Bealls inspired to find Florida artists after success with Leoma Lovegrove
MATLACHA ISLAND -- Inside a colorful, eclectic hut off the coast of Cape Coral, Leoma Lovegrove runs a vibrant empire.
Lovegrove, 62, has long had a following for her sculptures and art, with past presidents Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush featuring her work in their presidential libraries. But not even the prestige of the White House could prepare Lovegrove and Matlacha Island for the power of Bradenton's Bealls Department Stores.
"I was pretty much on my way before Bealls came to me, but Bealls has been a huge blessing for me because I produced at the time, everything," said Lovegrove, standing in a white shirt and jeans splashed with paint.
Lovegrove's art work was first licensed for a few T-shirts at Bealls in February 2013. Today, her art is featured on dozens of shirts, jewelry, men's ties, iPad covers, Tervis products and even packaging for coffee and margarita mixes at Bealls, becoming the store's most successful private label in history. And more products are in the pipeline.
"As long as she keeps painting, we'll keep finding ways to innovate and bring it to life to our customers," Bealls Department Store President Lorna Nagler said. "She is the most creative, free thinker and spirited person. She's so upbeat, and when you meet her you realize how passionate she is about what she does."
Leomatizing Bealls
Lovegrove is a Midwesterner at heart, growing up in northwest Indiana where her family encouraged her art.
"I don't think there has been a day gone by where I haven't created something since I could walk," she said.
She started her art career after graduating from Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, helping her launch into a journey that featured her designs at select department stores, but never with her name on it.
Eighteen years ago, she settled in a mullet fishing village on Matlacha (pronounced Matt Lash-ay) and decided to open Matlacha Lovegrove Gallery and Gardens -- her international headquarters.
"Matlacha Island at the time was kind of rough," Lovegrove said. "There were all these kind of weird characters running around, and they're gone because we are now about tourism and not the fishing industry. The state of Florida came in and said you could never fish mullet, so that kind of cleaned up the town. There are still a few characters around. I'm still here."
Depsite the island's rough edges, Lovegrove embraced the tropical lifestyle and Southwest Florida's bright days.
"These colors are really Florida," Lovegrove said, standing in front of a nearly neon painting of The Beatles, her favorite band. "They're all inspired by Florida."
Bealls Department Stores has been going through its own retooling the last few years and decided it wants to be the Florida retailer all about selling merchandise for Floridians.
A Bealls merchandising employee, Ralph Hauze, was familiar with Lovegrove, and he stopped in at her gallery and dropped off his card.
"He made no promises, but I know he was excited," Lovegrove said. So was she.
Bealls offered a contract soon after that meeting to test a line of T-shirts. To create the art inspired for the Bealls products, Lovegrove decided to do a series. She invested hours of research to figure out what and where to paint. Then she let her brush do the talking with the canvas.
She wasn't quite sure how Bealls would receive her first batch of work, but decided to be a little more playful.
"Why don't I paint one of those plastic flamingos. You know, the ones that you put in your yard?" she said. "I called it, 'You've been flocked.' So I deliver it, and they're kind of looking at it. And they started laughing. They keep using it on sleepwear."
Lovegrove drives to Bealls headquarters in her mobile studio wrapped with her own art to do finishing touches before she presents Bealls executives with her paintings for new products.
"If it looks real stiff, I'm in the parking lot delivering my art, got my paint and try to mess it up to make it look like me," she said.
"It's been working. They don't mind picking it up wet."
The first batch of 16 paintings was narrowed down for a test run on products at select Bealls stores -- each with Lovegrove's approval.
"But of course in my own back yard, it was really flying off the shelf," Lovegrove said. "So they had to draw everything from all over Florida to this store and to Southwest Florida. And that was a good test. They sold out and the rest is history."
In 2014, Bealls expanded Lovegrove's work to be included in more departments. She added a sun in each work for her next contract, and in another contract she focused on Florida life and another on landmarks like the Fort Myers Pier, Naples Pier and Jacksonville Bridge. She submitted work for a new line of jewelry that has yet to hit shelves. Her gallery features work she's submitted to Bealls that hasn't been used yet or is in limited runs.
CEO Steve Knopik is certainly a believer in Lovegrove.
"People want some things that are different, that are inspiring, express optimisim, hope and energy," Knopik said. "I think she does all of that. To me, it was a perfect match with our customers, our beliefs, our brand that we stand for, the way her art speaks."
Lovegrove said Bealls helped give back her love of painting, something she didn't have much time for before.
"Since we see 500 people a day at our gallery, I would line up 1,000 items and make them myself," she said. "What's so lovely and wonderful about Bealls is I just get to do the one painting, and I get to be a real painter again and not get caught up in the real mechanics of everything."
Love for Bealls
Bealls' impact of showcasing Lovegrove's work has been seen at more than just her gallery. Matlacha Island is experiencing a noticeable uptick in tourism for all businesses, said Lovegrove, who is also the president of the Matlacha Island Chamber of Commerce. She wants to have the chamber present Bealls an award to show an appreciation for the tourism they bring to the small island.
"Of course I am benefitting from this, but Matlacha is one mile long and one mile wide and people are just like -- boom -- all over Matlacha," she said. "They are shopping and eating in our restaurants. We want to give them some kind of award because they really have given the economy in this little, tiny village a big boost."
Lovegrove's success has also inspired Bealls to find other Florida artists to see if the store can develop another hot brand.
"We'd love to find more Florida indoor or outdoor inspiration artists, or designers that could work with us in a manner like that," Knopik said.
This story was originally published March 5, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Bealls inspired to find Florida artists after success with Leoma Lovegrove ."