Leoma Lovegrove talks about her new Fort Myers, Florida art gallery
Lee County artist Leoma Lovegrove opened her new downtown Fort Myers art gallery Friday, Nov. 15. Here she talks about what that means to her.
- Florida artist Leoma Lovegrove, known for her vibrant, whimsical paintings and signature glasses, died April 10 at age 72.
- Lovegrove’s art was featured on products sold at Bealls department stores for about a decade, boosting her profile significantly.
- She was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, even creating artwork for his events.
- Lovegrove opened a new gallery in downtown Fort Myers in November 2024, just five months before her death.
She was one of Southwest Florida’s most popular artists for years, and her bright, colorful images could be found in museums, galleries and the shelves at Bealls department stores.
Leoma Lovegrove died April 10 at her North Fort Myers home, her gallery announced this week on Facebook. She was 72 years old.
Since then, hundreds of her fans have commented about the loss on Facebook.
Bitsy Scott of Bokeelia said the news made her heart hurt.
“What a light she was!” she wrote. “My heartfelt condolences go out to her husband, family and friends.
“The Welcome Home party for her in Heaven must be so fun and joyful! RIP, Leoma, and thank you for all the beautiful, creative work you left behind!”
Here’s everything you need to know about Lovegrove, her art, her famous glasses and more:
Leoma Lovegrove’s colorful, whimsical art
Lovegrove’s downtown Fort Myers gallery was packed floor to-ceiling with her vibrant, whimsical paintings: Turtles, palm trees, sunsets, butterflies, seahorses and more — all painted in eye-popping oranges, pinks, blues, greens and purples.
Many of her Lovegrove’s paintings hang in museums and galleries worldwide.
There’s nothing like Lovegrove’s artwork, her friend and longtime fan Kathleen Herron said at the opening of the gallery in November 2024.
“It makes me happy,” Herron said. “It brightens my day. All of her heart and soul goes into every piece.”
Lovegrove had said she’s always been an artist. She started out making pottery, belt buckles and assemblages of decorated cow skulls and other objects. Then, about 25 years ago, she ventured into the world of painting.
“I really didn’t think there was any money in painting,” she said in 2016. “But I loved it!
“It’s probably the most rewarding, too, because of the places it’s taken me. It’s taken me all over the world.”
Lovegrove’s Bealls connection
Lovegrove’s work should be familiar to longtime shoppers at department store Bealls. It appeared for about a decade on the Florida chain’s T-shirts, plates, luggage, watches, sunglasses and a lot more.
That contract ran out two years ago, Lovegrove said in November, but she was exploring collaborations with other department stores.
The exposure helped her become even higher-profile than she already was. Her Matlacha gallery used to get about 1,000 visitors a day during tourist season, Lovegrove said.
“It made me mainstream,” she said in 2016. “Nobody trusted my art before.”
Her love of Donald Trump
Lovegrove was almost as famous for her love of Donald Trump. She’d been a huge supporter of the two-term president for years.
She even painted live during Trump’s appearance at a sold-out fundraising dinner for the Lee County Republican Party in 2023. Her 3-by-4-foot painting showed a bald eagle against a U.S. flag.
She also painted a full-length leather coat for the event. It was similar to one that got her national news coverage when she wore it to Trump’s inauguration in 2017.
The new version showed her optimistic imagining of Trump’s 47th presidential seal. Of course, Trump eventually did go on to win the election and a second term as president.
“It just shows support,” Lovegrove said in 2023 about the paintings. “Art always brings attention.
“He always gets bad news. I want to give him some good news!”
Lovegrove’s cancer diagnosis
The announcement of Lovegrove’s death didn’t give a cause, but it mentions that she was diagnosed with stage-four breast cancer in 2018.
Lovegrove was diagnosed with lobular breast cancer — a less-common cancer that begins in the milk-producing glands of the breast — on Nov. 20, 2018, she told The News-Press that December. She was 65 years old at the time.
Two weeks after the diagnosis, a surgeon removed the tumor and Lovegrove’s entire left breast during a 2½ hour operation at HealthPark Medical Center.
Breast cancer was on her mind as she recuperated at home on Pine Island. And so Lovegrove decided to paint exclusively in the color associated with breast cancer awareness and fundraising.
