Ive carefully chosen old and new works to reflect the issues presented. Although during the emotional development of a person there are bound to be obstacles, nothing compares to the onslaught of negative forces that occur to one who has been the recipient of violence, be it physical, sexual or mental. In honor of those who have overcome such obstacles, I present these works with written narratives to correlate to the illustration of that emotional progress; of the propensity for the human spirit to overcome such forces. I myself have only tasted the tiniest fraction of such negative forces; but I observe the ability of people, particularly women, to rise up from the ashes of abuse and neglect. Through this art I wish to share the incredible endurance of the human spirit and the value of every life,” states Danielle Branchaud.
Danielle’s  work walks a tightrope between fantasy and surrealism, into an honest realm of pure visceral emotion.  Her new work is intended to reach new depths, delving into her personal world of dreamscapes. The nightmarish imagery used to illuminate those unconscious thoughts serve as further exploration into the things that make us human.  She was born in Canada in 1985. Danielle has been painting with acrylics since 2003, resides in Florida, and is continuing her series work as well as various commissions and projects.

Hope by Sandra Yeyati


In the White Gallery - Naples Photographer Explores Beauty in Decay
In a show titled “Decay is Beautiful,” emerging photo artist Sandra Yeyati will display more than 40 of her works in the white gallery.  While several of Yeyati's pieces have been juried into local and national competitions and displayed in Naples and Fort Myers galleries, as well as the pages of Gulfshore Life magazine, this is her first major exhibit. All images will be signed, first edition, archival prints of limited lots. In the digital darkroom, Yeyati layers multiple photographs that she has taken of people and textures into one composition, creating painterly images while honoring the photographic elements. Art critic Donald Miller compared one of her pieces to the expressionist paintings of Alexej von Jawlensky.  Yeyati says, “I am mesmerized by the fractal beauty of decay and deterioration as it forms strange patterns in surprising colors and tones. Faces also fascinate me; I look to them for answers to eternal questions about identity and the way our surroundings influence our sense of self. Many of us hide inconceivable secrets behind a simple smile. Every one of my compositions is a confession.”
For more information about the artist, visit SandraYeyati.com.

Book Signing with Local author, Marianne Cushing

Meet local author, Marianne Cushing and pick up a signed copy of her novel “Mahalas Lane.”   

Friday, August 15, 2014

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Cesar Aguilera and Rachel Moorman featured for September at ACT Gallery


J
oin Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, September 5, from 6 to 10 pm for the opening reception and art walk for our September artists. “Anthologies and Other Echoes” by Cesar Aguilera and off the Main Gallery, Rachel Moorman will be showing her “story-telling” art.  This exhibit continues through September 29, 2014. 

Cesar Aguilera was born in Quito, Ecuador; he navigated his childhood by virtue of creative observation, learning from his first curiosities onward that imagination and ingenuity have critical roles to play within our human experiences of life.  Exploring these roles has led to a lifetime of experimental works and has taken Cesar through a vast spectrum of mediums, techniques, materials and subject matter.  Although his approach is always in flux, his objective remains constant: to use art as a means of contributing to the design of solutions regarding problems which plague our world and the societies that inhabit it.


 




Artist Statement by Cesar Aguilera


“Anthologies and other Echoes”   As humans we have conquered every other animal species and transformed the land to our liking; we conquered the planet. But, now what?  Anthologies and other Echoes portrays all of humanity’s achievements in science, arts, politics and all the fields of human thought as seen from the future, looking back at this civilization that had it all, conquered all, but didn’t know what to do with it and lose it all at the end.  We haven’t reached that point yet. This dramatic presentation is a way to emphasize that we are still on time to curb our insatiable hunger, reduce consumption and use all of our brilliance and ingenuity to reverse the damage already done. There is no other planet ship like this. We repair the damage to stay afloat; or we will surely drown.





Off the Main Gallery:
Rachel Mooran’s is an artist native of Chicago, Illinois. She has called Southwest Forida her home since 1999. Rachel specializes in several different mediums, but is known predominately for her ‘story telling’ acrylic paintings, custom painted shoes and her unique Japanese paper-cutting i). Rachel has won over twenty–five awards in shows around the Chicagoland area. She has worked with designers in Southwest Florida since 2001, doing mural work.  She is currently working on several new paintings and paper-cut jewelry art pieces.


 

Friday, April 11, 2014

May 2, 2014 Arts for ACT Gallery Guest Artists Dale Weber, Allan Tiller and Mary-Louise Hooper

Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, May 2, from 6 to 10 pm for the opening reception and art walk for our May featured artists: Mixed Media/Found Objects Artist Dale Weber, Photographer Allan Tiller and Painter Dr. Mary Louise Hooper.  This exhibit continues through June 2, 2014.  

