Longboat Key Festival of the Arts brings unique artists to the island

Cars lined Bay Isles Road right at 10 a.m. Feb. 24 as this year‘s Longboat Key Festival of the Arts opened.

Artists filled the Town Center Green with a variety of paintings, sculptures, crafts, jewelry and other art pieces for the annual event.

Artist Andrew Libecki displayed his collection of unique sculptures — the inspiration for which he said came to him in his dreams. 

“I’m an insomniac, so I work a lot throughout the week because it helps me sleep,“ said Libecki. “When you're working with these shapes so much, you start to see them in your dreams. I started basing my sculptures off the shapes I saw in my dreams. So now, I look at these sculptures as making my dreams come true.“ 

Marilyn Richey of Jewelry With a Past didn’t know what to do with her many Victorian-era buttons she collected because of her love for history. Making them into necklaces and bracelets, enables her to share this passion with others and receive feedback for the unique jewelry.

“I love seeing people gravitate to a specific one because it says a lot about them," said Richey.

Jim Rajner is a California surfer turned artist who splits time between both coasts. With Jimmy Romo's Coastal Creations, he shares his mission for sustainability by repurposing surfboards into unique art pieces. He said in the first hour he was able to sell about 24 boards.

Longboaters took advantage of the sunny Saturday by walking around the Town Center Green with their dogs, and finding art pieces that spoke to them at this year's festival.