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Local designer featured at Bealls Florida

Local designer featured at Bealls Florida

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Business.

BRADENTON – Kelly Hunt grew up on Anna Maria Island and her Island-inspired creative designs appear on a line of beach towels now sold at 68 Bealls Florida stores statewide.

Hunt now lives in Bradenton with her husband, Courtland, and their son Kellan, and her parents, Scott and Karen Moore, remain longtime Holmes Beach residents.

Hunt’s beach towel offerings at Bealls Florida stores feature three different designs – sea turtles, jellyfish and a Florida map that highlights favorite Florida destinations.

Local designer featured at Bealls Florida
Kelly Hunt’s beach towels feature Anna Maria Island and Florida-inspired designs. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Her beach towels debuted in Bealls Florida stores statewide on Feb. 20. On April 13, Bealls Florida hosted a “Meet Local Florida Artist Kelly Hunt” event at the Bradenton store at 6355 Manatee Ave. W.

During the event, Hunt was asked how it felt to have her products displayed and sold at Bealls Florida.

“It’s magical. I’m seeing my dream come true being a featured artist for a major retailer. It’s an honor to work with Bealls Florida. It’s been the most incredible experi­ence. My towels are in all the Bealls Florida stores and online at the Bealls Florida website. I’ve been doing this for 13 years and to have recognition on a state level is really rewarding,” she said.

Local designer featured at Bealls Florida
Designer Kelly Hunt recently participated in a meet the local artist event at the Bealls Florida store in Bradenton. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Her dad, Scott, said, “I’m very proud of my daughter. Growing up on Anna Maria Island and coming this far with her art and having that imagination to use our marine life and natural settings for her artwork and designs.”

Bealls was founded in Bradenton in 1915 and using local artists is a long-standing company practice.

During the meet the artist event, Bealls Florida repre­sentative Chrissy Kavanagh said, “At Bealls Florida, we’re all about Florida and living life local. Bringing in local art­ists to highlight their artwork on our products is something we’re really proud of and it has always been a part of our culture. Bealls Florida is more than 100 years old. We’re Florida-founded, family-owned and we’re really proud of our Florida heritage.”

PATH TO BEALLS

Hunt owns two intertwined companies: Charted Waters Florida and Painting With a Fish. At her meet the artist event, she also temporarily displayed some of her ad­ditional work and products, some of which she created utilizing a traditional Japa­nese art form of Gyotaku to create pressings using paint, canvas or rice paper and a real fish.

Hunt’s dad and her brother, Justin Moore, are renowned charter captains and fishing guides and many of the fish featured in her Gyotaku prints and apparel were caught on their boats in the waters sur­rounding Anna Maria Island.

Hunt began teaching Gyotaku painting at the Florida Maritime Museum in Cortez. She later expanded her teaching sessions to other locations and now offers private sessions and event sessions too. She began selling her original Gyotaku prints and T-shirts and other products at the Anna Maria farmers market and several other retail busi­nesses on Anna Maria Island – including her Painting With a Fish kits that now utilize silicone fish instead of real fish.

Local designer featured at Bealls Florida
Kelly Hunt’s silicone fish are used to teach people the art of Gyotaku painting. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Local designer featured at Bealls Florida
Silicone fish are used in some of Kelly Hunt’s Paint With a Fish classes and events. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

During a recent interview, Hunt said, “I do classes with real fish but I also have silicone molds made from a casting of a fish. I teach classes with those as well because some people might not want to paint with a real fish. They turn out just as beautiful as using real fish. I got picked up by Bealls Florida because I had my products in stores on the Island, so thanks to the Island stores for carrying my products and being so supportive.

Local designer featured at Bealls Florida
The Bealls Florida store on Manatee Avenue sells Kelly Hunt’s beach towels. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

“Painting With a Fish is my original company and I then I branched out with Charted Waters Florida, working with another graphic artist. I was at an event and got introduced to a Bealls Florida buyer who looks for local artists and local products as part of their company culture. It took me about a year to get my products in their stores. It’s not an easy process,” Hunt said.

She said it was important to find the right company to manufacture and distribute her beach towels statewide and the company she selected was the Miami-based Kaufman towel company.

Hunts hopes her beach towel sales pave the way for more of her designs and products to be sold at Bealls Florida stores. She also hopes to get some of her other products in Target and Publix stores someday.

“I do different things for differ­ent stores and I try to customize them. I also hired a graphic designer to help me expand my business. Sometimes I need help bringing my ideas to fruition,” Hunt said.

Hunt traveled a varied path on her way to business success.

“My grandmother was a watercolor artist. I’m really skilled in Gyotaku art and teach­ing Gyotaku but I don’t view myself as an artist. I’m more of a designer. I love to design products,” she said.

