The Love Of Art On St. George Island
If you are looking to find some great art work on St. George Island, check out Sea Oats Art Gallery. This place thrives on the art and craft work of the local people on the island. Their work is an example of their livelihood on the Florida coast. The gallery has a website that showcases some of the artist’s works, which includes about 80 or more artists. You will get a taste of what they have to offer on the website, but it’s not like seeing their work in person.
In 1996, Sea Oats Art Gallery opened as a side project of Joyce Estes. She already had the Bayside Gallery in East Point Florida as her main facility. When she opened Sea Oats, she had already been involved in art for almost 25 years. Joyce had started her career painting when her children became of school-age. To learn more about artwork and painting, she enrolled in Pensacola Junior College where she took art classes. She would paint artwork for her home, using original oils. As her interest grew, she continued to take more classes and enter art shows. Her interest in air painting led to her studying with five people from the International Society of Marine Painters.
Joyce moved to the St. George Island area in 1976. Shortly after her arrival, her first gallery, Bayside, was opened. She filled her gallery with original oils, watercolors and original prints. In 1995, she advanced using French dyes to paint silk. Since she liked this so much, she continued to work with silk and is considered a silk master designer. Joyce has also had the opportunity to work with other silk designers. She has been in one-person shows and her work has been praised among corporate and private art collectors all over the world. Joyce’s work is available for showing and purchase at her East Point and St. George Island galleries. She is also the author of a cookbook “Seafood The Apalachicola Way” and has written narrative for two other books about the Apalachicola Basin’s history and fragility. She still makes herself available to help others with their art through workshops and other art formats.
In addition to her workshops, she decided to open her doors to those artists who were looking for a place to showcase their work. She has over 80 artists in her gallery that have their artwork and fine crafts displayed for purchase. There are always artists coming by to drop off their newest art creation for showing. The atmosphere at the gallery is laid back and free from a stuffy attitude. If you go to visit, you may be greeted with a smile and a fresh cup of coffee. During the evening, you may encounter a glass of wine.
If you don’t go anywhere else, you should check out Sea Oats Art Gallery to get a taste of quality art on this Northwest Florida area. Their art is also the largest collection you will find on St. George Island.