DATE:  Friday, April 21

TIME:  6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

COST:  Free

The “Visions of Women” Exhibition , on display from Friday, April 21 through Saturday, May 27, showcases the fine art works of members of the National League of American Pen Women (Pen Women), Fort Lauderdale Branch (see individual artist bios below), a community of professional award-winning, internationally recognized and collected women visual artists. Pen Women believe in the power of art to illuminate the human experience, fire the imagination and nurture the soul. Through a variety of media, including acrylic, watercolor, oil, sculptor and photography, artists’ heartfelt works reflect subjects and causes that inspire them with the intent to inspire others, in particular women. Subjects and causes include: conservation, environment, fashion, world issues, introspection, nature and freedom. Pen Women-Fort Lauderdale raises funds each year to award three $1,250 scholarships to exceptional young women artists attending Broward College.

Civic Center Art Gallery Hours of Operation:
Tuesday and Friday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm,
Wednesday and Thursday, 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm,
Saturday, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm

Full Schedule of Upcoming Theatre & Art Gallery Events

ARTIST BIOS

Carol Thaw: Born into an artistic family, Carol Thaw, a watercolorist, has been painting all of her life. At age 4 her father was her first teacher. Workshop studies include: Edgar Whitney Frank Webb, Tony Van Hasselt, Judy Betts, Catherine Anderson and Skip Lawrence. A member of several arts organization, she is a signature member of the Gold Coast Watercolor Society. She always carries a sketch book, since she prefers to work directly with people, landscapes and objects. Her motto is “Paint Well, Laugh Loud and Enjoy Life”.

Cheryl Eggleston: Cheryl is an introverted artist who looks at life and sees repeating patterns, smooth color fields, sharp edges, angles, lines, and some circles, for relief.  Cheryl paints in acrylics and fast-drying oil paint. Her clean, hard-edge style of work has won awards at the local, national and international level.
www.cherylegglestonart.com

Chris Landis: A self-taught artist and muralist, Chris Landis’ watercolors are recognized both local and nationally. Her technique has been developed with high attention to detail and typically incorporates many layers. Her goal is to capture a sense of peace, contentment and rightness in her paintings. A teacher at heart, she has published many YouTube videos on how to draw and paint a variety of subjects. She teaches live virtual demonstrations for various national art organizations. Recently she was featured in The Pen Women Magazine for how she reinvented teaching in-person art workshops to also include teaching virtually.
www.mchristinelandis.com

Claudia Hafner: As a watercolorist, Claudia approaches her subjects as portraiture, whether people, wildlife, flower or architecture. . She recreates the character of the subject through color and a careful, but loose style which combines a propensity for detail with the desire for freedom and motion. From her grade school portraits of the Beatles to being a handweaver early in her professional artist career with sometime in-between in the corporate world to being the widely collected watercolorist she is today, Claudia’s love of nature inspired much of her work. Claudia exhibits both at indoor exhibitions and outdoor art festivals.
www.claudiahafnerwatercolor.com

Donna Sallee: For award-winning artist Donna Sallee, color and patterns of the outdoors are her passion; nature is her art.  Known for her elaborate and realistic murals and paintings, her commissions adorn homes across America and yachts on the seven seas.  Working primarily in oil, acrylic and pastels, her works have been featured in magazines globally, including ShowBoats International and Haute Living and for an entire season on the TV show, Below Deck. An honor’s graduate of Paier College of Art in Connecticut, today she exhibits her works at Piper Gallery and Studio, Pompano Beach, FL.
www.artbydonnasallee.com

Ellen Cohen-Berman: Ellen Cohen-Berman is a ceramic, mixed-media, and public artist.  She also designs and creates site-specific ceramic community-engaged fund-raising art projects.  Ellen is the In-house Curator for Plunge Beach Resort’s “Plunge Into the Arts” program, whose goal is to provide a showcase for local professional and emerging artists.
www.facebook.com/ellen.cohenberman

Fran Goodman: Scholarship Chair of the National Association of Women Artists, Florida Chapter and Co-Chair of the Art Program for the Boca Raton Branch of the National League of American Pen Women, Fran’s paintings have been exhibited in New Jersey, Manhattan, Toronto and Florida, and are in private collections in the US and Canada. 

Janet Gold: An award-winning collage artist, Janet Gold has been an artist and art educator in Broward County for over 40 years. Her collages are built on a substrate of vintage books, then layered with vintage collections of text, papers, fabrics, wallpaper, song sheets, found drawings, coloring books, and the occasional paper doll, gathered from thrift stores, Salvation Army, Goodwill. She has Master’s Degree in both Fine Arts and Education. Gold is a member of the National League of Pen Women, National Association of Women Artists, and the National Collage Society.
www.janetgold.com

Karen Tondiglia: Karen Tondiglia graduated from Kent State University with a degree in Education, with minors in science and art. After working as a teacher for two years, she worked for various corporation, and continued to cultivate her painting. Karen joined a co-op gallery, honed her painting skills by studying with several accomplished artists, and 40 years later she is still painting. Watercolor has always been her favorite medium, but she also enjoys painting with acrylics, oil, and pastels. Extensive travels as well as living in Ohio, Illinois and presently South Florida, Karen is inspired to paint the environment that surrounds her. Her award-winning paintings range from urban city scenes to local seascapes, flowers, and fauna.
www.karentondigliafineart.com

Kerstin Holm: Kerstin Holm took the artist name of Kerstin of Sweden since she grew up in Sweden but has lived in America for most of her life. After recently retiring as a high-tech entrepreneur and founder of several Swedish organizations in Florida, Kerstin started showing her acrylic on canvas paintings that she’s been doing for years at the Broward Art Guild. Previously she has been featured in Swedish art exhibits and magazines. Additionally, she designs high-end custom jewelry and writes articles that are published in various magazines worldwide.

