Creatives Convene

The artists who join together for ‘Five Painters and a Potter’ epitomize what art is all about in Southwest Florida. 

The joint show Sunday by a collection of longtime Collier County artists returned for its 22nd annual outing on Sunday at The Clay Place, Jim Rice’s pottery studio in East Naples.

The Clay Place is Jim Rice’s home base year-round, but on Sunday, he was joined by five longtime artists, each showing their own distinctive pieces. While Rice’s ceramics are housed in the small building given over to a showroom, the visiting painters set up their work at locations all around the grounds. With their vibrant hues and tropical themes, these artists represent the heart of what could be called the “Naples School” of art. 

Phil Fisher and Natalie Guess, a husband and wife who are both members of the group, had distinct but adjoining displays. Both paint many local scenes, but Guess works in batik, while Fisher paints in, well, paint, often watercolors in bright tropical colors. 

Paul Arsenault, the dean of local painters, had a mini gallery of his work set up next to the bandstand, with his oils in a riot of colors, depicting many local scenes, as well as the results of painting trips throughout the world. Arsenault just had a one-man show up for four months at the Marco Island Historical Museum, showcasing his depictions of local scenes over a 50-year span. 

On the other side of the structure that houses the pottery kiln – but served for the day as an informal bar, dispensing complimentary reds and whites – Marco Island artist Tara O’Neill displayed her recent paintings, as well as a tour through her artistic journey. Tara’s impressionistic oils and acrylics have focused on scenes near her home and the beach and have seen her, ala Pablo Picasso, go through distinctive “periods” of painting style. She came aboard as one of the five in 2013 after original member Jerry Vallez died. O’Neill is currently serving as “artist in residence” at the J W Marriott, sharing her brushwork and insight on the beach behind the hotel every Tuesday. 

Over the years – and now, the decades – Five Painters and a Potter has become a rite of spring for knowledgeable Naples art lovers, reappearing each March right around St. Patrick’s Day. The event, which started out as a rebellion, has become a local institution, a gathering of the Old Naples old guard. 

“We were rebelling against the Fifth Avenue galleries and the giant shows downtown,” said Rice, the potter of the event’s title. “But this thing has really grown.” With a continuous lineup of live music, complimentary wine and refreshments – always a great draw for art lovers and basically everyone else – and a shaded, open courtyard that looks just how an artist’s compound in the tropics would appear if imagined by Hollywood, all the elements have fallen into place for the show to become a date circled in red by the local arts cognoscenti. 

Jim Rice’s fish platters have become synonymous with Naples for many and a reminder of their southern home for countless snowbirds. After 45 years at his location, Rice has turned out thousands of pieces, and the plantings have had time to grow to impressive size. Mature bamboo and cabbage palm surrounded by massive strangler figs, podocarpus, gumbo limbos, hanging orchids, and bromeliads creates shade, along with a thatched chickee hut with benches covered in ceramic fish. 

The “new kid,” stained glass artist Rick Wobbe, joined the artists in 2016. Wobbe’s work features natural themes, including butterflies and dragonflies, and panels showing aquatic scenes. 

“We decided he paints with glass – we didn’t want to change the name” of the event, said O’Neill. 

On a beautiful afternoon that made it hard to remember that, technically, this is winter, guests mingled and chatted with the artists and reconnected with old friends at this gathering of the Old Naples art lover’s clan. They purchased paintings, prints, pottery, and postcards, sipped on the wine poured out under the building that houses Rice’s kiln, and listened to a succession of pickers offer live music. 

Retired fishing guide Joe McNichols ran the music and the sound system and played two sets with his five-piece bluegrass band. Along with Joe on guitar, players included Doug Gerdon on mandolin, Angela Girdley on fiddle, Roberta Wooster on standup bass, and Todd Geroy on the banjo. Journalist and guitarist Eric Strachan took his turn at the mic, along with pickers including Katrina and Josh Best, Adrian Stokes, and brothers Laz and Mike Vance. 

The participating painters have moved their galleries and showplaces to a variety of venues over the years, but all can be found in locations around Naples (or Goodland for O’Neill). And Jim Rice and his work are permanently represented at the Clay Place on Shadowlawn Drive.