Laurel Manor Recreation Center was filled with art and music during the Visual Arts Association’s Winter Fine Arts Show. Sixty-three artists participated and background music was provided by the Villages flute and clarinet ensembles in the lobby. The event was pleasantly crowded with artists able to talk to those who wanted to know more about their work.
Artist Sharon Wilson had an interesting piece called “Living Color.” An artist for 37 years, she collaborated for the first time with another artist to produce a painting. She paints each week with artist Nancy Davinis. Wilson was working on a painting and said “She needs a face.” Davinis decided to give it a face and from there they worked together on this watercolor with texture added through paint and gauze. Wilson had a gyclee print of the original water color at the show. She uses many art forms including powdered charcoal and alcohol ink. Wilson’s husband died at age 41. Although busy raising her two children a friend felt she needed something and took her to an art class. Wilson has never stopped painting and producing art since that time. She taught lessons and workshops in Minnesota and continued to do so when she moved to the Villages 17 years ago. She has a studio in her Santo Domingo home.
Another longtime Village resident is 93-year-old artist Freddie Venturoni. She produces a pen and ink calendar annually of the Villages, selling over three hundred. An excellent example of tenacity is Venturoni’s story. Interested in art in high school, she received an award to attend an art school. She was very excited, but during the summer her father saw her portfolio and saw they had used male models.
“My father said ‘you will be going to business school this fall’,” said Venturoni. “It was 1940 that was just how it was.”
She did go to business school, married and had six children. In the late seventies her desire to be an artist came through loud and clear when she was overseeing an arts program. She started painting again and worked in oils until a hip and hip replacement made standing for long stretches not possible. She switched to pen and ink drawings. She started making the calendars; each month has a different view of the Villages. When the adult coloring craze started, she jumped onboard producing coloring books of her award winning pen and ink drawings of the Villages. “Each print in the coloring book has won a ribbon or a monetary prize,” said Venturoni. She also has a seven ft by six ft mural of Brownwood in the Rohan Recreation Center. The original was an 81/2 by 11 inch drawing. She took on the challenge and did it in acrylic pen. “It took me forever to do a piece that size in pen.”
Artist Betty Eich donated a work to be raffled at the end of the fine arts show for the scholarship fund. “First Light” is a photo on canvas. Eich took up photography upon retirement. “I was an educator and school administrator. I was passionate about my work. I loved the kids, the parent and the teachers,” said Eich. “I knew in retirement I was going to have to find something I was equally passionate about.” While looking around, she took a photography class in 2004 and knew she had found her next passion. Largely self-taught she manipulates photographs on canvas, art paper and metal. She determines the look and feel of the piece in the post processing. The piece she donated for the scholarship fund has won many awards including first place at the La Galleria Show.
Every artist has a story. Don’t miss the next opportunity to meet these talented artists. The VAA will hold their Fall Fine Arts Show in September at Seabreeze Recreation Center.