“I used to work for a market­ing consulting firm doing logo designs. I have a marketing background. I used to create event invitations, billboard designs and things like that. I’ve always had that creative sense, but I don’t have graphic designer background,” she said.

Hunt’s college education also contributed to her success.

“I’ve taken what I learned in college and used that in my businesses. You have to be smart and savvy as a businessperson running your own company and you have to be educated and present yourself well to get into these big stores. I look back on my life and realize school really did help me get to where I’m at,” the 41-year-old entrepreneur said.

A wide array of Hunt’s artwork, towels, apparel and other products can be found at www.ChartedWa­tersFlorida.com and you can learn more about her Gyotaku art and teachings at the Painting With a Fish Facebook page.

Reel Time: Guiding principals

Reel Time: Guiding principles

Written by Rusty Chinnis on . Posted in Outdoors, Reel Time.

I have always been a great fan of fishing guides. They can provide a terrific initiation to the local waters and are indispensable when angling new destinations. Not only do you get the benefit of their extensive knowledge of where to find fish, but you’ll get a lesson in the natural world as a bonus.

Most guides not only take you to the action, but they will show you some of the area’s most beautiful natural areas. I know many experienced anglers who regularly fish with guides. They know that there is no substitute for the local knowledge gained from being on the water on a regular basis. They also appreciate the convenience of stepping on a boat, being taken to the fish, having the guide fillet fish if they decide to keep any, and not having to clean the boat.

While many people have the mistaken impression that guiding is an easy job, few people really appreciate the rigors of long days on the water. For anglers, an eight-hour day on the water translates into 10 or more hours for the guide. Not only do guides provide experiences that last a lifetime, many work tirelessly to protect the resources that we all too often take for granted.

My first introduction to guiding came in the 1980s when I was new to area waters. A friend invited me to fish with Holmes Beach guide Capt. Scott Moore. That first trip was a revelation to an angler new to the Gulf coast waters. Moore amazed us with his uncanny ability to find fish. He would literally say, “We’ll start over here and catch a trout, then move to that point and find snook and finally fish that mangrove edge for redfish.” And that’s just what we did. He introduced me to snook fishing, taught me lessons that have made me a better angler, and, most importantly, helped me appreciate the need to protect our marine resources.

I learned a lot of what I know fishing with guides, and they have saved me countless hours of frustration with their “tricks of the trade.” I learned how to remove a backlash from a spinning reel, how to find fish by looking for subtle signs, how to remove a hook from my hand, how to throw a cast net and so much more. Guides are not just anglers, but trained specialists that can help you find and catch fish on your own, if you listen and learn.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of a day on the water with one of the many professional guides in our area, I would encourage you to give it a try. When you do the math, it’s one of the wisest investments you can make for your fishing future. It’s also a great way to spend a day with friends and family and introduce kids to “catching.”  You’ll find information on local guides in the pages of The Sun every week, and I’ll share my experiences with the guides I still fish with regularly.

Reel Time: All hands on deck

Reel Time: All hands on deck

Written by Rusty Chinnis on . Posted in Outdoors, Reel Time.

This past week I had the pleasure of fishing with Captain Scott Moore, Tampa Bay Waterkeeper board member Adam Fernandez and his two boys, AJ and Henry, ages 7 and 5.

I’ve been a fisherman my whole life, having been fortunate to be raised by a father who enjoyed the outdoors and introduced me to fishing when I was 5 years old. During that day on the water memories flooded back as I watched the boy’s enthusiasm and delight catching and releasing snook, trout and sheepshead. It also brought into clear focus why I commit time writing about working to protect water quality and habitat along the Suncoast. Often these days I can only wonder what kind of opportunities AJ and Henry will have when they grow up and what opportunities they might have to share time on the water with their sons or daughters. It’s times like this that bolster my resolve to protect this special resource.

The fishing was good that day despite the high pressure and slick conditions we experienced on the backside of a front. We started on the east side of Egmont Key, where Henry and AJ landed snook and sheepshead. After catching several fish, we left what was becoming a very crowded area and crossed the bay to Rattlesnake Key on the south shore near the Skyway bridge. It didn’t take long before Moore had snook boiling at the back of the boat and AJ and Henry leaned into bent rods, filled with joyful enthusiasm, as they reeled in snook after snook. As we passed rods to the boys and unhooked fish, the conversation turned to the unprecedented loss of seagrass in Tampa and Sarasota Bay. I have fished Rattlesnake Key many times over the years, and when I mentioned to Fernandez how thin the grass looked in areas and that it appeared to be missing in others, Moore responded, “I’ve been fishing this part of Tampa Bay for more than 50 years and I would estimate that one-third of the grass has disappeared in just the last three years.”

