The Fine Arts Society of Sarasota (FASS) stages its 46th annual Creators and Collectors Tour this Friday and Saturday. The primary fundraiser for this organization dedicated to promoting the local artistic community, this year’s tour includes stops in the studios of six artists working in a variety of media and a group show of 14 other regional artists in the pop-up FASS Galleria at the Diane Roskamp Exhibition Hall at Ringling College of Art and Design. “I’ve heard people say that they can’t find art in Sarasota,” says FASS Member Artist Joanne McCobb, who chaired the volunteer organization’s studio selection committee this year. “That’s something that needs to change.”

It’s not that people don’t know that Sarasota is a great place to visit various cultural institutions, says McCobb, so much as a general overlooking of the astounding number of artists populating the neighborhoods and side streets of the town. “I don’t think people are aware,” she says. “There are so many, even I’m surprised sometimes.” Hopefully, through the Creators and Collectors Tour, visitors will be exposed to more of what’s in their own backyard.

To that end, six local artists open their studios for ticketholders this Friday and Saturday, including oil painters Lucy Barber and Marianne Chapel, printmaker and mixed media artist Joan Lyons, photographer Chuck Reich, sculptor Duncan Chamberlain and resin artist Andrea Dasha Reich. Studios can be viewed in any order on the self-guided tour, allowing visitors the opportunity to linger where they may, explore the spaces and minds of participating artists and “hopefully leave with a little piece of art,” says McCobb. In the studios as well as the Galleria, which features artists working in everything from ceramic sculpture to wearable art to woodworking and enviro-art sculpture, work will be available for sale to the prospective collector.

Running March 10–11 from 10am–4pm each day, the Creators and Collectors Tour begins Friday night. Tickets cost $20 in advance or $25 at the door. In addition to ticket sales, a percentage of every piece sold will go toward FASS scholarship opportunities and educational outreach. Last year, FASS gave out $58,500 in scholarships to more than 15 students seeking advanced arts education. A list of ticket outlets and online ordering is available at the link below. 

Pictured: "Stop Watch" by Marianne Chapel. Photo courtesy of FASS.

FASS Creators and Collectors Tour

Don’t let the modern exterior and decor confuse you—Pho 99 serves up some of the most authentic Vietnamese cuisine in the area, with a huge selection of pho, rice vermicelli, fresh spring rolls, boba teas and other Vietnamese comfort foods. Feeling stuffed up? Clear out your sinuses with gulps of the herb-filled pho, a traditional and fragrant beef noodle soup packed with bold spices, soft sliced beef and tender rice noodles with crunchy bean sprouts, Thai basil and cilantro as garnishes. Pro tip: ask for a lime and spicy mix-ins such as sriracha, fish sauce or Hoisin sauce to really pump up the heat and customize your pho just to your liking.  

Pho 99, 5191 Clark Rd., Sarasota, 941-922-1888.

Aviva: A Campus for Senior Life, Sarasota’s only independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing and rehabilitation rental community, has appointed Jay Solomon as CEO.

Solomon, formerly Aviva’s interim CEO, has an extensive background in healthcare and senior living. He will continue Aviva’s legacy of excellence to provide superior service and support to campus residents and their families. In Solomon’s 30-year career, he has served in executive leadership roles at four major New Jersey not-for-profit healthcare organizations and has successfully built healthy, dynamic partnerships with local communities and leading for-profit partners.

As a nonprofit, Aviva is a mission-driven organization with a passion to enhance the quality of life for older adults in innovative and forward-thinking ways. Solomon joins the organization as Aviva begins its 2017 expansion and the continuation of refreshing community enhancements. “We are excited to build upon our $1.4-million renovation campaign that began in 2016 to improve the quality of life for our residents," says Solomon. "Our newest program initiative, Aviva4Life and our soon to open Center for Wellbeing will cement Aviva on the cutting edge of health promotion and illness prevention in the Sarasota-Manatee community.”  

Aviva: A Campus for Senior Life

Through the support of the Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation, local workforce development nonprofit CareerEdge Funders Collaborative, will be expanding its Internship Reimbursement Program for 2017. First piloted two years ago, the internship program incentivizes employers in high-demand industries to hire college interns in order for them to gain valuable work experience. Employees receive up to $1,500 if they hire an intern at a minimum of $10/hour. The program also exposes students to the workforce while helping employers to develop talent in the growing sectors of healthcare, manufacturing, IT, transportation, financial services and construction trades. CareerEdge also partners with local colleges to encourage them to embed internships in more of their programs. Last year, CareerEdge funded approximately 90 students from 40 different organizations from Tampa Bay to Sarasota. This year, in addition to the college program, CareerEdge will pilot a high school internship initiative called Career Quest for 25 low-income rising high school juniors in Sarasota County. Students receive a paid summer internship with the potential to earn $1,000, plus career awareness and financial planning training.

CareerEdge

Icard Merrill attorneys Mark Martella and Jessica Farrelly will be the featured speakers at the Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce’s monthly Third Wednesday Coffee on March 15. They will address the crowd on Ten Tips to Prevent your Company from Being Sued.

Farrelly concentrates her practice in the areas of employment law and civil litigation and has a career that includes a partnership at a defense litigation firm in Boston and most recently with a management-side employment boutique firm in Sarasota. Her extensive employment litigation experience includes representing employers in the defense of all types of employment law claims at the administrative, trial and appellate levels. Martella has 28 years of legal experience and currently concentrates his practice in the areas of business law and consulting, real estate, bankruptcy, family law, foreclosure, estate planning and condominium and homeowner association representation. 

Icard Merrill

This month, staff writer Phil Lederer goes deep with three local painters practicing the art of realism. Personalities emerge through each individual artistic ethos—Dustin Juengel is the Architect while Brian Marsh emerges as the Idealist and Lucy Barber as the Seeker. Read about each young artist's musings on imagination, abstraction and illusion in Romance with Realism.  

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