Artist Leoma Lovegrove’s creation part of ‘A Seahorse Dream’ effort
When Leoma Lovegrove heard about “A Seahorse Dream,” she knew she wanted to be involved.
“This is about raising money for a children’s hospital. And when Will Prather, owner of Broadway Palm Dinner Theater called me, I couldn’t say no,” Lovegrove said.
A Seahorse Dream is a not-for-profit fund-raising art project. Organizers are collaborating with the Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida in an ambitious, year-long fund-raising event to build a children’s hospital.
Several months ago they began looking for 50 businesses willing to sponsor 50 artists willing to create their own unique seahorse statue. Each sponsor purchased a 5-foot-tall white poly-resin seahorse statue for the artists. After each artist creates his or her version of a seahorse, each art piece will be put on display throughout Southwest Florida. In March the seahorses will be auctioned off to the highest bidder benefiting the new Children’s Hospital.
“I spent an hour here and an hour there over a two or three-week period to get the this project finished,” Lovegrove said. “I wanted to create a crazy headdress so I used a conglomerate of materials of balls and floral material that I thought looked sea-like.”
The result is astonishing. The seahorse is finished in bright blues and greens with a headpiece of green ferns and blue Christmas balls, and anyone familiar with Lovegrove’s work will recognize the colorful, whimsical, energetically vibrant seahorse as a Lovegrove piece. The seahorse has indeed been “Leomatized!”
According to Lovegrove, the seahorse was inspired by one of Elvis Presley’s songs “Follow That Dream” – and the circular base is inscribed with the words to the song: “Got to find me someone whose heart is free, someone to look for my dream with me. And when I find her I may find out, just what my dreams are all about.”
“My sponsor is the Broadway Palm Dinner Theater in Fort Myers,” Lovegrove said. “Will Prather is a good friend of mine and he supplied the seahorse. Helping to raise money for a good cause is something I want to be involved in and when the seahorses are auctioned off to the highest bidder, I hope my seahorse brings the most money.”
Funds raised at the auction will be used to provide care to children in need of critical health care at Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida, which is part of the Lee Memorial Health System in Lee County. It is the only acute care children’s hospital between Tampa and Miami. The children’s hospital opened in 1994 within HealthPark Medical Center, and its name was changed to the Golisano Children’s Hospital in 2012.?The Seahorse Dream Team’s goal is to sell all 50 seahorses. Funds raised will be matched dollar-for-dollar via a generous donation from Mr. B. Thomas Golisano. Each contributing artist will receive an honorarium for his or her creation and the public will enjoy the wide variety of seahorse works of art ranging from formal to whimsical.
For more information about the Seahorse Dream Project, visit: