My good friend Lydia Black says there is lot to do for the whole family.  Eventsfortmyers.com will be there to cover the great day.

Come sample the many ways you can get involved and experience the arts in Southwest Florida! Watch area performing groups sing, dance, play instruments and act in mini-performances on the open air amphitheater stage. Witness creativity unfolding before your eyes as local visual artists demonstrate their talents in painting, drawing, sculpting and mixed media demonstrations.

Cultural Organizations

Art League of Fort Myers * Art Poems * ArtFest Fort Myers * Artful Missions * Arts For Act * Broadway Palm Dinner Theater * Calusa Carvers * Cape Coral Art Studio * Cultural Park Theater * Cute as a Button Creations * Florida Repertory Theatre * Gulf Coast Symphony * Gulf Coast Writers Association * Imaginarium Science Center * Laurel Fine Arts Foundation * LMHS Arts in Healthcare * Music Together * Nerveana Medical * Pan American Alliance * Pushing Daisies * Signature Chamber Concerts * Southwest Florida Symphony * Southwest Florida Craft Guild * Southwest Florida Historical Society * Southwest Florida Symphony * Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center * Symphonic Chorale of Southwest Florida * Tracy Theriault Designs * Weavers of Char-Lee * WGCU Public Media

Artists & Authors

Andrea Trank * Be the Breath * Bill North * Bruce Wm. Walsh * David Hammell * Dominick Bello * Doug MacGregor * Geoff Coe * Pamela Cupp * Terry Lynn Spry * The Tube Dude

Performers

Creative Theater Workshop * Dance Alliance * Dance Warehouse * Jeanne Bochette/Gulf Coast Dance * Flutist Kat Epple * Kellyn Celtic Arts Irish Dance Academy * Noah Waddell * North Fort Myers Academy for the ArtsSW Florida Fencing Academy * Young Artists Awards

Performance schedule:

10:25     Creative Theater Workshop – Preview of the musical comedy “Dear Edwina”

10:50     Kellyn Celtic Arts Irish Dance Academy – Irish and Highland dances

11:25     Dance Warehouse – Competitive dance — lyrical, hiphop, jazz, musical theater (ages 4-16)

11:50     Gulfcoast Dance

12:15     Young Artists Awards – Award-winning vocalist Sam Bostic

12:40     Oficina da Capoeira – Brazilian artform combining elements of martial arts/dance

1:05        N Fort Myers Academy – Perform jazz, pompon, lyrical dances with dramatic scenes

1:30        Noah Waddell – 10-year-old Noah will perform classic piano scores of major composers

1:55        Dance Alliance – Perform “Monster Mash” with interactive audience participation

2:20        S.W. Florida Fencing Academy – The art and science of modern fencing

Special appearences by: Chick-Fil-A * Florida Virtual School * Lee County Library System BookMobile * Fort Myers Fire Department * Shy Wolf Sanctuary

Kids can win a free week of summer camp by creating their own piece of “fall-themed art” by downloading this form and bringing it to the festival on October, 22nd.

There were 300  available for the inside.   We are now selling tickets for the outside concert Simulcast on a bigscreen  for the cost of $10 a donation to the Pace Center for Girls and Rotary International cause of Stop Polio Now.

They will be selling tickets for the outside venue on the street that evening or you can pick them up at the above locations or at the Downtown Rotary Office.

Please join us at this fabulous private riverfront residence.  The 6200 square foot home and one acre lot gives us a chance to truly showcase our work.  Come relax on the large Lani and enjoy one of the best Sunsets in SW Florida.   With brand new hardwood floors , fresh new color scheme and new decor, find out for yourself why Staging really does Matter.  Please visit Stagingmatters.net.

There may not be any fireworks at Centennial Park this year , but plenty is going on downtown.

My good friends Dave and his team of artist at daas Gallery will showcase their own in celebration of the two year anniversary of the gallery. The exhibition is appropriately entitled Triumph. The opening reception is scheduled for Friday, July 2^nd, in conjunction with the Fort Myers Art Walk.

The art in this collective exhibition has been created by the artists that currently run the gallery. Among these is Joe Lemay, who has been with daas Gallery since its very beginning. Lemay is a graduate from the Savannah College of Art & Design in Savannah, Georgia. His pieces are humorous and storytelling. His work has been featured in daas’ Pequeno Formato, Comienzo: The Artists of daas and Buddha: Images of a Deity exhibitions, among many others. Troy Thomas, Danielle Thomas and Peter Del Gandio are also featured artists in this exhibition. Their works have been featured in the gallery on a permanent basis since they joined the team in 2009. Kristin Northup, the newest member of the team, will also be part of the collective.

