Tuesday, September 13, 2016

ACT Gallery will feature over 100 Artists from the Arts for ACT 2016 Disco Ball Gala presented by Bill Smith, Inc.

Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, October 7, 2016 from 6 to 10 pm for the opening reception and art walk for October, 2016.  Can’t make the Friday night event, then come downtown on Saturday, October 8, from 11am to 4pm to view the exhibits at a slower pace.  This month, ACT Gallery will feature over 100 of the Live and Silent Auction Artists for Abuse Counseling and Treatment, Inc., annual fundraiser Arts for ACT.  The theme for this year’s gala is “Disco Ball Gala” and Bill Smith, Inc., is our presenting sponsor.  This is the 28th year that ACT has held this fundraiser.
Sherry Rohl - Courage

Arts for ACT Gallery will exhibit the Live Auction, which will feature Artist Sherry Rohl and showcase the art of David Belling, Christine Reichow, Jan Ellen Atkielski and Kellen Beck Mills.  In addition to that the live auction will also have pieces by International Artists Marcus Jansen and Darryl Pottorf, plus the art of twenty-two local and national artists. 
Jan Ellen Atkielski - Garnet & Sapphire Woods Tessara

Over seventy-five Silent Auction artists will also be on display at the Arts for ACT Gallery.  Expect to see exceptional oils and acrylics on canvas, photography, collage, graphite, jewelry, gift baskets, sand, shell, pine needle and fiber art, whimsical painted furniture, mosaics, gourd art, and sculptures.  We even have a disco ball explosion…there is truly something for everyone! 
Christine Reichow - The Dock

This year you will have the opportunity to buy pieces from the Silent Auction…we call it “Take Me Out of This Auction!”  There are over 100 pieces in the Silent Auction.    

David Belling - First Street
This exhibit continues until we take it to auction on October 29, 2016 at Harborside Event Center.  Individual tickets and table sales for the October 29th “Disco Ball Gala” can be purchased on-line at www.artsforactfineartauction.com  
Kellen Beck Mills - Big Donna
  

Support Abuse Counseling and Treatment, Inc., Arts for ACT Gallery and the people this gala benefits; the domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual assault victims and survivors.  So…Boogie Down and Support US!

 
Scott Guelcher - Disco Ball Explosion





Thursday, July 14, 2016

Isabel Squires, Gayle Smock and 14 Co-op Member Artists

Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, August 5, 2016 from 6 to 10 pm for the opening reception and art walk for August, 2016.  This month, ACT Gallery will feature Isabel Squires, 14 of the ACT Co-Op Artists and Gayle Smock. 

Isabel Squires
A native of Costa Rica, Isabel Arias-Squires’ Naive Art has been a strong influence to her own style, applying a vivid palette of colors to timeless and innocent themes of her own experiences.  Isabel began painting art in 2008.  She attributes her formation in technique to her studies in the United States at The Art Center of Williamson County in Round Rock, TX with artists Michael Hammons and John Howell at the Cordovan School of Arts.  Isabel’s work includes still life, landscapes and portraits. Her subjects have exaggerated eyes, applications of vibrant colors, and her use of trees, flowers and plants from Central America define Isabel’s unique passion and style.  Isabel has utilized art to inspire others, especially children with special needs to express themselves.   She has called Fort Myers home since 1995.     
Gayle Smock



Gayle Smock is a full time professional artist who has lived in Fort Myers since 1971, enjoying a long involvement with music, art and photography.  She is from the Chicago area, where she received her education at the American Academy of Art, the Art Institute and the Illinois Institute of Technology and Design.  Gayle won many awards for her work while in the Chicago area.  She retired from the News-Press as an advertising artist after twenty-nine years and currently hosts the Art Social Group at the Share Club, Wa-kahatchee in South Fort Myers. 


Susan Mills
Group Exhibit of 14 ACT Co-Op Artists.  Artists Linda Benson, Scott Guelcher, Kim Kraft-Beckler, Kyra Belan, Michelle Rothacker, Susan Mills, Kate O’Connell, Michael Pohlman, Marie Cahill, Becky Sandbek, Lynne Van Sciver, Cavin Guenther, Vic Delnore and Claudia will be exhibiting new works.   Expect to see realism, mixed media, painted gourds and furniture, colored pencils drawing, mixed media collage, handmade paper art, recycled and restyled and photography in this group exhibit.  This group of artists support and volunteer their time to the ACT Gallery and ACT Shelter.  This exhibit is a must-see for art lovers and collectors.  

Monday, May 16, 2016

June 3rd Ripoll-LeFevre and Wilkinson

Join Arts for ACT Gallery, located at 2265 First Street in downtown Fort Myers on Friday, June 3rd, from 6 to 10 pm for the opening reception and art walk for our June featured artists: Diana Ripoll, showing in the main gallery, also featuring Dharma LeFevre in the white gallery, and off the main gallery Alex Wilkinson.  This exhibit continues through June 27, 2016. 


