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Artists mark 2nd anniversary of gallery in South Fort Myers

By LIANE SMITH (Contact)

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

"We're two going on three," local artists and gallery owners William North, Carl Schwartz and Ludmilla Evans say proudly of the Florida Fine Art Gallery.

North and Schwartz refer to their small gallery, which is celebrating two years of operation, "the miracle on U.S. 41."

Photo by LIANE SMITH / Banner

Painters Carl Schwartz, left, and William North, opened a small gallery two years ago in Gannon's Antiques and Arts in South Fort Myers, called the Florida Fine Art Gallery, and it's still going strong.

"It's profitable and successful," said co-owner North.

The two painters, North and Schwartz, were both active in the Southwest Florida art scene for a number of years and kept bumping into one another. Two years ago, they opened a small gallery inside Gannon's Antiques & Art, on the corner of Island Park Road and U.S. 41, along with Evans, who is a potter.

"I admired his work, and he put up with mine," North said about Schwartz.

North, an impressionist, paints tropical Florida scenes. He is mostly known for his "Real Florida Oranges," a series of still lifes, in which he paints oranges with their imperfections.

"I paint them as I see them," North said.

Over the years, North has followed dual careers in art and business, including positions as vice president of the Cunard Line and as director of marketing at Mystic Seaport Museum. In 1990, North left the business world and started painting fulltime, settling in Florida.

With an education in art from Pratt Institute, Art Student's League, and the Lyme Academy of Fine Art, in the northeast, his work now hangs all over the United States, and in places like Moscow and Tokyo.

"We both believe strongly in draftsmanship," Schwartz said. "We don't have happy accidents."

Schwartz, a realist, who mostly paints the Everglades and his very own water garden in South Fort Myers, also heads the drawing department at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Photo by LIANE SMITH / Banner

Potter Ludmilla Evans also sells her work at the Florida Fine Art Gallery.

His water garden, where he raises Koi (Oriental goldfish) and cultivates water lilies, is often the focus of his art.

In a short bio Schwartz says: "I am a painter of light. I'm intrigued and fascinated with form. To me, there are two worlds...the one we live in...and the one that I create. Painting is the discipline by which I constantly rediscover both of these worlds."

Schwartz taught figure drawing and painting in Chicago at the North Shore Art League for almost 30 years, moving to Florida permanently in 1984.

Evans, a clay artist, says her informal "early art education" is rooted in the Pennsylvania woods, Teta Julia's Hungarian needlecraft and Jon Nagy's drawing kits. Born in Czechoslovakia and educated in Pittsburgh, she grew up exposed to the Carnegie Art Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Pittsburgh Library art collection. She also attended the Cleveland Institute of Art, and once owned her own gallery in British Columbia, Canada.

"I have been taught in many varied circumstances, environments, with a hunger for creative expression, a desire for excellence, a love for the artistic histories and cultures that have preceded, and a deep respect that self discipline is a foundation of continuation," Evans writes in her short bio.

"She has very fine work," Schwartz said.

The painters said they are gallery, although tiny at 320 square feet, is the perfect fit for them. The group of three occasionally feature a guest artist in the gallery, but they rely mostly on word of mouth, and foot traffic from the antique shop their gallery is in.

"We have made a profit every month we've been here," North said.

The group doesn't support itself by offering framing services or by selling knickknacks, but soley on original art and a few of their own prints.

"Original art is affordable," Celeste Borah said.

Borah, who just recently married Schwartz, is also an artist.

Original pieces range from $20 to $200 for pottery and $200 to $5,000 for original paintings. Unframed prints range in price from $15 to $25.

The Florida Fine Art Gallery is holding a second anniversary reception on Saturday, Jan. 13 from 1 to 3 p.m. The reception will feature a door prize, as well as refreshments.

The Florida Fine Art Gallery is located at Gannon's Antique's & Art, at 16521 S. Tamiami Trail, across from Island Park Plaza in South Fort Myers. It is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with the exception of special Sunday hours from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information, contact the Florida Fine Art Gallery at 489-2211.