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Work lost and hearts broken, artists endure

Even as fire officials investigate, colony members pick up pieces.

By JOSE CARDEANAS, Times Staff Writer
Published December 11, 2007

Dunedin artist Denis Gaston salvages materials and supplies Monday from a filing cabinet, all that remained at his art studio at the Imago Art Colony, which was gutted by a fire early Sunday. Officials say the fire was arson.
	[Douglas R. Clifford | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Douglas R. Clifford | Times] Carole Rosefelt, right, and Toni Hutfilz, center, work on drying artwork recovered from the Imago Art Colony building.

DUNEDIN - Among the works artist Denis Gaston lost in the fire at Imago Art Colony were two portraits of his late father.

One 4-by-7-foot pastel showed a man sitting behind a table, drawing. His father loved art but didn't find time for his passion until he was older.

"They were my connection to my father," said Gaston, 62, one of the 15 artists who lost years of work early Sunday as flames engulfed the gallery on Douglas Street.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating the fire as arson, estimated damage to the building at $500,000.

But how do you put a price on the emotional and potential financial value of the hundreds of drawings, paintings, sculptures, jewelry and other works lost?

Gone too were the brushes, paper, canvases, easels and other tools, wiping out the artists' ability to make a living.

Sheriff's deputies said they are still searching for suspects in connection with the 3 a.m. fire.

On Monday, some of the artists showed up at the charred remains of the Imago, where officials posted signs offering a financial reward for information leading to an arrest.

Authorities helped the artists look through the ashes. They salvaged a partially burned painting here and a darkened marble sculpture there.

"These artists make a living from this, and they have no place to work from now," said Carole Rosefelt, 72, a painter who was trying to recover some of her pieces.

The Imago was a fixture in Dunedin's vibrant artistic scene.

Glass blower Harry Williams and his wife, Louise, an acrylic painter, converted the building into an art colony in 2000.

It was known primarily for open houses on the first of every month. People strolled through the studios and bought the artists' works.

"This is a tragedy for the city of Dunedin," said Largo Fire Marshal William McElligott.

Gaston, a long-established artist, was one of the Imago's original tenants.

He lives in a small apartment decorated with art in a converted wooden house not far from the colony and survives on sales from his art and 16 weekly hours of work at Nature's Food Patch, a local health food specialty store.

He creates mixed-media paintings, mostly abstract figures inspired by things he reads or observes.

Gaston's latest exhibit was recently at Salt Creek Artworks in St. Petersburg.

With the show done, he returned the 30 pieces to Imago. They burned along with 50 other pieces already there.

He estimated he lost about $40,000 in art and another $5,000 in supplies.

Artist Dorothy Briccetti arrived at the Imago on Monday afternoon and peeked through the window of her studio.

She could see in a corner a charred wooden work that she called a "modern Pieta," a sculpture depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, done in the style of Michelangelo.

"I was offered much money," said Briccetti, 80. "But this was to go to my children."

The losses of the Imago artists have resonated in the art community from Dunedin to St. Petersburg.

The owner of Salt Creek Artworks offered six months of free studio space to Gaston.

"Unfortunately we don't have spaces ... to offer all of them," said the facility's curator, Lance Rodgers. He said Salt Creek is also collecting materials to donate to the artists.

Susan Rollins Gehring, president of the Professional Association of Visual Artists, said her organization has received numerous calls from people offering to help. The Dunedin Fine Arts Center is planning a fundraiser, she said.

Gaston said he's worried about the other Imago artists because many are older. Some might not have the energy to re-create years and years of lost work.

Amid all the uncertainty, though, Gaston said he's sure of one thing.

"I'm ready to make art. That's what I do" he said. "Of course there's sadness, 22 years of work gone. But it's an opportunity and challenge to make new art."

Times photographer Douglas R. Clifford contributed to this report. Jose Cardenas can be reached at jcardenas@sptimes.com or 727 445-4224.

Fast Facts

To donate to the artists

- Checks can be written to Professional Association of Visual Artists, or PAVA (Write Imago Artist in the memo line). Mail to P.O. Box 2665, Dunedin, FL 34697.

- Art supplies can be donated by calling Susan Rollins Gehring at (727) 736-2466 or Barbara Hanson at (727) 539-8901 and arranging a pickup.

[Last modified December 11, 2007, 06:55:56]