Naples National Art Festival celebrates 30 years

Julie Carlson's Bismark Palm. The Naples National Art Festival will draw 300 artists/exhibitors and tens of thousands of visitors to downtown Naples this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 21-22.

It's been 30 years since the Naples Art Association held the first festival, and those who have been involved for much of that time are impressed by how it has evolved. In 2008, Sunshine Artist magazine rated the Naples National as the fifth-best art festival in the country.

"People didn't quite realize what a jewel they had," said Kathleen Dennison, who owns Dennison-Moran Gallery with her husband Robert and fellow artist Mary Moran. About 15 years ago, she and Ms. Moran were exhibitors in the show and volunteered to help with publicity. This year, Mrs. Dennison served as a juror, reviewing the work of nearly 1,000 artists vying for a coveted spot in the show.

"The Naples Art Association wants to show people art and help people buy art," Mrs. Denninson says, adding, "So many people are intimated to go into a gallery, but this festival brings art to the public." The Dennisons and Ms. Moran buy art from the Naples National to sell in their gallery.

John Galbo's Provencal Summers. The 2009 festival is offering something new: an artist lecture series on Saturday. Roger Weatherburn, president of the Weatherburn Gallery and a founding member and president of the Naples Fine Art Dealers Association, will interview three artists about their technique.

"What's interesting about all these artists is that they were all doing something else and they came to the creative arts later in life," Mr. Weatherburn says. "Other artists will find their stories inspirational, and collectors will enjoy hearing from them because they're not working in typical media." The 45-minute sessions will be held in a tent on the back patio of The von Liebig Art Center. Admission to each session is $5.

At 11 a.m., Mr. Weatherburn will speak with Thomas Long about his hand-blown architectural glass installations.

At 1 p.m., Anne London, who began her career in the 1980s as a young designer for Tippi Hedren, joins Mr. Weatherburn to share her charcoal drawings of endangered species.

The lecture series wraps up at 2 p.m. as Mr. Weatherburn chats with Gustavo Castillo about the way he unites abstract and representational imagery in his paintings.

Mr. Long worked as an architect and engineer, tried working in ceramics and ended up enjoying glass. "You keep working until you find what gives you creative satisfaction, and that's going to be an interesting conversation," the artist says, adding he enjoys the physicality, choreography and the immediacy of the process, as well as the fluidity of his medium.

Ms. London was a commercial artist working for Ms. Hedren when the actress-animal activist invited the artist to her private wildlife refuge, Shambala. There, Ms. London became inspired to create wildlife art. After spending time with tiger cubs and baby lions, Ms. London says, she knew she couldn't return to being a commercial artist.

Mr. Castillo grew up in central Colombia surrounded by culture, but he became a commercial pilot before embarking on a career painting oversized renderings of fruit. He and his wife, Carmen Lago, have painted together professionally for 24 years.

About his interview subjects Mr. Weatherburn says, "It will be interesting for people to hear that you're not necessarily born an artist."

Naples Art Association board member Jon Zoler is always interested in the artist's perspective. A collector who, with his wife Becky, has purchased and commissioned paintings, sculpture, ceramics and multimedia works during the Naples National, Mr. Zoler appreciates the opportunity the festival provides to speak with the individual artists.

"Almost every piece of art has a personal story attached from the artist as he created it," he says. "You get a chance to really find out what he was thinking, what ideas inspired him and even what he selected and culled out of the art… There is a process of intellectual refinement, elimination and combining of elements that comes with the final piece of art."

Mr. Zoler suggests people attending the Naples National walk the festival to see what is available, focus on the media they most like, identify the artists whose work they like best, and then go back and compare as they prepare to make a purchase.

If you go

>>What: The 30th annual Naples National Art Festival presented by the Naples Art Association

>>Where: Throughout Cambier Park and along 8th Street South, Naples

>>When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 21-22

>>Cost: Suggested donation $4 to benefit the NAA programs at The von Liebig Art Center >>Info: 262-6517 or www.naplesart.org