Marianne Paton Each month the Mangrove Gallery at the Chamber Welcome Center features the work of local artists. On display through December are pieces of art from Bonnie’s and Christina’s Art Gallery in Matlacha.

Visitors who enter the Chamber Welcome Center in Matlacha are offered numerous ways in which to get to know Pine Island and the surrounding area. Everything from menus from local restaurants, brochures from local businesses, maps, informational videos and other literature fill the lobby of this popular stop over.

In addition to these materials, visitors also are encouraged to visit a corner of the building known as the Mangrove Gallery where they can enjoy a sample of the work produced by island artists. Each month an artist or gallery is presented the opportunity to utilize the Mangrove Gallery to showcase his or her work. Throughout the month of December, the featured artists were Bonnie Beers and Christina Jarmolinski of Bonnie’s and Christina’s Art Gallery in Matlacha.

Beers is a long-time Pine Island resident and has called the island her home for the last 20 years. Prior to establishing her Matlacha gallery, Beers was the manager of the Arts for ACT Gallery in what was once the Royal Palm Square. It was at Arts for ACT where Beers developed her skills in the area of mosaics as well as unusual furniture design.

When not working at the gallery, Beers often spends time boating with her husband seeking the natural treasures to be found on the barrier islands of Pine Island Sound and later integrates her finds into objects of art. Open to commission work, Beers also will take worn pieces of furniture and recover them with her own hand-painted fabrics for her customers.

Jarmolinski brings 30 years of painting experience with her to the gallery and draws her inspiration through travel, reading and communicating with creative people. Many of the pieces produced by Jarmolinski are a merging of collage and paints making for an unusual blend of media that is visually pleasing.

Having received her art instruction in Germany and in Austria, Jarmolinski later worked with well-known sculptor Erich Shmidt-Unterscher for 10 years. At that time she also was a stage painter at the municipal theater in Augsburg and an art instructor at colleges and institutes in Germany.

Returning to the United States in 1994, Larmolinski began exhibiting in collector shows in Fort Myers and frequently participated in one-woman shows at Gallery Syzygy and Sans Frontiers in Fort Myers. She then returned to Germany where she lived from 2001 to 2008 where she established and operated a gallery which was a great success.

Jarmolinski enjoys doing portraits and has been commissioned by many art collectors worldwide.

Bonnie’s and Christina’s Art Gallery also shows the art of local artists as well as internationally known artists. At the gallery visitors will find displays of paintings, island art, gifts and jewelry, fanciful objects and Deringer frogs donned in tuxedos.

Bonnie’s and Christina’s Art Gallery is located at 4630 Pine Island Rd., in the heart of Matlacha and is open every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.