 Dale Weber   -  Searching for the significant hidden within the insignificant, the art of Dale Weber reveals an inner beauty of the mundane. His art is a metaphoric vehicle for the overlooked, abandoned, and forgotten elements within today's society. It urges a reassessment of values in a disposable world.   Emerging as a young painter in the early 1970’s, Dale Weber was invariably drawn to subjects that bore the passage of time with a quiet dignity. In his continued quest to find the essence of age, he required a different form of expression. Eight years ago, he turned to ‘objet trouve’; the art of found objects. His 2D assemblages and 3D constructions offer a new perspective. The subject has become the medium.  Dale Weber only uses discarded materials are no longer able to serve their original purpose. For this reason, he prefers the term reinvented rather than recycled. He uses items in an ‘as found’ condition defining the natural beauty of lives well-lived. By careful selection and placement, these objects enter into dialogues expressing the artist’s views that range from social commentary to the philosophical.
“My goal is to inspire others to see the world through new eyes. Often beauty is cloaked in shabbiness. We must look beneath the surface to find the intrinsic value.  In today’s world all deserve a second look, a second chance.  Awareness is the first step of change.” ~ Dale Weber.



Allan Tiller  is a SW Florida resident and photographer by choice, having moved here from the Chesapeake Bay area in 2003. The diversity of natural beauty is a constant source of inspiration.   After a career including Illustration, teaching at The Art Institute of Philadelphia and painting, photography has become the medium of choice, largely due to the changing physical abilities brought about by Multiple Sclerosis.   He takes great pleasure in sharing his vision of the unseen details of the natural world.




Dr. Mary-Louise Biasotti Hooper is a national and international prize-winning artist, painting seascapes, landscapes, cityscapes, abstraction and still life. Her purpose is to bring viewers a moment of respite and beauty in their stressful lives by taking them away to another place.  As one buyer stares, her work is "...peaceful calming nature scenes with the ability to convert deep feelings to canvas".  Born in Greenwich Village, New York City, to an Italian immigrant family, the yearly art shows in Washington Square Park influenced her desire to paint.  Since art was not encouraged as a way to make a living, she entered the field of Education. Her art became a self-taught hobby until completing art degrees in 1999 & 2002.  Today, besides producing art, she conducts art classes and workshops for adults in all media. Influenced greatly by the work of Cezanne and de Steel, she calls much of her work "Slightly Expressionistic".  Recent innovative work ventures into abstracted images. 

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Opening April 4th 2014 at ACT Gallery - George Mitchell, Ray Hernandez and Roy Benton III

Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, April 4, from 6 to 10 pm for the opening reception and art walk for our April featured artists Photographer and Author George Mitchell, Painter Ray Hernandez and Sculptor Roy Benton III.  This exhibit continues through April 28, 2014. 
1967 Photography by George Mitchell

George Mitchell has been making serious photographs since his senior year in high school, when he began photographing traditional blues artists he located or visited with a Kodak Instamatic camera. He began making more professional photographs in 1967, when the University of Minnesota School of Mass Communication and Journalism lent him a camera.  He went to Mississippi for the summer to record, photograph, and interview traditional blues musicians.  This trip resulted in a Master of Arts paper and his first book, Blow My Blues Away, was published by Louisiana State University Press.  For several years in the late 1960's and early 1970's, he was a reporter in Columbus, Georgia.  Under the tutelage of the photographers at the Columbus Ledger, he took the photographs, which appeared with his stories.  At the Columbus Times, he was a reporter, a photographer, and later executive editor.  During that period, he produced his second book of photographs and text, I’m Somebody Important.  He then decided to become a photography teacher, and returned to the University of Minnesota where he studied photography teaching in both the journalism and art departments.  He taught photography in Atlanta at four high schools for a total of 25 years.  He also authored five more books of photographs and interviews.  There have been a number of solo exhibitions of his photographs over the years, including three in Atlanta; one in Columbus, Georgia (a number of his photographs are in the permanent collection of the Columbus Museum of Art); Sacramento, California; Utrecht, Holland; Jackson, Mississippi (at the Mississippi Museum of Art); Clarksdale, Mississippi; and Fort Myers.  Mitchell, who spent his first two years in Fort Myers, before moving to Atlanta, has returned to Fort Myers, where he continues to photograph for exhibition and publication.
 
