Art gallery to open in downtown Windermere

The woman behind the Windermere Art Affair will be taking her support for the arts a step further by opening up downtown Windermere’s only art gallery.

Anne McDonough coordinates with and selects the artists for Windermere’s annual art show. 

She also owns Tranquilti Wellness Center, located at 503 Main St. in downtown Windermere. 

The grand opening for The Art Gallery within Tranquiliti will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. June 1. Afterward, the gallery will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. 

Featured artwork will be for sale and will be switched every two months. The first artists being featured at the gallery are Cristiam Ramos, Crystal Dombrosky and Phyllis Shipley. Artist who are interested in having their work featured at the gallery are encouraged to contact McDonough at (407) 808-0665.

“Art is important to me, because it inspires your spiritual connection,” McDonough said, “Your spiritual connection — in today’s environment — is so important because we live in such a crazy and hectic environment with computers and a lot of crazy stuff going on in the world. You find your peace when you connect to your spiritual side, and that’s why art is important to me. I believe in finding that peace and tranquility in our world ... by expressing yourself through art.”

McDonough said Tranquiliti Wellness Center specializes in promoting spiritual wellness. She added the art gallery has been a vision of hers for many years, and incorporating a gallery into her business seemed like a natural fit.

“It was my vision (to open the gallery), because I work with spiritual wellness,” McDonough said. “Allowing this (gallery) to come in helps more — synergistically — with the spirituality concept of Traquiliti.”

Art classes will be taught at Tranquiliti in addition to having the gallery. Details on the art classes will be available at a later date, McDonough said.

Although she’s not a visual artist, McDonough paints pictures with words as a poet. Her belief of fostering and promoting spiritual wellness channeled through creativity only fuels her passion for the arts. That passion shows through the support she has given to the artists who have been involved with the Windermere Art Affair.

“I’ve gotten … probably 10 different artists that never would have entered (the Windermere Art Affair) if I didn’t stand here and have a physical conversation with them about how they can do it,” McDonough said. “I kind of have to talk them off the ledge of (them) thinking that they can’t do it, and that’s really what keeps me going. That’s a passion for me. Every single artist (who) has been in that show, I have personally talked to and cultivated. That’s why it’s been successful.”

She added that because of monies collected through the Windermere Art Affair, organizers were able to donate $1,000 to Windermere Elementary School’s art department, $1,000 to Olympia High School’s art department, $500 to Gotha Middle School and $2,500 to City Arts Factory.

“It’s about promoting the arts,” McDonough said. “It’s also (about) giving back because the school systems are cutting their funding for extracurricular things like art, and it’s also about (supporting) young artists.”

In addition to Art Affair, she sponsors the Nehrling Garden’s Corks, Caladiums & Canvases event.