Cheers: To the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys, for its new drive to help build a permanent shelter at the former Keys Overnight Temporary Shelter. Our community is accustomed to raising millions for a variety of causes, including the arts, hurricane relief and the recently completed, state-of-the-art pet shelter. CFFKâs efforts to improve situations for our communityâs homeless are greatly appreciated, as are the efforts of the Cornerstone Resource Alliance, which has taken over management of the shelter.
Jeers: To Monroe County government, as residents wonder about the status of the Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursement for the countyâs overtime request during the first weeks of the coronavirus pandemic. There was a large public outcry at the time, leading to an end to the overtime pay, and the county administrator said the county would be reimbursed by the federal agency. Now is the time for transparency.
The Key West Art & Historical Society will mark its first major exhibit opening since the onset of the pandemic with âSand in His Shoes,â featuring the work of Key West artist Stephen Avila on Friday, Jan. 15, at the Custom House Museum.
Avila was born on the island in 1894 to Cuban parents and worked as an artist until his death in 1969. As a child, he scavenged Key West Bightâs wharves for discarded paint cans, using the remnants to paint pictures. He continued to develop his artistic talents, venturing into custom furniture making and wood sculpture.
Rich in ambition and talent, he taught himself to make new colors from his limited supplies of mostly construction and boat paint, using both the flowers of his island home and the sea that surrounded it as inspiration. Any surface could hold a painting: old bottles, driftwood, plywood.
The Key West Art & Historical Society will mark its first major exhibit opening since the onset of the pandemic with “Sand in His Shoes,” featuring the work of Key
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