In 2018, Leoma Lovegrove was diagnosed as having stage-four breast cancer. She relied on her faith, indomitable will and expressive art to combat the disease and promote Breast Cancer Awareness and the importance of early detection. Not even the destruction of her Matlacha gallery and gardens by Hurricane Ian in 2022 or the flooding caused by Hurricane Helene last year in her Dean Street gallery in downtown Fort Myers could dampen her spirits.
Her gallery reported on Facebook yesterday that Lovegrove died on April 10th at her North Fort Myers home with her husband, Michael Silberg, at her side. She was 72 years old.
The artist’s numerous accomplishments included her degree from the Ringling School of Art & Design; being the first American to paint on a replica of Claude Monet’s floating studio in Giverny and exhibit in Pierre Bonnard’s home in France; launching a line of art wear and other products at Bealls department store; being included in the private collections of the White House and President George W. Bush’s Presidential Library as well as the permanent collections of the Marietta Museum of Art & Whimsy in Sarasota and City of Fort Myers and Florida Gulf Coast University public art collections.
A celebration of life will be held for Lovegrove on Monday, April 28 at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre from 2 to 4 p.m. Attendees are requested to RSVP by April 23.
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Leoma Lovegrove characterized herself as an impressionist-expressionist painter.
She was known worldwide for paintings bursting with vivid tropical color and exuberant strokes, applied not only by brush but by her fingers and hands. In addition to whimsical Florida motifs such as birds, fish, palms and coconuts, she was accomplished in both portraiture and entertainment art. Her subjects included former President Jimmy Carter (whose portrait hangs in his presidential library in Atlanta) and Sir Richard Branson (whose portrait she rendered for Virgin Airlines’ headquarters in London).
After graduating from Florida’s prestigious Ringling School of Art & Design, Lovegrove studied under Gale Bennett in Claude Monet’s gardens in Giverny.
Over the course of her career, her art garnered reviews in numerous magazines and art publications. She was also the subject of a 2019 mini-documentary shot by Emmy-winning indie filmmaker John Scoular of Manta Films.
While many collectors and admirers knew Lovegrove’s work through her gallery and a line of art apparel and other goods at Bealls department store, many art enthusiasts were introduced to Lovegrove’s work through her "Painting Out Loud" performances, during which she completed an entire composition in a matter of minutes before a live audience to the accompaniment of inspirational music and a multi-colored light show.
In the notice it posted on Facebook, Lovegrove’s gallery stated that her family has launched a foundation through the Collaboratory to support the arts. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made on Leoma’s behalf at www.collaboratory.org/LeomaLovegrove.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.