Waterlefe hosts annual art show and sale in east Bradenton

Waterlefe resident Mary Fiorini stared at an acrylic painting she created of a woman wearing a hat.

She smiled.

Her inspiration came from another similar painting she saw that reminded her of her niece, Ashley. 

As she started painting her own version, Fiorini realized she was looking at a younger version of herself. 

“I got really into painting it and it took on a life of its own,” Fiorini said of her painting, which she titled “Frankie.”

“She’s the persona of my studio because she’s peaceful, she’s cool, she’s relaxed and a good listener. I just wanted her to be kind of a hippie. I guess I have a hippie soul.”

Fiorini will share “Frankie” her work during the Waterlefe Artists Guild's 15th annual Art Show and Sale Nov. 13 at Waterlefe River Club.

She will be one of 28 Waterlefe artists exhibiting their work.

“I just love looking at everyone else’s work,” Fiorini said. “Everyone’s so creative.”

The Waterlefe Artists Guild was unable to host the show last year due to the pandemic, so many artists are looking forward to getting back together with their guild members to showcase their work. 

“There’s a lot of new people and a lot of different art forms that are going to be exhibited, which I think is nice,” said Sue Kerr, a Waterlefe resident and artist. 

This year’s art show will feature a few new forms of art including rug hooking, quilting, glass fusion, wreaths and mosaics. Also new to the show will be book signings by local authors.  

A main part of the art show is the raffle that raises money for the arts programs at Freedom Elementary School and Carlos E. Haile Middle School. In 2019, the guild donated $2,000 to each school’s arts program. 

“For us, being able to raise money again for the schools is important because they went a year without our donation and they were still in session,” said Judy Kovaleski-Swartz, a Waterlefe resident and co-chair of the raffle for the art show. “Fortunately the year before we had given them our largest donation ever, so they were frugal, but they didn’t know the pandemic was coming. They had some money, but now they’re down to bare bones.”

Many of the 48 baskets available for the raffle are worth more than $100 and include items such as donations from Pet Paradise, artwork, items to make your own pizza, chocolates and more. 

Featured artists

Laura Bryg

Photographer

Bryg has been a photographer for 15 years focusing at first on nature photography before expanding to landscapes. 

Bryg enjoys traveling around the world and picking destinations that will make for perfect photo opportunities. For example, she traveled to the Tuscany region of Italy to take a photo of Villa Belvedere.

“My goal was to get my version of this house,” Bryg said. “I got it at sunrise when the fog was lifting.”

The photograph now hangs on a wall in her home. 

Another favorite of Bryg’s, which she plans to showcase at the art show, is a photo she took in the woods at Rothenbach Park in Sarasota. She titled the piece “Into the Woods.”

“I like being able to express the way I see things,” Bryg said. “Walking through Rothenbach Park, I don’t know if I would be able to go back and find those trees again. The way the light was coming through at that point in time, I knew I had a photograph that I’d like.”

Sue Kerr 

Raku ceramic artist

Kerr’s passion for raku firing began 10 years ago when she started taking classes at ArtCenter Manatee. 

She never had the chance to work with clay before she learned about raku firing, which is an ancient Japanese ceramics technique that causes the ceramics to have a cracked look.

Kerr loves the instant gratification she gets when she finishes one of her pieces. 

“You take it out (of the kiln) and know right away if it’s good or bad,” Kerr said. “You have some control. You don’t have 100% control, so you never know how it’s going to come out. That’s also fun.”

Many of her pieces are whimsical animals such as an elephant with a monkey sitting on its back with a bird. 

Mary Fiorini

Painter

Fiorini started painting with acrylics and oils after she tried painting wine glasses for her 50th birthday. 

As a self-taught painter, she’s been taking techniques she’s learned from other artists and applying them to her own work. 

“Everybody says you’ll find your style, and I always find that hard because I think I have different styles,” Fiorini said. “I don’t paint the same things all the time.”

When Fiorini is in her studio, she’s at peace. She loves seeing how her pieces develop from when she started to the finished product.

One of her paintings she’ll be showing at the art show is an oil painting of a sailboat at sea with a storm in the background. 

“I call it ‘Marriage’ because sometimes it’s smooth sailing and then sometimes it’s stormy seas,” Fiorini said.