Bon Bon by Hernandez

Raymond Hernandez was born in Brooklyn, New York, of Puerto Rican, descent.  He grew up amongst the rural nature of LaBelle, Florida and developed a passion for botany, art, and photography.  Hernandez was awarded scholarships from the U.S. Sugar Corp. and the Art Institute of Dallas. His study of fine art and graphic communication, began his career in Texas.  In 1985, he moved to New York City, exhibiting his art while illustrating and designing for such cliental as: Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Arden, Lancome, Coty, Revlon and Avon. His art has been published both national and internationally on cosmetic packaging, shopping bags, promotional, and novelty products.  Hernandez returned to Florida in 2005 to focus on his fine art and encountered numerous artists on a similar path of exhibiting, creating and working together to bring the arts to Southwest Florida.  He currently teaches art to children and teens in various Lee, Hendry, and Glades County programs. He was awarded The City of Fort Myers Art and Culture Individual Artist Grant for 2012, 2013 and strives to keep the arts alive.  For more information Email: ray06usa@yahoo.com

Roy L. Benton III a Florida native, grew up in Fort Myers. He is a fourth generation of Marine Contractors and is a Certified General Contractor. Benton, in his spare time enjoys creating art. His art consists of metal, wood sculptures and photography.  “I taught myself how to weld as a young child when I would go to work with my father at his marine construction company.  My grandfather built custom homes and I learned woodworking from him.  My uncle, Darryl Pottorf, an international artist taught me an assortment of valuable techniques. He loves where he grew up and his art reflects things that have been a part of his life.  Benton loves to fish, dive and enjoys the outdoors. His latest collection of artwork reflects this and revolves around the marine life and his passion for nature. 
Roy Benton III Metal Sculpture
 

Thursday, February 27, 2014

"Reanimations" by Sanibel Artist Andrew Corke, Baseball Art of Michael Pohlman and Mermaids and More by Martha Dodd


Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, March 7, from 6 to 10 pm for the opening reception and art walk for our March featured artists, Sanibel Artist, Andrew Corke. In addition, showing off the main gallery are Michael Pohlman and Martha Dodd.  This exhibit continues through March 31, 2014. 


Andrew Corke grew up on Sanibel Island, a community that is very focused on the natural environment in which they live. By growing up next door to places such as the JN Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, he felt the need to create art that brings attention to the ongoing issue of habitat loss, global climate change, over-consumption, and the unstable future of the neighbors he grew up with, such as ospreys, indigo snakes, and sea turtles. Andrew Corke knew he wanted to be an artist from a young age, and graduated with an art degree from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2012. He has since been working on pieces which he labels as Reanimations, further experimenting with new and innovative methods to use the materials he has rescued from their would have been destination of the local dump.  The materials are an important aspect of his work.  By making the work three-dimensional and out of recycled waste Andrew hoped to invoke the feel that these creatures are being reanimated from the trash, reaching out and toward the viewer. The process for most of the Reanimations involves building up a supporting structure out of wire or foam, stuffing it with recycled newspaper and then building up layers of recycled materials on top of this support structure. Andrew states, “We live on a planet that has a limited number of resources, these resources will not be around forever, neither will animals, neither will humans; by using what we already have as wisely as possible, by reducing what we use, reusing and recycling I am confident that we can give the place we live, new life.”


Baseball Art

Michael Pohlman was raised in Beloit, Wisconsin, where his art training started in a well organized public school program. Mike attended Rollins College and Bradley University in the early 60's on a scholarship for baseball.  He was told that Art and athletics did not mix. He graduated with majors in Physical Education, U.S. History, and Art. He taught all three subjects before moving to Chicago Heights, Illinois. He eventually became Coordinator of Physical Education and Varsity Baseball Coach at Bloom High School. His creative energies went into an innovative Outdoor Adventure curriculum and Baseball program that led him to the Illinois Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame Honors.

Mike began painting again in 1988. He won a spot in the Union Street Galley's inaugural show in 1995 and was offered a studio. Over a ten-year period, his work was shown in multiple venues in Chicago and its suburbs. His abstract series "Before Time" is an extension of his 60's training and his sports renderings incorporate his extensive knowledge of baseball and athletics. Mike says, "Art is like athletics to me. The discipline of the process is the same. You train yourself to use skills to compete for a desired outcome. Whatever the results, you continue to refine your performance along with looking for new ways to use your abilities to succeed."

Mike now paints in Fort Myers, Florida and is the Varsity Pitching Coach at Bishop Verot High School
.  Baseball fans and art lovers alike should not miss this mixed media Baseball exhibit.



Martha Dodd grew up in Ohio, the daughter of an artist and a physician. To this day, Martha still finds both sides of her brain battling for superiority, but most days they work well together. She loved to draw, and took every art class that was available to her during the school year, and even some summer courses at the College of Wooster, Ohio.

Martha has found inspiration all around her in Florida, painting everything from humans and animals to birds and fish. She discovered a huge demand for murals, to her delight, and that has been the mainstay of her work for many years. She loves painting portraits. She is now a member of the Portrait and Figure Painters Society of SW Florida.  Her work has been published many times in various magazines such as Florida Design, Naples Illustrated, Gulf Shore Magazine, and the N Magazine.

