Lovely art: Iberia Bank fashions itself as a mini Marco art gallery

When police asked the mild-mannered, well-tailored Willie Sutton why he robbed banks, Sutton replied, “Because that’s where the money is.”

In that vein, if you had asked any number of Marco Islanders why they were going to IberiaBank on a recent Saturday night, no doubt they’d have borrowed Willie Sutton’s logic and answer, “Because that’s where the art is.”

And it was, lots of it, selected works of seven Marco-based artists, carefully hung on the walls of the bank and displayed on easels, part of banker Keith Dameron’s ongoing efforts to promote arts and the artists in town.

Keith urges the public to stop in and enjoy the art during regular banking business hours.

One of the first things visitors noticed was that none of the works had price tags on them. Keith had said he’d rather have prospective buyers deal directly with the artists.

“Keith doesn’t want to be an art dealer and wants no compensation for all this,” says artist Tara O’Neill. “I think that’s wonderful.”

That brought up the question of pricing. How does an artist decide what her or his work is worth?

Tracy Gudgel: “It’s very difficult. You put in so much time and effort and emotion and you never know how it’s going to turn out. Then when it does, you’re happy with it and to put a price to it is difficult.

“Sometimes artists say a work is never finished to them. If it doesn’t sell, an artist will continue to dabble and build it. It’s endless. Sometimes you just have to say stop, it’s finished and hopefully someone will like it and buy it.”

Inez Hudson: “It’s one of the hardest things to decide. I read some articles and finally just bit the bullet and decided to charge by the square inch, the size of the piece.

“I struggled but found out my pricing before was about the same as charging by the square inch. That price can vary depending on the level of intricacy. Because I’m a realist, some of my paintings have layers and a lot of detail, magnifying glass work.”

JoAnn Sanborn: “It’s hard. I’ve been painting for a good number of years and I try to go up a little each year. You try to be comparable with others at your level, but the bottom line is, are you selling? It’s wicked hard.

“I price by size mostly. It makes sense because then you can defend your prices. I don’t like bargaining because if I say the price is this for a certain work and you pay it. And the next person comes along who wants the same size painting and offers half that, that devalues both my art and my client’s purchase.”

“However, I once traded quite of bit of art for some major dental work,” Jo-Ann said with a laugh. “It really worked, and the dentist feels he got the best of the deal because now he has a practice with original art and people think more of him.”

Clark Shaw, speaking on Malenda Trick’s artwork: “Obviously larger paintings cost more than smaller ones, so most artists will tell you it’s the size. But if they get hungry, the’ll sell it to you.”

As art enthusiasts made their way around the bank, enjoying the art, we asked some of the artists where they would most like to see their works displayed. Also, what was the most unusual place they’ve been on display?

Phyllis Pransky: “I would like to show in Manhattan galleries, or Milan or Paris and to be a part of the Montmartre art scene.

“The most unusual place I’ve ever had my art exhibited was at a zoo in Paramus, N.J. It was a big art festival, with paintings hanging on the animals’ cages.”

Bob Frettoloso: “I’d like to have one of my sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

Jo-Ann Sanborn: “I’d love to have my art hanging in the homes of people who appreciate and love the Everglades. It’s personal to me and it’s a part of me and that means more than hanging in a museum.”

Malenda Trick: “The most unusual place I’ve ever exhibited is in the bathroom at a restaurant in Nashville, Tenn. The restroom was yellow with a red floral couch and I had a five-foot square painting that I put above it. A doctor’s wife dragged her husband into the ladies room and it sold.

“I always wanted to be in the Louvre, but the loo will do too.” (“Loo” is British slang for lavatory.)

All the artists agreed IberiaBank is a great place to showcase their work. That included Jerry Brynjulson, who said, “Yes, right above the copy machine is just fine with me.”

Chris Curle is a former news anchor for CNN and for ABC-TV stations in Washington DC, Atlanta and Houston. E-mail chris@chriscurle.com.

Don is a former ABC News correspondent and bureau chief and a former news anchor for CNN and ABC-TV in Atlanta. His Farmer File column appears Fridays in the Naples Daily News. E-mail: don@donfarmer.com.