Sea Grape Gallery in Punta Gorda will be featuring two of their artists, Susan Krasny, oil, acrylic and mixed media artist, and Nancy Van Tassell, silver jewelry artist, from Jan. 9 through Feb. 6.
Susan Krasny has had a passion for art ever since childhood. As an adult living in Illinois, she studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Suburban Fine Arts Center, and Roosevelt University. However, pursuing a business career, Sue had to put art on hold until she retired to Florida. Being retired she now has the time to focus again on producing her art. Sue has traveled to France, Italy, Maine and other locations in the United States where she has taken workshops and studied with many prestigious artists. Susan’s travels provide the subject matter for many of her paintings. As Susan says, “I want my paintings to communicate a unique sense of place through the bold use of color and light and allows me to mentally revisit each location and express its special qualities”. Her oil paintings are primarily done with palette knife to create texture and layers of color and her collages incorporate various found objects and are often whimsical. It is no wonder that Susan’s paintings have won numerous awards in highly acclaimed juried shows.
Nancy Van Tassell has taken many art related classes but feels she is primarily self-taught. She spent many years in the paper art world creating altered books and rubber stamping until one day stamping a polymer clay pendant, she beaded a chain to hang her created pendant. This led her to realize designing jewelry was going to be her world. After retiring from the corporate world and moving to Florida from New York, she continued expanding her love for jewelry making. Her jewelry designs incorporate many different types of materials including natural stones, artisan glass and Swarovski crystals with precious metals. Nancy’s current passion is wire weaving where she uses sterling and fine silver to enhance the stone and glass in her beautiful and unique creations. In addition to creating jewelry, Nancy enjoys teaching jewelry classes at several locations and participating in art exhibits in SW Florida.
Also in January, the gallery will showcase the works of guest artists Mary Cameron (mixed media) and Sarah Corey (papermaking). In addition, more of their art and the artworks of all Sea Grape artists can be viewed at www.seagrapegallery.com.
Sea Grape is located at 113 W. Marion Ave. in Punta Gorda and can be reached at 941-575-1718. The gallery is also open until 8 p.m. during Punta Gorda’s “Third Thursday Wine Walk.”
