Five Florida art teachers selected to participate in Hermitage Artist Retreat

TAMPA, Fla. - A group of Florida art teachers has been selected to participate in a very prestigious art retreat.

Beautiful music flows from the hands of Jeff Brown, a music teacher from Orlando. He's one of the teachers selected to participate in the Hermitage Artist Retreat 2023 State Teachers Artist Residency program. 

"This place has a history, and we are able to live here and sort of scratch and delve into who's been here before," shared Brown. "And how does that inspire me?" 

The Teachers Artist Residency program has been providing inspiration for 13 years. 

Five Florida teachers were selected to participate in the Hermitage Artist Retreat 2023 State Teachers Artist Residency program.

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"They spend so much time working with, you know, bright young minds, bright young artists of tomorrow," said James Monaghan, Program Director Hermitage Artist Retreat. "But this time is really for them to think about maybe what got them into this art in the first place." 

The program selects five teachers from the state of Florida. They get a two weeks residency of uninterrupted time to get their creative juices flowing again. 

"I hope to have about 15 pieces completed by then," said Jim Finch, an art teacher from Melbourne, Florida. "It's a lot of work, but I'm not interrupted with, ‘Hey, honey, can you mow the lawn or can you go get this or, you know, let the dog out?’ I get to just selfishly draw and paint all day long." 

Florida teachers are getting some time to be creative.

Katie Gebhart, has been a visual art teacher for more than a decade. She says the retreat gave her an opportunity to finish the book she's been writing. 

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"Just yesterday, I wrote until 11 p.m. with no interruptions," Gebhart shared. "And when I looked at the word count, I had written over 17,000 words, which is more than I've done in a day and probably three or four years. So that was a really good feeling." 

For teacher Rachael Pongetti, the nine acre beachfront property on Manasota Key is an incredible place. 

"Have a time to be quite and it being peaceful and supportive is just an unimaginable gift," she said. The group will have a showcase on July 14 at the Hermitage’s beachfront campus. 

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