Hirdie Girdie Gallery has announced an early opening for the 2020-2021 season. Starting Oct. 5, the gallery on Sanibel will be open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Several new artists have joined the gallery this year.

Suzanne Bennett is a pastel artist who creates loose, impressionistic paintings, most often of the beaches and tropical locales of southwest Florida. She enjoys plein air painting on a weekly basis, and her goal is to have the viewer feel the intensity of light and heat that is inherent in our environment.

Kelly Williamson is well known on Sanibel and in Fort Myers both as a potter and as an environmental educator. Her functional pottery is often inspired by local sea life and is influenced by her knowledge of the coastal environment. Kelly enjoys exploring and experimenting with various pottery forms, glazes, and firing processes.
Oil painter Julie Griffin specializes in creating landscapes, seascapes, and portraits using the academic painting method. This is a technique favored by the Italian Renaissance painters, and consists of transparent glazes of color applied to a muted under painting, giving the artwork luminosity and depth. Julie has studied this method in Italy and France, where she successfully completed several reproductions of famous artists’ works, and she now applies it to her contemporary pieces.
Oliver Martin has worked with wood since childhood, and began studying the craft of woodturning thirty years ago. He enjoys the process of revealing the hidden beauty that exists within the whorls and shading of wood. Oliver creates decorative items for the home, as well as functional pens and bottle stoppers.
The gallery invites its friends and supporters to stop in and see all the CDC protocols will be in place.
Hirdie Girdie Gallery is located at 2490 Library Way, Sanibel. Call 239-395-0027 or visit online at www.hirdiegirdiegallery.com