Artist

OUR MURAL ARTISTS
Tom Graham of Punta Gorda, in 1992, was proclaimed winner in open competition in a mural contest sponsored by Commercial Properties Development Corp., President Wilbur Marvin, owners of the Punta Gorda Mall. When this endeavor failed to materialize, the Punta Gorda Historic Mural Society selected Tom to be the artist for its first mural, as he had been the people’s choice. Hotel Charlotte Harbor was the largest single mural to date in the collection. Home Page
John Gutcher of Tampa, Florida, was born in Pembroke, Ontario, Canada. He attended a commercial and fine arts school in Hamilton. After graduation he entered the field of commercial printing and owned his own print shop in Tampa. His credits included 5 murals in Lake Placid, Florida and three here in Punta Gorda. Home Page
Gary Grindell of Alva, Florida was raised in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He has been creating graphic artwork for most of his life. He was a successful architectural rendering artist and landscape artist. Assisting Grindell was renowned artist and Ft. Myers resident Molly Kelley. She created works of fine art since her childhood in Cincinnati. Gary and Molly have been applying their talents to walls throughout South Florida. Home Page
Richard Currier of Micco, Florida, is a native of southwest Florida and a graduate of the Ringling School of Art & Design in 1981. His mural work began as a theatrical stage artist. He pursued a fine art career and is a recipient of many regional and national awards. He has murals in Atlanta’s Art in Public Places and one in Lake Placid. Home Page
Peter Carey of Punta Gorda, Florida, is an internationally recognized muralist and scenic artist, having worked with David Hockney and the L. A. Opera, Disney, Universal Studios, PBS and Hard Rock Café. At 15, he apprenticed for 3 years with Robert Andrews, a Byzantine artist. He graduated from the New England School of Art. He has many public and private murals in our city as well as pen and ink artwork for sale at Works by Hand in Fisherman’s Village. Home Page
Charles Peck of Charlotte Harbor, Florida was born in New York. His family moved to Florida when he was 12. He’s painted all over Florida and other gulf coast states plus Colombia and Ecuador. Peck taught himself sign painting while working as a traveling portrait sketch artist. He moved here in 1990 to pursue a sailor-artist lifestyle. Peck teaches figure drawing and painting at the Visual Arts Center. He and Marilyn Moss ran the Moss Gallery for four years. Peck says, “I am painting and sailing locally.” Home Page
Liz Hutchinson-Sperry of Punta Gorda is a graduate of William and Mary. Her art education includes the Columbus (Ohio) College of Art and Design and the Ringling School in Sarasota. Her work is contained in many corporate collections including Johns Hopkins Hospital and Proctor and Gamble. A multiple award-winning artist with exhibitions held at the State House in Tallahassee, Edison Community College and the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Florida, her work is also held in many private collections throughout the country. During the summer Liz travels to Giverny, France as an Associate Instructor for ArtStudy Giverny, home of the Impressionist Master, Claude Monet. In 1999 Liz opened Red Hat Studio in downtown Punta Gorda. This private teaching studio offers classes in drawing, painting, stained glass window and mural design. Home Page
Fran Hines of Punta Gorda, studied art at Vesper George School, 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. She has won numerous ribbons and awards for paintings and her work is in several private and public collections. She 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 a associate member of the Pastel Society of America. Home Page
Jack Reto, of Port Charlotte, Florida, attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. Before moving here, he worked in Atlantic City. There he designed and built displays and parade floats for such pageants as Miss America and the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade. Reto has his own graphic design business for all promotional printed materials (logos, brochures, menus, maps, etc.) and offers custom hand-painted murals on glass, wood, walls or canvas. Home Page
Michael Vires is a self-taught artist. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1947. After his three-year tour in the Army, he moved to Austin, Texas where he became a skilled Western Landscape painter. Since 1996 he has been residing in Florida. Michael’s paintings have been accepted in national and local competitions. He has spent the majority of the past ten years as a commission artist. Now his landscape, portrait and still life paintings are in private collections all across America, including Hawaii. Michael has been commissioned to create a variety of murals. Some can be seen on public buildings, but most of them grace walls and ceilings in private homes. Michael is a prolific painter, constantly creating life-like images of people, places, wildlife, and still life works on canvas and paper. He works one week painting several small oil or acrylic canvases then the next week one large oil 38 x 48. Michael works expertly with all two-dimensional mediums: pencil, charcoal, watercolor, acrylic, pastel and oil. Between paintings, Michael also holds drawing sessions in his studio, as well as plein aire workshops. He resides in Port Charlotte and maintains a studio in Punta Gorda, Florida. Home Page
Edwin Wang-Ah Yip of Coconut Creek, Florida, was born in Hong Kong, and educated in Chinese fine art. His medium of choice is oil, which he uses to bring a Chinese perspective to Western art. In the U. S. he’s been a successful mural artist, jewelry and wallpaper designer. He received his BA degree at the Hong Kong Buddhist College of Fine Art; a Higher Drawing Certificate from the Royal Drawing Society in London; and a Certificate of Achievement from the school of Visual Arts, New York City. He lived in Hong Kong, the West Indies and now the U. S. Home Page

OUR MURAL ARTISTS

Tom Graham of Punta Gorda, in 1992, was proclaimed winner in open competition in a mural contest sponsored by Commercial Properties Development Corp., President Wilbur Marvin, owners of the Punta Gorda Mall. When this endeavor failed to materialize, the Punta Gorda Historic Mural Society selected Tom to be the artist for its first mural, as he had been the people’s choice. Hotel Charlotte Harbor was the largest single mural to date in the collection. Home Page

John Gutcher of Tampa, Florida, was born in Pembroke, Ontario, Canada. He attended a commercial and fine arts school in Hamilton.