Christine Landis: Originally from Dallas, Texas, Chris Landis is a self-taught artist and muralist. Her watercolors have been recognized both local and nationally. Her technique has been developed with high attention to detail and typically incorporates many layers. Her goal is to capture a sense of peace, contentment and rightness in her paintings. A teacher at heart, she has published many YouTube videos on how to draw and paint a variety of subjects. Recently she was invited to teach live virtual demonstrations for various organizations, including GoldCoast Watercolor Society and Rocklin Fine Arts of California. She was also recently featured in The Pen Women Magazine for how she reinventing how she teaches her art workshops virtually.

Marlene Hammel: It all began with the Etch A Sketch - a toy that opened a world of art to Marlene Hammel as a young child. Her entire life followed a creative path in high-end luxury fashion and make-up artistry. She taught her clients how to enhance their facial features with color contouring and coordinated all aspects of their visual fashion aesthetics. With retirement Marlene translated her sensibilities from her previous career when she picked up a paintbrush and found ethereal women and figures appearing on her canvas. And, to her delight this has led to awards and loyal collectors. Her creative process is experimenting with paint, mark making tools, wild colors and layers of texture. And, in her studio up on a shelf sits a red Etch A Sketch - a reminder of where the creative journey all began.

Pat Anderson: Pat Anderson has a passion for plein air painting with students of all ages from 10 to seniors as well as art philanthropy working with non-profits over the past 20 years. Pat shares her passion and skills through workshops and classes throughout Broward County parks to Islamorada in the Florida Keys. In 2023 she started a collaboration with the National Wildlife Federation, “NATURESCAPE  Broward,” leading workshops in Sunrise and Lauderdale Lakes parks. Most recently, Pat co-produced the patented Leaf Bar Table/Easel, a one-legged table that wraps to a tree and is used in her art classes. It’s Pat’s passion to have the Leaf Bars mass-produced using injection plastic molds made from recycled plastic. 

Pauline Runkle: A painter and lecturer, Pauline Runkle’s soul is grounded in nurturing the earth.  It all started with her design business, Floral Artistry, which gave her the privilege of lecturing at major museums in the United States as well as working for PBS as the set designer for John Williams and the Boston Pops. This is where she developed her sense of scale, proportion and color. Her own garden is included in the Archives of American Gardens at the Smithsonian Institute. Pauline’s goal is to inspire and share her passion for life – the environment, travel and worldwide studies – through creative artistry.

Phoenix: Internationally collected, award-winning conservation photographer Phoenix is the recipient of two month-long Artist-In-Residence programs - Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Olive Stack Gallery in Ireland, the Virtual Artist-in-Residence for the Center for Great Apes Art4Apes Exhibition, the featured artist for the first Endangered Exhibit – United Kingdom and was recently appointed to the first Public Art and Placement Advisory Board, City of Fort Lauderdale. Her works have graced national magazine covers and been featured in newspaper and magazines – print and online internationally. She is represented by the Collectors’ Gallery, Venice, FL. www.photographsbyphoenix.com

Phyllis Elrich: As a retired educator, Phyllis Elrich believes in learning new things. Classes, traveling and meeting new people enrich her life, expand her horizons and inspire her mixed media art. A lifetime artist since she could hold a pencil and draw, her artistic journey has taken her from painting to baked clay sculpture, bead-making and wearable art to her current pursuit in mixed media collage. After retiring she discovered that she innately expanded her color pallet to include brighter colors and hues.
@phyllis.elrich

Renee Burnes: Renee Burnes participates in workshops worldwide, studying watercolor, acrylic, and mixed media with internationally recognized artists. She is constantly evolving as an artist and further refining her artwork. She maintains her art studio in Glenview, IL and spend half the year being inspired by the events, scenery, and shapes in her second home in South Florida. With her paintings she hopes to raise the energy level, open hearts, and deepen the experience for viewers.
www.reneejburnesart.com

Susan Buzzi: As an educator, coach practitioner and longtime women’s/children’s advocate, Broward County grants recipient Susan Buzzi’s work gives voice to and celebrates women -- the ordinary and extraordinary, the diversity and the many challenges embraced today. These moments are captured with film, in real time and printed in both negative and positive formats for the viewer.
buzziphotos@gmail.com

Susan Convery: Susan Convery is an award-winning Florida Certified High School Art Teacher with eight plus years of advanced drawing and painting classroom experience. Susan is an accomplished portrait artist and has illustrated two children’s books. She works mostly in watercolor but also enjoys oil and acrylic painting.  Susan retired in 2020 and now enjoys leading supportive, fun, and rewarding cooperative art workshops at home and around the world. Susan is wholly committed to helping her students uncover their personal artistic genius.
www.susanconvery.com

Susan Nanna Casbarro: Susan Nanna Casbarro, a mixed media mosaicist, was raised in a setting where everyone valued and participated in the arts. From the age of 5 she was putting on marionette shows with her family. Born and raised in New York, she later moved to Florida. A teacher by heart and occupation, upon retirement she poured her passion into her artwork and set up the Glistening Glass Studio where she creates her own artwork and teaches the art of mosaics to others.
www.susancasbarro.com

Tammy Seymour: Tammy Seymour, a multi-awarded and exhibited artist, expresses the WET and WILD experiences of nature in watermedia – watercolors, acrylics and gouache. She is inspired by nature’s color and beauty. Personal dedication to environmental conservation is a very strong element in her work. This led her to initially paint turtles as a major subject matter and become known as the “Turtle Lady”. Her love and fascination of wildlife has led her to paint colorful birds of Florida and majestic animals of Africa.