“Pink,” she said at the time. “All shades of pink. Van Gogh had his blue period. This will be my pink period, you know?”
In the past, Lovegrove had often donated her talent for breast-cancer-awareness events, including annual “coconut postcards” that were painted pink and mailed to survivors and women undergoing treatment. That mission continued after her diagnosis.
“Since then (she) has used her art and her own experiences to promote Breast Cancer Awareness and the importance of early detection,” her gallery wrote on Facebook. “She encouraged women around the globe to get screened and stay proactive and positive about their health.”
Lovegrove Gallery in downtown Fort Myers
Lovegrove’s death comes just five months after she opened her new gallery in downtown Fort Myers. The Dean Street storefront had been delayed almost two years by planning, renovations and permitting delays.
Lovegrove first announced the move to Fort Myers in January 2023 and signed a five-year lease on the downtown storefront three months later.
Some of her biggest fans were there when the gallery opened Nov. 15 — lined up to get their first look at the place.
“I wanted to be the first one here,” said Pat Hawkins of Burnt Store Marina, standing in a line of about 10 people. “I’ve been waiting for this to open. … I love her work. It makes me smile.”
The renovated, approximately 2,800-square-foot storefront is more than three times the size of Lovegrove’s old, 800-square-foot gallery on Matlacha.
Her Matlacha gallery had been one of the island’s biggest draws. Then Hurricane Ian badly damaged her house, gallery and art studio in September 2022 — along with much of the rest of Pine Island. That’s why she and husband Michael J. Silberg moved to North Fort Myers.
Lovegrove eventually reopened the gallery, renovated it, and then reopened it a second time July 31, 2024 — only to close it again about two months later after Hurricane Milton. Then she opened her Fort Myers gallery in November 2024.
“I don’t feel like I’m really abandoning Matlacha, because I’m taking the history with me,” she said in 2023. “I’m going to have a little Matlacha section in my new gallery…
“I gotta take the history with me! It’s a huge part of my husband’s and my life.”
Leoma Lovegrove’s famous glasses
If you know anything about Leoma Lovegrove, you know about The Glasses.
The Matlacha artist rarely went anywhere without her distinctive, quirky eyewear: Two swooping wings that, from a distance, resembled feathers or perhaps flames. But up-close, they look more like a pair of hands.
“Some people like to call them jazz hands,” Lovegrove told The News-Press in 2016.
At the time, she owned 24 pairs in all sorts of colors. One pair was covered in about 350 Swarovski crystals. “I wear them after 5,” she said.
Those signature eyeglasses weren’t just for show. They were prescription.
She bought her first pair at Disney World about 12 years ago. They were for her late mother.
Soon, though, Lovegrove started wearing them, herself. And people seemed to love them.
Local artist and producer Mark Haffner offered her this advice: “He said, ‘Never leave the house without those glasses,’” Lovegrove said in 2016. “And I took it to heart.”
And so, a trademark was born.
Lovegrove’s death and planned Celebration of Life
Lovegrove’s gallery announced her death Wednesday, April 16, on Facebook. She had died the previous week.
“The Gallery will be closed for Easter week and until Tuesday, April 29, 2025 as we prepare for a Celebration of Life for Leoma,” the gallery wrote on Facebook. “We wanted to share here with everyone close to Leoma that she passed away April 10th at the age of 72 with her husband, Michael Silberg, by her side in their home in North Fort Myers, FL.”
Her Celebration of Life takes place 2-4 p.m. Monday, April 28, at Broadway Palm dinner theater in Fort Myers. Attendees are asked to RSVP at CelebratingLeomaLovegrove.eventbrite.com.
In collaboration with local nonprofit The Collaboratory, Lovegrove’s family has launched a new fund to support the arts called the Leoma Lovegrove Foundation Fund. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made on Leoma’s behalf at collaboratory.org/LeomaLovegrove.
Charles Runnells is an arts and entertainment reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. To reach him, call 239-335-0368 or email crunnells@gannett.com. Follow or message on Facebook(@charles.runnells.7), Instagram and Threads (@crunnells1) and X (@CharlesRunnells).
