Leoma Lovegrove selling Hurricane Charley art to benefit local chapter of American Red Cross (08-11-14)
This Wednesday marks the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Charley. Following the age-old adage of making lemonade when life deals you lemons, Matlacha artist Leoma Lovegrove converted hurricane debris into artwork. Today, she announced that she’s selling 12 pieces of that artwork for sale in order to benefit the local chapter of the American Red Cross.
“[My husband] Mike and I were traveling home from Michigan when Charley was striking Matlacha Island,” Leoma shares. “When we arrived, we began to clean up the mess at our gallery. Being the middle of the summer, it was unbearably hot. I noticed Mike had piled up over 200 feet of my pink fencing along the side of the road and it made me sad. Then, I had a Leoma moment. I retrieved all the fencing (it took an hour) and stashed it behind an unwanted shed. Mike was delighted (NOT).”
For years, Lovegrove made art out of pieces of the fencing and attached a 
little story about Hurricane Charley on the back of each one. Yesterday, she gathered up the 12 remaining pieces of art she’d made from the pink fence and put them on sale today for $100 each, with 100 percent of the sales price going to the American Red Cross Florida’s Southern Gulf Region (our local chapter).
“I remember how the Red Cross drove around the entire island and passed out water and boxed meals while we cleaned up our homes and businesses,” Leoma recalls. You can purchase the Hurricane Charley art at Lovegrove Gallery & Gardens, 4637 Pine Island Rd. NW, Matlacha Island, Florida, or by phoning 239-283-6453. The gallery will ship it to you within the USA free of charge.
The American Red Cross Florida’s Southern Gulf Region serves Collier, Lee, Hendry and Glades counties. The American Red Cross is where people mobilize to help their neighbors—across the street, across the country, and across the world—in emergencies. Each year, in communities large and small, victims of some 70,000 disasters turn to neighbors familiar and new at the American Red 
Cross. To learn more, please visit American Red Cross Florida’s Southern Gulf Region.
Leoma Lovegrove is an impressionist-expressionist painter known worldwide for her wildly vibrant depictions of the Florida lifestyle. Located in the heart of Matlacha Island on the southwest coast of Florida, Lovegrove Gallery and Gardens is one of the most colorful landmarks in the Sunshine State. To learn more, please visit LeomaLovegrove.com.