“This is a very important exhibition for us. It marks two successful years of hard work, sweat and tears”, says David Acevedo who co-owns the gallery and will be featuring new pieces in the show. “We all know how difficult the art business could be and we feel very lucky and thankful for the support.” Xavier Brignoni, who also co-owns daas, will be contributing to the exhibition with his own artwork.

The exhibition will be on display until July, 31^st, 2010. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00am to 3:00pm. More information is available at www.daasgallery.com

My good friend Terry Tincher  over at space 39 have their own fireworks display of sorts going on.

George Settos is being featured in the gallery.

Jim over at SBDAC  has his own Declaration to be happy about it.

“Exposures of the Mind” opens July 2nd

Fort Myers, June 23, 2010 – “Exposures of the Mind,” hosted by the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, showcases the work of several national photographers. The show opens on July 2 from 6:00pm to 10:00pm during the Downtown Fort Myers Art Walk. The Laboratory Theater of Florida will also present the one-act play “Picnic on the Battlefield.”

“Exposures of the Mind” exhibits the works of photographers Chris Catti, Doug Thompson, Michelle Tricca, Kurt Williams, and John Yuccas. The works of these photographers capture the unique perspectives with which an artist views their subjects and the world that surrounds them. The pieces range from award-winning surf culture photography in Puerto Rico to abstract architectural scape’s of New York City.

• Doug Thompson is a premier architectural photographer and Southwest Florida native who has assisted renowned photographer Clyde Butcher. His works have been published in a variety of magazines.

• Michelle Tricca, a Naples-area photographer, was mentored by legendary surf photographer Art Brewer. Her innovative work combines portraiture and water photography to capture surf and coastal culture.

• Kurt Williams is a resident of Cape Coral and freelance photographer for Florida Weekly, moving to Florida from Upstate New York. Kurt’s photography explores his four-month journey through South America and the widely varied landscapes and cultures that he experienced.

• Chris Catti is a photographer based in Brooklyn, New York who specializes in fashion and editorial portraiture. He recently graduated from the Hallmark Institute of Photography located in Western Massachusetts.

• John Yuccas’s true passion since the age of sixteen has been wildlife and nature photography. John tries to capture unique and intricate moments in nature to show his audience the beauty of the outdoor world.

“Picnic on the Battlefield” presented by Laboratory Theater of Florida is an absurdest piece by playwright Arrabal. The play is set on the battlefields of World War I. Show times for this one-act will start at 7:00pm and 8:30pm in the Grand Atrium.

For additional venue and exhibit information, please contact SBDAC at 239.333.1933 or info@fl-arts.org.

It has been over 23 year since we have not had  a fireworks display here in downtown Fort Myers. After the last Fireworks fiasco this year I was  looking forward to the 4th.  It is a shame that the Fort Myers redevelopment agency is unable to have it due to the economy.  It does  take a lot of preparation upfront and all planning should be done in advance, it is too short a notice even if someone came in today to write a check.   Well, I for one am going to be disappointed not hearing the boom and seeing the lights of a spectacular fireworks display.   I remember when I was 4 and we went to the Edison Stadium to see the fireworks  later on it was at Centennial Park. When I was about 22 it was pouring down rain so we went to a party at the Sheraton and watched it from there.    There was another time I believe I watched it from somebodies office in the Barnett Bank Centre.  I am sorry that Fort Myers has taken away the bombs bursting everywhere downtown this year.  They have already started work on it for next year.  If you do want to see the fireworks,  Fort Myers Beach and Cape Coral will be having theirs. ( share your best fireworks experiences in our comments section)

Over 80 women attended the monthly meeting of the Women’s Wine Club last night hosted at the Bell Tower fine dining restaurant Cru.  Chef Harold Balink (formerly of H2 and Harold’s on the Bay) put on a show with a wonderful four course meal consisting of spicy crab, avocado and cucumber napoleon appetizer, spinach stuffed chicken with a tomato ciabatta salad, pepper grilled rib-eye with their own special sauce, and for dessert a white chocolate mousse with roasted banana sauce.  My guest and I had such a wonderful time even when the lights went out and we dined by candle light.   We got to see many of our friends including Heather Christie, Holly Leland, Connie Ramos,Tara Molloy, Gina Birch, Rachel Peacock, and her good friend as well as ours Sharon Torregrossa.  This was an evening filled with wine and laughter.  Thank you again to the Women’s Wine Club which meets every 3rd Tuesday of the month.  For more information about the next event sharontorregrossa@gmail.com.