In the Main Gallery – Diana Ripoll was born with a natural fascination for brilliant color and abstract ideas. She has had the good fortune of traveling the world and her mind has become a vast well of snapshots and experiences that her subconscious draws upon to create her paintings. Diana chooses the color that attracts her at the moment, and then continues to add colors and watch how they flow, mix and move. The paintings begin to form themselves, she then finds what is hidden, and begins to consciously bring it out. Only when the work is completed does she find the true meaning of the piece and what inspired it. With each completed piece, Diana looks forward to revisiting the story it represents.

In the White Gallery  –  Dharma LeFevre  is a fine art figurative artist that calls Fort Myers home.  Raised in Naples, Florida she attended college in Oklahoma at Neo A&M Junior College for Graphic Arts.  There she found that she disliked the graphic arts and decided to go on a different career path.  Dharma took a 20 year creative hiatus and instead focused on a family and job.   Five years ago she decided to create again and taught herself how to paint in various mediums from acrylic to coffee and teas.  Her artistic background is based in fantasy, mythology and figurative.  Her current body of work has inspirations that pull from feminine Art Nouveau, urban lines and techniques and vintage influences in saturated colorful pieces. 

 In the Small Gallery – Alex Wilkinson  is a self-taught mixed media artist.  She has worked as a needle arts designer and instructor for 20 years using pieces of fabric as her canvas.  Today, Alex employs traditional pen and ink, acrylic paint, colored pencils, oil pastels, markers, paper and found objects to create her mixed media art work on canvas or Bristol board.  Her favorite subjects are animals, feathered friends, Art Deco, and Celtic lore.  Her often whimsical fold art designs include small stitch-like black and white line patterns in the Zen Tangle inspired art style.  Zen Tangle (doodling) has been around since ancient times.  It was visible on the walls of Egyptian Pyramids, in Celtic Manuscripts and in basic borders and shapes worldwide.  Come view the Zen of Alex Wilkinson. 



Monday, April 18, 2016

Boren, Branchaud and Evans at ACT Gallery in May 2016

Our May featured artists: Katherine Boren, “Textures-Tones”, showing in the main gallery, also featuring Danielle Branchaud “Emotive” in the white gallery, and off the main gallery Shadow Boxes by Ron Evans.  This exhibit continues through May 30, 2016. 


Katherine Boren

In the Main Gallery – Katherine Boren’s series of new works, entitled “Textures-Tones”, continues and expands her exploration of multiple mediums evoking various emotions, events, and places utilizing nonrepresentational techniques.  By focusing on using a predominantly monochromatic palette and utilizing a combination of nontraditional and found materials in unexpected ways, her new works emphasize the reflection of light, varying textures and shapes, and differing grades of color saturation, while addressing universal experiences, environments, and feelings in an intuitive manner.   She emphasizes the use of color, form, and texture to evoke emotional and psychological reactions to her art.  Boren states that her most successful work utilizes a base hue and uses its shades, tones, and tints to encourage further exploration by the viewer.  Originally from New York, Boren studied at New York University, and the New School; she graduated with an emphasis in sculpture from the State University of New York.  Her work has been exhibited at numerous venues in solo, group, juried, and member shows.  More information can be found on her website at www.katherineboren.com.

Danielle Branchaud
In the White Gallery  –  Danielle Branchaud
“The things that drive the human experience are based on instinct and emotion. Since the beginning of mankind the ways in which we relate to one another, connect, and evolve have consistently been revolving around those basic drives. And these instincts lurk still, within the depths of the human subconscious.”  States Danielle Branchaud
It is this that prompts the inspiration for D. Branchaud’s work. Combined with a survey of personal experience, her paintings have created a window through the eyes of the subconscious, into a place that illustrates those basest of instincts and emotions. The goal of works such as the “Emotive” series is to illustrate the universality of emotion. It not only serves as a reflection of the artist’s own experience, but also provides a mirror for the audience to see within themselves.
Her work walks a tightrope between fantasy and surrealism, into an honest realm of pure visceral emotion. The “Emotive” series largely skimmed the surface. 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.
D. Branchaud was born in Canada in 1985, and has been painting with acrylics since 2003. She currently resides in Florida, and is continuing her series work as well as various commissions and projects. The intimacy that she employs with the “Emotive” and “Visceral” series’ is also applied to portraits (where the goal is not simply to achieve a likeness, but to capture the essence of the subject), as well as conceptual commissions and illustrations. 
For more infor
 Small Gallery – Ron Evans
Ron Evans
“The "things"in my art aren't really things,rather shapes that fuse together and connect.  These works become loose and painterly. “ states Ron Evans 

Fort Myers artist Ron Evans will be exhibiting his shadow boxes. Ron considers himself more of a “colourist” as opposed to an “artist.” He tries to capture the interaction of shapes dissolving into a structure of colour. His media of choice is acrylic or watercolour. Ron’s works range in size from small to very large, and are a colourful explosion of abstract fantasy.