News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 155

the news-press 1 19 tropicalia a field guide to paradise Sunday, november 25, 2007 1 A v- and horticulture. It was the conversion from abstract to realistic drawings that was quite dramatic considering she did it later in life. She was almost 80 and she changed her whole outlook on art" Though her passion and precision appeared a new development, Wenzel offered insight into her process in a short autobiography she composed for one of her shows: "I was taught to see and become aware of the connection of all forms in the natural. I felt I was able to talk with my paint brush," she wrote. "Not until 1981 when I found my first bromeliad did I revert to the precision of my early schooling and begin my series of 'Botanical BROMELI AD CONTINUED The Wenzels traveled to Mexico and Europe and bought a home in Buckingham in the early 1950s during a visit, returning later to live.

In the 1960s, Leon developed a small shopping strip near Gulf Shore Inn on Fort Myers Beach. One of the units served as an art supply and framing shop. Inside the quaint, waterfront inn, Kiti Wenzel set up a gallery and studio, offered instruction and invited visiting artists to teach workshops. The Wenzels moved to the Sarasota area, where Leon built a home on Siesta Key, and Kiti Wenzel delved into abstract, geometrical detailed tropical fish and amassed a body of other horticultural beauties, from the anciently odd Protea to the common iris. She later cut out details of her bromeliad pictures to create complex collages.

"If it wasn't gorgeous, she wouldn't do it," says her daughter, Hay. Wenzel stopped creating around 1997 after her vision began declining and arthritis set in. "She just stopped drawing and never picked up a pencil again," says Hay. The way she mastered bromeliads her abstract approach quickly giving way to the highly realistic late in her career astounds Giroux. "She made a complete change and did reproductions from life, animals and three-dimensional art while taking classes from international artists teaching modern theories at New College's Fine Arts Institute.

Her work was exhibited in Sarasota, and after becoming' a widow in the late 1970s, Wenzel returned, to Fort Myers for good. Her work was shown through the Cape Coral Art League and she was a docent at Edison Community College's art gallery. Wenzel, who adapted her childhood nickname of "Kitty" into her artist's signature of "Kiti," started out with rural landscapes, but produced hundreds of sketchbooks full of human faces (many television personalities and politicians), created series of beautifully Alt SPECIAL TO THE NEWS-PRESS I Artwork by Kiti Wenzel I iVjJiY 1 1 'i 'iltfTi Tf A (Sgf QlDEX OtlCOR PHONAK hearing systems i 2T.TA WE WELCOME PRICE QUOTES "DARE TO COMPARE" MOST MAKES MODELS SOLD AT OR BELOW INTERNET PRICES. S3-70 OFF MSRP Oil MOST MAKES AND STYLES In OHico ALL Make Repairs at HO CHARGE C0 DIGSTftL SIEMENS i i Jr- 8T "Flavor that's out of the ballpark, his pasta dishes pack a bigger flavor wallop than anything that's hit this town in tears." Joanne Kates, The Globe and Mall "Admittedly, he looks more like a rock star than a chef, but his cooking is the equivalent of Jimi Hendrix headlining Woodstock 1969." Victoria Bradley, Whirl Magazine "Delivering a style all his own to the plate, this is no egomaniacal rookie, he's a chef with American moxie." Paul Grondahl, The Knickerbocker News "We've never had so many 10s, Steven Spielberg could not have i created a fantasy setting more wonderful than (beautifully, beautifully done)" Cindy Gorenkoff Joan Goldhahn, The Forest Hill Press i ME 'LS sfc. (m Wnn AudtoProfthotooitt Soord cfti(wd tf HOftng lnstrurnKTl Scnc SALES, SERVICE AND REPAIRS ON MOST MAKES DG7GSDS OEZiniHG 1ED SElTSE ral serious pizza A qWVrtASAffrtrAUAf In Albertson's plaza on lha corner ol 41 1 Williams Road 22088 South Tamiaml Trail 1 as HT 0 Financing, available.

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