Instructors

Barbara has been painting, teaching, and exhibiting her watercolors for over 40 years. She has painted using very traditional methods to very contemporary. She loves to experiment and "push the limit" of the paints. Her paintings are in many private and corporate collections throughout the United States. She has been in hundreds of juried shows locally and nationally with many awards to her credit. Barbara loves to share all she has learned over the years with her students. Ms. Albin is originally from the Chicago area and moved to Punta Gorda with her husband, Wayne, in December 2000.
Click here to visit Barb's website.

Patt's exploration of art began while growing up in Michigan with a love of crayons. Covering her mom's kitchen cupboards with still life compositions of any fruit or vegetable available became her passion. Over the past twenty-four years Patt has been teaching art in public schools and art guilds throughout northern Michigan. She began teaching at the Visual Arts Center in 2006. Galleries in Mackinac and Alpena Michigan have featured her paintings. She was also honored by a one woman show in Harrisville, Michigan and a four person show in the Goff Gallery. Patt has been thrilled to receive awards in exhibitions from Michigan to Florida and has paintings in private collections across the United States.

Kathy spent the first nine years of her life as an only child in the farmlands of Ohio. It was there she started her artistic career; mastering in sandbox and crayons, but occasionally delving into the mysterious world of paint-by-number. Having fallen in love with the creative process, Kathy attended Gebhardt's Commercial Art School in Cincinnati; and, by the time she graduated, oil painting, pen & ink, and photography had been added to her list of creative tools. In 1989, after years of following her interests in Metaphysics and writing several books on the subject together with Bob Gidel, Kathy again started to pursue her artistic endeavors by reawakening her skills and pursuing watercolor. In 1990, she started teaching watercolor for the Charlotte County School System, and in 1991 she began teaching for the Charlotte County Art Guild. Her work has been featured in "Florida Wildlife Magazine" and she has taken awards in many exhibitions in southwest Florida. In recent years Kathy has added digital art, glass, and silver jewelry to her creative repertoire. Kathy is the 2009 President of The Florida Watercolor Society and co-owner of Creations Gallery (207 E. Marion Ave.) in Punta Gorda.

Bob was born south of Detroit, Michigan, which explains his life-long romance with automobiles reflected in any show he presents. Fine Arts at Western Michigan University and Commercial Art at Ferris State University prepared him for a career as a commercial illustrator. Bob has done work for the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions, the Detroit Grand Prix Auto Race, and other sports and celebrity portraits. He also did the sign work for the movie "Hoffa." In 1994 he moved to Port Charlotte to pursue his first love of Fine Art with a special interest in space related subjects. Bob has taught for five years at the Visual Arts Center.

Alberto has taught beginning, intermediate and advanced classes in oils and acrylics. Besides teaching at the Asheville Art Institute in North Carolina, Alberto has been an art instructor in Florida at Pensacola Community College, the Englewood Art Center, and here at the Visual Arts Center. He is consistently recognized for his work with many awards and as a judge in Florida and Alabama.
Click here to visit Alberto's website.

Margaret was born in 1939 in Ireland and raised in Wales. She emigrated to Canada where she attended The Ontario College of Art to study graphic art and received the "Best Student Award." Her work took her to Toronto, New York and finally Zuerich, Switzerland where she married and raised three children. Margaret studied art with some of the leading impressionists at the Zuerich College of Art and at the Zuerich University. She made a name for herself in the German speaking part with many one-man shows, group exhibits and portrait painting for the Swiss Government. In 2000 she moved to Florida where her work has become a symphony of colour, contrast and a play of shadows and warm reflected light. For Margaret, painting is her passion and teaching an honour. Every year Margaret organizes small private painting trips to Italy for up to 25 people with workshops and demos. Contact her if interested.
Click here to visit Peggy's website.

Fran studied art at Vesper George School, the New England School of Art and Boston Museum School of Art. She has her own business, Technical Illustration, is an instructor, judges shows, gives workshops and has served on the board at the Charlotte County Visual Art Center. Fran has won numerous ribbons and awards for her paintings and her work is in several private and public collections. Locally, she has completed murals for the Punta Gorda Mural Society and Black History in Punta Gorda. Fran is a member of the Art Council of Southwest Florida, Charlotte County Arts and Humanities, Charlotte County Visual Arts Center, a charter member of both the American Portrait Society, the Southwest Florida Pastel Society and an associate member of the Pastel Society of America.

As a New Yorker transplanted south almost twenty years ago, Diane now considers herself almost a Floridian native and she sees painting material everywhere she looks. Florida’s beauty contrasts sharply with seedy tackiness, and the challenge is to translate this visual chaos to canvas. Over thirty years as an illustrator has influenced the way she sees and translates visual reference. Diane paints with watercolors, but her favorite medium is oil on canvas. She is a member of the Visual Arts Centers here and in Venice, Plein Air Painters of Florida, Plein Air Painters Sun Coast, OPA (Oil Painters of America), Portrait Society of America, and Daily Painters Guild.
Click here to view Diane's website. Click here to visit Diane's blog.

Ron began pursuing art as a small child, working in oils by the age of nine, studying anatomy soon after, and selling his first commissioned work by the age of eleven. He received his BFA in illustration at the Columbus College of Art & Design in Ohio, where he graduated with honors. Embracing his commercial training, he began working as a freelance illustrator while still in college. Ron has produced illustrations for advertising and promotional material, books, calendars and newspapers. His clients include Spike TV, Doubleday Bookclub, Harcourt and its subsidiaries, McGraw Hill, Chase Financial, The Boy Scouts, BF Goodrich Tire Co., The Detroit Free Press, and Minneapolis Star Tribune. Ron has also experimented with the imited edition print market, but his focus remains on original oil paintings. This has led to the exhibition of his work in prestigious national juried shows and more than a dozen art galleries throughout the United States and its territories since 1993.
Click here to visit Ron's website.