Gulf Coast Village and North Fort Myers Art Association celebrate first year of partnership

Art challenges the brain to think creatively, analyze and observe the incoming stimulant and form an opinion about what it’s seeing. But while it’s assessing the stimuli, it's forging new neuro pathways, improving cognitive function and evoking emotions, which leads to a healthier, happier brain.

Studies show that the impact of art on the human brain is profound, so when the North Fort Myers Art Association (NFMAA) approached Gulf Coast Village, Cape Coral’s only life plan community, about starting an art gallery, a partnership was a natural fit.

Details about where art should be hung and how residents could get involved commenced and they launched their first exhibit on Nov. 5, 2024. Over the past year, art has rotated on and off the walls with new collections from residents and members of the association, changing roughly every six weeks. The art that hangs encourages residents, family members and people from the community to slow down and think about what their neighbors and art association members create. Experiencing this consistent influx of new art improves their lifestyle.

It's brought life to the hallway, and it’s a conversation point for our residents who live here. Each day, you can see people pausing in the hallway to review and talk about the art. The coolest thing is that the art not only features art from the association, but also from the residents who call Gulf Coast Village home.

Residents aren’t just enjoying the art on the walls; they’re getting involved with the arts, too.

“A lot of residents have personal art studios in their apartments,” said Sherrie Saidon, Gulf Coast Village’s lifestyle coordinator for independent living and gallery curator. “It [the partnership with NFMAA] definitely is a community builder.”

To mark one year of the partnership, the next exhibit, debuting on Nov. 19, will be called “Celebration!”, a nod to anything worth celebrating – especially this impactful relationship. From 2 to 3 p.m., the event will feature a new cycle of art and a meet-and-greet with local artists, and the public is invited to attend.

The exhibit’s featured artist, Judy Biddle, president of NFMAA, has been celebrating art since a young age.

“When I was about 4 years old, my mother gave me a few coins, which I promptly held up to the frosted window of our Chicago apartment, rejoicing in the myriad of scenes created by the different sizes of circles in the ice on the window,” said Biddle.

She has been rejoicing in art ever since.

This exhibit will be a continuation of Biddle’s and other artists’ commitment to celebration in art form. From new babies and weddings to fruitful partnerships, this exhibit will embody everything in life worth celebrating.

To continue fostering their relationship as it approaches its one-year anniversary, Gulf Coast Village excitedly offered NFMAA a vacant building to turn into an art studio – dubbed “The Art House” – for the association, the community, and residents to participate in a variety of art classes, build friendships and celebrate each other for years to come.

About the author

Ryan Keller is the regional vice president of senior living operations for Florida for Volunteers of America National Services, the sponsoring organization for Gulf Coast Village. To learn more about Gulf Coast Village, please visit GulfCoastVillage.org or call 239-510-8712.