Suddenly it became clear that if AJ and Henry were to have a future of good fishing that it was time for “all hands on deck!” When I looked up the definition in Webster’s dictionary, I realized the definition perfectly described the situation “of, relating to, or being a situation in which every available person is needed or called to assist.” The problem is that waiting might equal being too late. This amazing habitat that was a gift to us is slipping away. It’s not too late, but the clock is ticking. Everyone who values this resource needs to lend a hand and maybe most importantly, elect leaders who will work for the people and not for special interests. I’ve said it before but it’s worth repeating, don’t judge candidates by what they’re promising to do to get elected, but instead how they’ve voted in the past. The information is public record and one of the best places I’ve found to vet politicians is at the website of the non-partisan League of Conservation Voters,  I cast my vote for candidates who have a proven record of voting in support of the clean water I drink and fish in.

While addressing water quality is most important, we need organizations like the Sarasota and Tampa Bay Estuary Programs, START, Sarasota Bay Watch, Tampa Bay Watch, Suncoast Waterkeeper, Tampa Bay Waterkeeper, Vote Water and All Clams on Deck to be spreading the word, educating young advocates and doing restoration work with fish, oysters and clams. I believe it rises to a moral obligation.

HB Fish Canal

Holmes Beach officials responding to fish floating in canals

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Holmes Beach city officials are aware of the dead fish floating in some of Holmes Beach’s residential canals and they are working to rectify the situation.

One of the most visible instances is in the canal along Marina Drive, near 63rd Street.

On Friday, Nov. 23, outgoing Holmes Beach Mayor Bob Johnson said members of the city’s Public Works Department would be out in the city boat Saturday morning removing dead fish from canals. He said the fish removed would be placed in a designated dumpster and pick up by WastePro by noon on Saturday.

“We’re working on it. What we’ve been doing is picking these things up every couple days because they’ve been at different places at different times, depending on which way the wind blows. The other side of that is getting rid of the fish, so we have a dumpster service that we use. We don’t leave them in the dumpster overnight because that also causes problems,” Johnson said.

“They’re trying to keep up with it,” Police Chief Bill Tokajer later added.

Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy said he hadn’t received any reports of dead fish floating in Anna Maria’s canals. He said if he gets any reports of that nature he would reach out to the Cortez commercial fishermen who earlier this year assisted the city with its red tide-related shoreline cleanup efforts along South Bay Boulevard.

Captain’s concerns

On Thursday, Nov. 22, Holmes Beach resident and charter fishing captain Scott Moore suggested at his Facebook page that it would be smart for the city of Holmes Beach to remove the dead fish as soon as possible because that would benefit the Island’s residents and visitors. He also stated his view that it’s more environmentally sound to remove the fish quickly rather than allowing them to sink to the bottom and decompose.

When contacted Friday, Moore said, “Most of them are mullet, it’s a shame. As soon as those fish pop up, they need to get them. They shouldn’t wait until they’re half-rotted because once they start to decay and rot that puts nutrients back in the water that can help regenerate red tide.”

Moore said these views were shaped in part by scientific opinions cited at a meeting he attended after the red tide blooms began appearing near Anna Maria Island in early August.

“Hopefully they can clean that up because it’s hard on the tourism. I’m not complaining about Holmes Beach, I know they’re limited. A month ago, Holmes Beach workers came down and cleaned up my canal,” Moore said.

Moore said he was also aware of dead fish floating in other nearby residential canals, including canals in Key Royale and Seaside Gardens.

On a more positive note, Moore said the water on the Gulf side looked good.

“The beach is beautiful. The water at 28th Street is beautiful. It’s only on the bay side, and some in Palma Sola too. I caught a lot of fish in the river near Terra Ceia this week. The water there was good,” Moore said.

Social media commentary

On Wednesday, Nov. 21, Anna Maria resident Cheri Sackett initiated a Facebook conversation that started with her post that said, “The canal by 63rd St. is littered with dead fish again.”

HB Fish Facebook 1128 S
On Wednesday, Anna Maria resident Cheri Sackett posted this on her Facebook page, which then generated responses from several other users. – Facebook | Submitted

Facebook user Rich Bell noted this is something Island visitors would notice when visiting or passing through Holmes Beach.

“Go net the canal,” he suggested.

Brett Nance posted a response that said he cruised in his boat and spotted several large dead fish floating in the canals and by the Kingfish Boat Ramp too.

A few Facebook users commented on how the lingering red tide is affecting their respiratory health and the unpleasant smell it created at times.

According the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission website, the red tide levels offshore of Manatee County between Nov. 15 and Nov. 21 remained within 5 percent (positive or negative) of the levels recorded the previous week.

 

https://amisun.com/2018/11/23/patchy-red-tide-forecast-at-high-levels/