Take a Self-Guided Tour of The Arty Emerald Coast
Like everyone else, creative types are lured to the Emerald Coast by its delightful distractions — sugar-sand beaches, emerald-colored waters and the easy-breezy coastal lifestyle — which when combined are quite a creative muse. Now more than ever, the scene is teeming with talented artists, up-and-coming art galleries and working studios.
|
Vibrant colors are painted overtop a vine on the 17th Street bridge train trestle, which has become a popular canvas for numerous Pensacola graffiti and street artists.
Rachel Pongetti
|
Fortunately for art-loving locals and visitors, you don’t have to head to a traditional gallery to find great art — though we certainly hope you do! In this edition of Culture, EC Magazine has compiled for you a self-guided tour of sorts filled with amazing art that we found in some unexpected and offbeat places. So grab a friend and get out there on the arty Emerald Coast scene and paint the town … any color you choose.
South Walton is awash with colorful artwork. Take visiting guests and relatives to the Visitor Center (County Road 331 and U.S. Highway 98) to see works by nearly all 13 of the South Walton Artists of the Year, including 2015 Artist of the Year Juan Francisco Adaro. (For a full list, go to visitsouthwalton.com and click on “What to Do.”) Then go north on County Road 331 to the South Walton Coastal Branch Library and check out the art on exhibit, which changes monthly. And if you are getting a driver’s or marriage license at the South Walton Courthouse Annex (off County Road 83), linger in the lobby to browse the photographs by Michael Granberry, glass art by Phil Kiser and abstract pieces by Michael McCarty.
With a name like WaterColor Resort Inn, you would expect watercolor paintings — and you would find them, along with 40 pieces of various types of art, throughout the resort’s spa, lobby and its restaurant, Fish Out of Water. Featured artists include Deann Hebert, Martin Figlinski, Mary Hong, Shelley Minchew, The Moore Family Folk Art, Aaron Sutton, Chandler Williams and David Williams. All of this amazing art is available for purchase, along with still more at the Blue Giraffe boutique, located across the street on Scenic Highway 30A.
Step inside The Pearl hotel in Rosemary Beach and check out the colorful, cascading contemporary glass chandelier from Russ Gilbert’s Fusion Glass Art studio. Vintage-style photographs by Tommy Crow are on display throughout the hotel and video shot in Cuba plays on a loop on a large screen in the bar area of Havana Beach Bar & Grill. Using a 13-step, four-day process that employs Venetian plaster, acrylic paints and glazes, Allison Wickey created a luscious coastal landscape mural that graces the expanse of a wall in a pre-function space facing Rosemary Beach’s town center, allowing passersby to enjoy the beach anytime they like.
Aaron Sutton, Andy Saczynski and Allison Wickey are “making the local papers,” almost literally. They have transformed Walton Sun newspaper racks with their signature artistic style. Find them near The Red Bar in Grayton Beach, near the Hidden Lantern in Rosemary Beach and in high-traffic areas throughout South Walton County.
Part of the warm welcome at the newly renovated Sandestin Welcome Center is surely due to Donna Burgess’ large-scale watercolor paintings commissioned for the space. Find more of her coastal-inspired art at Hartel’s burger joint in The Village of Baytowne Wharf, which features a mural along one entire wall. Burgess’ sea turtles, fish and other sea life seem to swim up and greet you as you enter the Emerald Coast Convention Center on Okaloosa Island. Guests of the Bayside Inn are welcomed by a stunning, white, sea-inspired sculpture called “Children of the Sea” by Pete Peters, which is mounted above the reception desk.
The Grand Sandestin Conference Center is grand in part because of an impressive collection of art that includes large-scale pieces by regional and local artists including Sally Boswell, Robert Constand, Maria Hoch, Howell Lotspeich, Susan Lucas, John Stanford and Eileen West.
Wayne Anderson’s Cabana Café might be famous for its chicken cordon blue pizza, but it’s the extensive collection of vivid engraved wood paintings by Tony Krysinsky that gives the Miramar Beach restaurant a cool, tropical vibe.
Coming and going to and from Niceville over the Mid-Bay Bridge, you can’t miss the larger-than-life mural by world-famous coastal artist Wyland (who recently opened a gallery in the Market Shops in Miramar Beach). The 1,480-foot mural of magnificent whales and blue sky painted on the Legendary Marine dry storage facility in Destin is called “Marine Life of the Gulf” and is Wyland’s 88th “whaling wall” in a series of 100 murals painted on buildings around the world.
Brace yourself for a visit to M. Scott Runnels Orthodontics’ office in Destin. Given the collection there of surfing photography, folk art and mixed media pieces by Debbie Want-Lane, Kirk Cauriezell, Bob Flack, sister artists A.K. Cole and Kim Schneider and others, going to the dentist is not at all like pulling teeth.
Community Bank in Miramar Beach and Niceville and One Water Place condominium located inside Kelly Plantation in Destin are home to dreamy landscape paintings by Carol Ann Cain, who says her bold, boggy pieces are inspired by the writer T.S. Eliot.
You can also find Cain’s work and those of many other artists in rotating art exhibits at the Destin-Fort Walton Airport. Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport also proudly showcases eye-catching art by Justin Gaffrey.
|
Saczynski’s “Queen of the Jungle” mixed media artwork
courtesy of Immaculate Baking Company
|
If you are an Andy Saczynski fan, you can savor his artwork featured on packaging for Immaculate Baking Company’s Double Chocolate Cookie Mix, Organic All-Purpose Flour and most recently Oats & Honey Bars, products found at Costco, Target and local grocery stores. And thanks to art lover Chester Kroeger, Fudpucker’s restaurant on Okaloosa Island is nearly exploding with the artist’s unmistakable style painted on doors, walls, tables, even vintage radios!
Head farther west over the Brooks Bridge and stop off to see what’s under it. There you will find an evolving mural that showcases the talents of local art teacher Tamala Cusomano and others. Cusomano used the bridge as a canvas for images adding up to a lesson on local history.
What to make of the rotating art gallery at the Okaloosa County Courthouse? You be the judge. The Okaloosa Public Arts program recently partnered with the city to exhibit 92 works by 39 artists, including three pieces by Ed Chandler. You’ll just have to have your day in court to see what is displayed on the walls next.
A visit to Pensacola is made even more exciting with a drive by the 17th Street bridge train trestle, whose dynamic graffiti art was documented with stunning photographs taken by Rachel Pongetti over the course of 365 consecutive days. Her collection of photos was recently on display at the Pensacola Museum of Art.
Art is on the move thanks to Okaloosa County’s Transit system. Passengers looking to pass the time on Bus No. 10 can enjoy a delicious piece of local children’s art that showcases the Krispy Kreme Donut shop in Destin.
With these creative stops on your self-guided tour, your next outing on the Emerald Coast will surely be picture-perfect.