 

Arts for ACT Gallery provides a quality, contemporary exhibition gallery featuring original art, limited edition prints, giclees, hand-crafted fine crafts, tee shirts, silver and glass bead jewelry, gourd art, raku, clay, and art cards. It is a “must see” destination for all art lovers and collectors, providing a unique opportunity for everyone to learn and enjoy art.  Highlighting the art of the current featured artist, the front gallery, reminiscent of galleries in SoHo, has 12 to 16 foot high ceilings, distressed brick walls, and warm wooden floors. It is a great opportunity to meet the gallery’s featured artist, enjoy some local food and wine, and engage in lively artful discussions.

 

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

February 2014 Scott Guelcher, Karen Shulman and Art by Kids with Cancer

Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, February 7, from 6 to 10 pm for the opening reception and art walk for our February featured artist, Scott Guelcher’s, “10 Years”. In addition, showing off the main gallery are photography of Karen Shulman and Art by Kids with Cancer.  This exhibit continues through March 3, 2014.  
"Snowbird Soup" Scott Guelcher

Scott Guelcher’s unique style of art has become well known in Southwest Florida. This blend of Pop Art Images and abstract backgrounds has attracted galleries to frequently display his artwork. Throughout his rising career as an artist he has received local and international recognition for his artwork. He has received awards and grants for his art including the 2008 Angels of the Arts Award for Best “New” Artist, 2010 Soaring Eagles Award from the FGCU Alumni Association, being selected as one of ten artists from the State of Florida to attend the Mac: Model for Artists Career Development Workshop in St. Petersburg, Florida, an invitation to a Marketing and Promoting your work workshop in Tequesta, Florida funded by a National Endowment of the arts grant through the Florida Department of Cultural Affairs and run by the Creative Capitol Foundation of New York City (a subsidy of the Andy Warhol Foundation that supports individual artists), and Arts and Culture Grants from the City of Fort Myers in 2008 and 2009. In addition to being an artist, Scott was the event chair for Art Royale 2008, the signature fundraiser for the Lee County Alliance of the Arts in Fort Myers and currently teaches art at Island Coast High School. Scott is always looking for new opportunities to educate and inspire the community through the arts. He is always trying to give back to the community through philanthropy by donating works of art to charity fundraisers for different causes. He promoted some global subjects during his span as an artist, specifically a solo exhibition titled “Bikinis and Bombs”. This show was about the testing of the hydrogen bomb by the United States government conducted in the Marshall Islands on Bikini Atoll. The show gained local and international recognition. His exhibitions, publications, and collections enrich the talent and education he has achieved. Scott will continue to draw on issues in the local community and global community as the inspiration for his artwork.

"Up in the Air" Karen Shulman
Karen Shulman began photographing in 2007 while living on the ocean in Hull, MA.  There,the changing lightscapes and dramatic skies prompted her to chase perfect light and capture the spectrum of vivid hues she witnessed. While her interests have expanded to include cityscapes and street photography, she continues to seek the most expressive light in her compositions.  Three of Karen’s photographs are in the permanent collection of the South Shore Hospital, Weymouth MA. This is her first solo show, “Window Dressing,” in Fort Myers. Her work has appeared in group shows in the Boston area, most recently three shows at the Griffin Museum of Photography: Winter Solstice Member Show, Harvey Stein’s Street Photography. Among the awards she has won are Best in Show from South Shore Art Association, Cohasset MA and honorable mention in the national show "The Art of Photography" in Plymouth MA.  Karen has studied photography with Harvey Stein, Lance Keimig, Scott Martin and Karen Davis and in workshops around the world including Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, Prague, Taos, New Mexico and New York City. 

Art by Kids with Cancer is a project of The Young Artists Awards. This non-profit organization donates and delivers art supplies for use by pediatric oncology patients throughout the year in conjunction with the Child Life Specialists at the Pediatric Oncology/Hematology program at the Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida, while also showcasing the artwork of children with cancer.  The organization provides monetary assistance to local families in crisis facing the financial challenges of childhood, assisting those families with expenses such as groceries, transportation, and prescription costs.  The program's collaboration with trained specialists at the hospital utilizes art in a therapeutic setting to assist children with cancer. The art supplies purchased and donated are delivered for specialized instruction and are available for both art projects and the children's personal use. The program's multiple 'Art by Kids with Cancer' exhibits throughout the community raise awareness in the general community as to the importance of the arts in healing and the challenges faced by local families of children diagnosed with cancer.  The Young Artists Awards, a not for profit organization serving area children, mats and frames and then showcases, sells, and auctions selected pieces of the children’s artwork at numerous venues throughout Southwest Florida.  Trained volunteers will be available to talk about the artwork and program during the opening. More information can be found at www.youngartistsawards.org.  
"Little Loves" Art by Kids with Cancer