Many of the Florida Keys most appealing festivals and events celebrate visual, performing and literary artists’ passion and talent. And while each one is different, they all spotlight the Keys’ vibrant history, natural richness, and irresistible vibe that inspires creative spirits.
Key West has inspired creative types for decades, and perhaps none so much as painters. I know at least a dozen men on the island whose passion is capturing on canvas the island’s landscapes, wildlife and people.
Not unexpectedly, given its exuberant community of artists, Key West is home to a diverse variety of galleries. One of the earliest established — and still flourishing — is Guild Hall Gallery, an artists’ cooperative located at 614 Duval St.
David Kaufelt’s greatest accomplishment, and the one that made perhaps the most lasting impact, was founding the superb and critically acclaimed Key West Literary Seminar. In early February, a national literary landmark was dedicated in his honor on the island he loved.
Nothing exemplifies the size, diversity, and exuberant creativity of the Florida Keys arts community more than the 2016 Connections Project mural. The mural, which stretches 24 feel long, is a mosaic featuring small canvases by nearly 400 Keys artists and arts-minded residents.
Particularly when winter has much of the world in its chilly grip, the siren song of the subtropical Florida Keys can be almost impossible to resist. The Keys offer ways to indulge body, mind and tastebuds while recharging your batteries and sparking smiles that just don’t stop.
The writer who wins the Florida Keys Flash Fiction Contest can spend 10 days working in the Key West writing studio that once belonged to literary legend Ernest Hemingway -- sharing the space where Hemingway penned enduring literary classics when he lived in 1930s Key West.
Playing in the sand isn’t just for kids — at least it wasn’t in Key West over Thanksgiving weekend. There, six leading sand sculptors competed in the International Sand Art Competition.
Susann D’Antonio credits collisions with snowbanks, a cooperative cat and a yellow submarine with inspiring much of her Florida Keys creativity.