Special to the News-Sun
AVON PARK -- Ah, to be in Avon Park now that Christmas is here. Dec. 16 was a lovely day to spend a Sunday afternoon looking at original art by Avon Park's own South Florida State College's artists at their annual open house in the Jacaranda Hotel.
The Artists' Group (TAG) consists of Louise Weis, Betty Heim, Dr. Nancy Adams, Betty McCarthy, Kathleen Morgan and Bob Fishel. The TAG Gallery and Studio is in the beautiful old Jacaranda Hotel. Here, the gallery walls are covered with a variety of original paintings for sale. Kathleen Morgan's interesting, handmade jewelry is displayed in cases. Note cards with pictures of the artists' paintings are a popular purchase by visitors. The paintings are unique and affordable.
The Jacaranda Hotel's lobby is now beautifully decorated for the Christmas holidays. The tree and decorations provide a spectacular sight when one steps into the room. Mayor Sharon Shuler, manager of the Jacaranda Restaurant, happily scurried around, trying to seat the restaurant's capacity crowd for the excellent Sunday buffet. As he played, the piano player smiled as he watched a table of Indiana visitors singing along.
After eating in the restaurant, many locals and visitors strolled on down to TAG's gallery and studio, where they met the artists. While at the open house a lot of people enrolled in the artists' classes, which include oil, acrylic and watercolor painting, clay building and jewelry making.
Avon Park residents and old friends - Dr. Catherine Cornelius, Jody Griffing and Joan Hartt - enjoyed chatting at a table as they munched holiday goodies and drank punch.
Life-long best friends and 1958 Avon Park High School graduates - Annette Weinzirl Campbell, a majorette and Jewellene Newsome Sullivan, a cheerleader - met some old friends at the gallery and made new friends as they admired the original paintings. Campbell said, "I especially like this framed watercolor of pink tulips by Betty Heim." Sullivan said, "I like Louise Weis' paintings of wildlife and farm animals."
Artist Betty Moore Heim got her Bacehlor in Fine Arts degree, with teaching certification, in Wayne, N.J. and then became a Fine Arts teacher. She studied art history at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. She also studied art for a summer at the University of Salzburg, in Austria. She and her sister once went up the mountain where "The Sound of Music" was made and they happily skipped along, singing, "The hills are alive with the sound of music."
Louise Czarnecki Weis, who lives at Weis Farm in Wauchula, was born in Wisconsin, but moved to the island of Ketchikan, Alaska when she was 12. She once served as president of the Ketchikan Art Guild. Weis enjoys teaching TAG classes and excels in Florida landscapes. Weis Farm, with its several hundred cattle, provided the subject for one of Weis' popular paintings entitled, "Red Calf."
An interesting, out-of-town couple named Billy and Dee came into the gallery to see what was going on. "Our little Harley group from the Vero Beach area is out for a Sunday drive. We stopped at this lovely hotel and had lunch and walked here to see the gallery." Dee, wearing a Harley T-shirt, Harley jewelry, black leather chaps and black boots, said, "I ride a Harley Davidson soft-tail, a very big bike, about the biggest bike a female can ride. It's a 2003 Anniversary model. That's 100 years for a Harley Davidson." Dee laughed and said, "I don't wear spurs." When riding, Dee wears a black helmet over her short, stylized blonde hair. Billy and Dee live in Toronto, Canada and are snowbirds in Vero Beach. They trailer the bikes to Vero for the winter and then trailer the bikes back in the summer. Billy wearing a white muscle shirt and black pants, rides a 2008 Ultra-Classic, another big Harley.
Another guest, Gail Thompson, from Louisville, Ky., is in Avon Park for the winter, for the second time. "We liked it here so well last year that we came back this year. Our granddaughter is majoring in graphic arts and advertising, so she's interested in anything to do with painting. I think it's great here and I'm thinking of signing up for a class in acrylic painting with Louise Weis."
A Sebring visitor, Vickie Porter, Treasurer of the Sebring Woman's Club, said, "Every artist in here is talented. Avon Park needs something like this."
One woman from Indiana looked at a painting, "Teddy Bears," by Dr. Nancy Adams and commented to her friend, "Isn't that adorable?"
Dr. Adams is a retired veterinarian from Brandon, Florida who paints extremely detailed pictures of animals and birds. She is a member of "The Florida Watercolor Society," which is by invitation only. One of her paintings once graced the cover of a national veterinarian's journal. She uses her knowledge of animal musculature to make her paintings life-like.
Betty McCarthy, who was born in Ohio, was a professional photographer for 36 years. In 1987 she opened McCarthy Photography Studio in Avon Park next to the Sandwich Depot on Main Street.
In 2004, hurricanes Katrina, Jean and Frances tore off the studio roof and a fire finished the damage. McCarthy said, "Finally, I'm doing the thing which I love, which is painting." McCarthy's painting, "The Jacaranda," is a lovely picture of the hotel with old Model T cars parked along Main Street.
Kathleen Morgan and Bob Fishel, the other two TAG artists, weren't at the Open House due to family illness. Morgan, painter and jewelry instructor, recently opened "Ion Art Morgan" in Lake Placid, four miles from U.S. 27. Fishel, newest member of the TAG artists, started painting in high school and brought his children every summer to his lake house in Avon Park.
The gallery visitors were from near and far, with a variety of interests. The one constant was their quest for good art. They found it.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012 - www.newssun.com/122312-TAG