After graduation he entered the field of commercial printing and owned his own print shop in Tampa. His credits included 5 murals in Lake Placid, Florida and three here in Punta Gorda. Home Page

Gary Grindell of Alva, Florida was raised in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He has been creating graphic artwork for most of his life. He was a successful architectural rendering artist and landscape artist.

Assisting Grindell was renowned artist and Ft. Myers resident Molly Kelley. She created works of fine art since her childhood in Cincinnati. Gary and Molly have been applying their talents to walls throughout South Florida. Home Page

Richard Currier of Micco, Florida, is a native of southwest Florida and a graduate of the Ringling School of Art & Design in 1981. His mural work began as a theatrical stage artist.

He pursued a fine art career and is a recipient of many regional and national awards. He has murals in Atlanta’s Art in Public Places and one in Lake Placid. Home Page

Peter Carey of Punta Gorda, Florida, is an internationally recognized muralist and scenic artist, having worked with David Hockney and the L. A. Opera, Disney, Universal Studios, PBS and Hard Rock Café. At 15, he apprenticed for 3 years with Robert Andrews, a Byzantine artist. He graduated from the New England School of Art.

He has many public and private murals in our city as well as pen and ink artwork for sale at Works by Hand in Fisherman’s Village. Home Page

Charles Peck of Charlotte Harbor, Florida was born in New York. His family moved to Florida when he was 12. He’s painted all over Florida and other gulf coast states plus Colombia and Ecuador.

Peck taught himself sign painting while working as a traveling portrait sketch artist. He moved here in 1990 to pursue a sailor-artist lifestyle. Peck teaches figure drawing and painting at the Visual Arts Center. He and Marilyn Moss ran the Moss Gallery for four years. Peck says, “I am painting and sailing locally.” Home Page

Liz Hutchinson-Sperry of Punta Gorda is a graduate of William and Mary. Her art education includes the Columbus (Ohio) College of Art and Design and the Ringling School in Sarasota.

Her work is contained in many corporate collections including Johns Hopkins Hospital and Proctor

and Gamble. A multiple award-winning artist with exhibitions held at the State House in Tallahassee, Edison Community College and the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Florida, her work is also held in many private collections throughout the country.

During the summer Liz travels to Giverny, France as an Associate Instructor for ArtStudy Giverny, home of the Impressionist Master, Claude Monet. In 1999 Liz opened Red Hat Studio in downtown Punta Gorda. This private teaching studio offers classes in drawing, painting, stained glass window and mural design. Home Page

Fran Hines of Punta Gorda, studied art at Vesper George School, 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. She has won numerous ribbons and awards for paintings and her work is in several private and public collections. She 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 a associate member of the Pastel Society of America.
Home Page

Jack Reto, of Port Charlotte, Florida, attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. Before moving here, he worked in Atlantic City. There he designed and built displays and parade floats for such pageants as Miss America and the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Reto has his own graphic design business for all promotional printed materials (logos, brochures, menus, maps, etc.) and offers custom hand-painted murals on glass, wood, walls or canvas.

Home Page

Michael Vires is a self-taught artist. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1947. After his three-year tour in the Army, he moved to Austin, Texas where he became a skilled Western Landscape painter. Since 1996 he has been residing in Florida.

Michael’s paintings have been accepted in national and local competitions. He has spent the majority of the past ten years as a commission artist. Now his landscape, portrait and still life paintings are in private collections all across America, including Hawaii.

Michael has been commissioned to create a variety of murals. Some can be seen on public buildings, but most of them grace walls and ceilings in private homes.

Michael is a prolific painter, constantly creating life-like images of people, places, wildlife, and still life works on canvas and paper. He works one week painting several small oil or acrylic canvases then the next week one large oil 38 x 48. Michael works expertly with all two-dimensional mediums: pencil, charcoal, watercolor, acrylic, pastel and oil.

Between paintings, Michael also holds drawing sessions in his studio, as well as plein aire workshops. He resides in Port Charlotte and maintains a studio in Punta Gorda, Florida.

Home Page

Edwin Wang-Ah Yip of Coconut Creek, Florida, was born in Hong Kong, and educated in Chinese fine art. His medium of choice is oil, which he uses to bring a Chinese perspective to Western art. In the U. S. he’s been a successful mural artist, jewelry and wallpaper designer.

He received his BA degree at the Hong Kong Buddhist College of Fine Art; a Higher Drawing Certificate from the Royal Drawing Society in London; and a Certificate of Achievement from the school of Visual Arts, New York City.

He lived in Hong Kong, the West Indies and now the U. S. Home Page