Talented Palm-Aire artists prepare for 35th annual show
Rosalie Clarke squirms her way through the tight spaces of her “woman cave.”
“You have to wiggle your way to get in here,” Clarke said.
It’s a large sewing room that is packed with scraps of cloth, quilting projects in various stages of completion, a large table near the entrance, two sewing machines along the back side of the room, and two more on the floor.
Mostly she makes brilliant, intricate, beautiful quilts for her 12 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, for future grandchildren that might not yet be a gleam in their parent’s eyes, and for her lucky friends.
But there are also quilted handbags, dining room table runners, tapestries and more around the house. One bed seems to be covered in dozens of quilts, one masterpiece piled on top of the other.
The quilts are mostly for her family, but Clarke, a native of Rochester, N. Y., and a resident of Palm-Aire for 25 years, will share three of them with the public at the Art Association of Palm-Aire’s 35th annual art show Feb. 20-26. The show will be held in the central foyer of the Palm-Aire Country Club, 5601 Country Club Way. The public is invited and admission is free.
“My husband says don’t you have enough quilts, and I say yeah, but it’s a passion,” Clarke said.
My husband says don’t you have enough quilts, and I say yeah, but it’s a passion.
Rosalie Clarke
The impressive quantity of her quilts may be exceeded only by her own high standards.
“If I am not happy with the quilt, sometimes it seems that I am ripping out more stitching than I am sewing,” she said. “I have to make it perfect.”
Clarke has shown quilts at Palm-Aire for about eight years.
Jeri Susi, a painter, sculptor, and published author, will be participating in her second Palm-Aire art show.
Like Clarke, she has always had a passion for art, although she was a military wife for 30 years, and a school teacher for 25 years. In 1973 she was selected Military Wife of the Year for her volunteer work, commemorated with a certificate signed by TV legend Art Linkletter, as well as the president of Stokely Van Camp, and the chairman of the board of Harrell International.
“Art has always been my passion, but not part of my education. I majored in foreign languages,” she said.
“I did the art show for the first time last year and showed three pieces. They all sold,” Susi said.
This year, she is planning to show three, maybe four pieces, including a painting of four ballet dancers, titled “les Danseuses,” a lovely mixed media painting in blue, gold and white titled “The Thaw,” a cardboard elephant sculpture titled “Endangered,” and a possibly a fourth work, a painting titled “The Back Canals of Venice.”
Clarke and Susi are two of about 50 artists who will be participating in this year’s show, said Barbara Saabye, one of the members of the association. The association has more than 165 family memberships. The association raises money for the Ruth Levin Scholarship Fund, named after one of the founders of the arts group.
James A. Jones Jr.: 941-745-7053, @jajones1
This story was originally published February 7, 2017 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Talented Palm-Aire artists prepare for 35th annual show."