Heather Everett | The Beachside Resident

Tobin Bennison

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Satellite Beach artist Heather Everett took to painting relatively late in her life, but that hasn’t stopped her from making up for supposedly “lost” time with a densely creative portfolio scores of other Florida artists could only dream of producing.

A South Dakotan by birth, Everett could be said to have stumbled on her new calling while visiting a friend in Manhattan after leaving her position as a Chanel executive. At that time she and her husband Mike were already parents to two children, son Jack and daughter Hannah.

“We moved to Paris when Jack was a baby and Hannah was two,” she recalls. “After my maternity leave, it took one day back and away from Hannah to know that that life was over. I quit my job, and a few months later was exposed to ‘the painting game’ while visiting a friend in NYC.”

“I don’t think that I’ve stopped playing, experimenting, creating — or at least thinking about art — since that weekend,” she says. “I loved my first attempts at art… it felt so good to surprise myself whether anyone else ‘got it’ or not.”

Discerning art lovers both near and far have certainly “got it,” judging from the accolades — both professional and populist — she’s garnered since starting out. Marked by deep, rich hues and an uncanny sense of captured motion, Everett’s paintings, as varied as they are, all share an emblematic quality, one that’s made her one of the more recognizable painters within the vast and highly competitive Florida art circle.

When asked to define her elusory watermark, Everett cites (with a cringe) one of her more recognizable works, “Marbanian Palms,” a quintet of royal palms offset by a striking scarlet background. There are similar paintings in this vein and theme, but being known simply as “the Palm Lady” misses the point, she finds.

“Although my techniques and styles may vary widely, my themes of nature, motion, and light remain a constant. I’ve been told it’s my color palette — but even that is changing. Or it’s the drip paintings and knifed-on flowers… Whatever it is, people tell me they just knew it was mine before they got up close and read the signature.”

As for her influences, Everett leans heavily toward the masters — Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Picasso — not so much for their technique and output, but for the message they intimate. To her, that message speaks of what can be accomplished with a devotion to artistic passion. “With a persistence in your passion, methods to your madness, and that it’s okay to be a successful artist while you are living,” she explains.

In keeping with this midset, Everett says she’s inspired by all artists, but she also counts teaching as another strong impetus. “It makes me reach,” she says. “If I’m going to teach perspective, I’d better learn perspective!” She’s currently teaching art to children at the Indian Harbour Montessori School, hosts summer art camps and classes through the Satellite Beach Community Center, and leads painting groups for adults and children at Art on Fifth in Indialantic. Starting this fall, she’ll be offering weekly classes at the Art Gallery of Viera in their new location at The Avenues in Viera.

“But mostly,” she adds, “I’m inspired by my observations. I feel as though I spent the first quarter of my life observing, enjoying, and learning about myself, my life… the earth. In that was born an absolute love affair with nature that I can now express outwardly through painting. …Honoring nature, color, and the feelings they can inspire. So now, in this second quarter of my life, I have found a way to express much of what I see, how I feel about this world, and how things are looking for us — through my eyes.”

I’m curious as to what makes her paintings so popular. What is it about them that has struck such a strong, common chord with people? “That’s a hard question to answer because I really do create for me,” she tells me. “I love the process, and the beautiful things that occur while the painting is evolving that the viewer will undoubtedly never see. I want other people to connect with the piece, I want them to love it as much as I do (if possible), and appreciate the way it makes them feel.”

“My aim is to evoke joy in the viewer and do this individually and to all,” Everett continues. “Art can connect people from all parts of the world, and even a person to herself. I feel as though my work depicts light and the natural world. Whether in an expressionistic landscape or abstract, they are delivered in rich, vibrant colors and infused with an optimism that forces you to honor nature.”

View more of Heather Everett’s work at www.heathereverettart.com. October 21 sees a showing of her paintings at the Pizza Gallery & Grill in Viera (2250 Town Center Ave.; 633-0397). In November (date TBA), she’ll be showing some of her work at the grand opening of the Art Gallery of Viera’s new location. Aditonally, she’ll be having shows at Edgewater’s Close to the Edge in December and at the Agora Gallery in New York City in February 2011. To keep abreast of events and showings, log onto her website or look for her on Facebook.