HOLMES BEACH – The Feb. 10 Art Walk brought locals and visitors to two art galleries to see the best of Island art.
Participating businesses around the Artists’ Guild of Anna Maria Island and Island Gallery West that normally close earlier stayed open later for the event, which repeats the second Friday of each month.
The Artists’ Guild of Anna Maria Island
The Artists’ Guild gallery is hosting several activities this month as part of its Paint the Town event, sponsored by Bradenton Arts & Culture, a division of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau:
- Daily artist demos in front of the gallery – Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.;
- Gallery competitions – vote for your favorite locally-inspired subjects;
- Paint Arounds – Fridays from 3-5 p.m., five artists collaborate on five paintings;
- Kid’s activity – papier-mâché Fridays from 3-5 p.m.;
- Plein aire artists – Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., locations to be announced at www.amiartistsguildgallery.com.
“We had a great day with our Paint-a-Round today to kick off the Art Walk,” Guild member artist Joanne Wilhelm said. “We have five artists who paint a little, then they switch. So, each work is actually done by five artists. After it’s finished, we raffle it off. We also did papier-mâché with the children today, which was a great time.”
The Artists’ Guild of Anna Maria Island is an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization at 5414 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach. For more information, call 941-778-6694 or visit the gallery website.
Island Gallery West
Island Gallery West (IGW) offers live music in the parking lot as well as wine and snacks for visitors to enjoy while they chat with member artists and shop the gallery for special works of art to purchase and take home to have a visual reminder of the Island.
February’s featured artist, Karen Beach, has her work on display in the front of the gallery, and anyone who couldn’t make the Art Walk can view the display through the end of February.
IGW also has something special this month with non-member artists invited to showcase their work for the first time in the gallery: Debra Rhoads, who focuses on Florida’s beautiful birds and sunsets; Gail Curry, who calls her design style “Fluid Geometrics” and Lynn Coppinger, who works in a variety of art mediums. Coppinger has since been juried into full membership in the gallery, and is now its newest member artist. Also showing her work this month is Cosette Kosiba, who is displaying her pastel paintings.
The gallery is located at 5368 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. For more information, call 941-778-6648 or visit the gallery website.
