The City of Fort Myers maintains an Arts & Culture Grant program to support and foster the arts organizations and individual artists who contribute to the city’s vibrant art scene.
Every two years, the city’s Public Art Committee hosts an exhibition of the work created by the artists who have received Arts & Culture grants during the preceding two years. This year’s biennial show is being hosted by the Alliance for the Arts and will feature work by visual artists Cesar Aguilera, Israel Alpizar, Linda Benson, Danielle Branchaud, Stacey Brown, Patricia Collins, Christar Damiano, Roland Ruocco and Brian Weaver, filmmakers Cory Patterson and Juliana Versari, and six Arts for ACT member artists including Jan Butler, Tracy Owen Cullimore, Claudia Goode, Shah Hadjebi and Terry Lynn Spry.
The exhibition opens May 1 with a 5 to 7 p.m. reception and runs through May 30.
About the Artists
Biographies and CVs for each of the artists participating in the Biennial Grant Recipient show follow.
Cesar Aguilera
Cesar Aguilera is a visionary multimedia artist whose work emerges from a deep awareness of the world in transition. Born in Quito, Ecuador, and now a driving force in the Southwest Florida arts community, Aguilera’s creative practice is a response to the Anthropocene epoch, our current epoch defined by human impact on the planet. His art navigates this age of ecological and existential uncertainty not with blame, but with a call to awaken, evolve, and imagine a culture capable of survival and renewal.
His mixed media works are dynamic amalgamations of traditional materials like oil and acrylic paint with unconventional ones such as coffee, bleach, discarded technology, and found objects. Aguilera constructs layered narratives through these materials—paintings, sculptures, and installations that speak through texture, tension, and transformation. Life itself takes center stage in his practice, serving both as subject and message. Whether working in two or three dimensions, he invites the viewer to confront the fragility of our existence while offering glimpses of resilience and collective hope.
He is also accomplished in film, special effects, makeup and costume design, performance, and fashion. Aguilera’s short horror, “Bubbles” (starring local portrait artist and fellow muralist Eric Riemenschneider), was screened at the seventh Annual Fort Myers Film Festival in 2017 after making its world premiere at Thank God for Indie Monday (TGIM) the previous November.
His creative reach extends beyond the studio and into the community. In 2015, he received the Gulfshore Life Emerging Arts Leader Award, a testament to his influence and leadership. He currently serves as curator of the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center’s Grand Atrium and Capital Gallery, and is the co-founder of Artsemble Underground, a grassroots art collective formed in 2016 with Brian Weaver to democratize and decentralize art. To date, Artsemble is responsible for dozens of public art murals throughout Southwest Florida, including the extensive mural walls found at the I Will Mentorship Foundation’s Urban Community Farm in the Dunbar community, All Out Bail Bonds on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in downtown Fort Myers, the LaBelle memorial wall honoring fallen Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation officer Julian Keen, the walls inside Oak Hammock Middle School’s cafeteria and the exterior of the Cape Coral Art Center.
Through SWFL MuralFest and public works across the region, Aguilera brings art directly to the people—murals infused with themes of inclusion, diversity, honor, and love that leave a permanent mark on the landscape and spirit of the community. For Aguilera, art is more than expression—it is an act of service, a tool for awakening, and a bridge toward a more conscious and connected world. Follow Cesar’s journey:@czr @cesar.aguilera.artwww.artsembleunderground.com.
Israel Alpizar
Israel Alpizar is an independent art director, web and graphic designer, and video and marketing brander for several companies across the United States. Proficient in both fine art and digital media production, Israel received his bachelor’s degree from The Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago.
Alpizar often exhibits his art and conducts live painting demonstrations at art festivals such as ArtFest Fort Myers. His exhibition titled “Fractasia” was displayed in the Capital Gallery at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in September 2022. The work in that show was a fusion of fractals (infinitely complex proportional geometric shapes and patterns that repeat across different scales and dimensions of time and space) and fantasia (imagery and imagination with a free-flowing, no-strict-form musical composition) that combined traditional painting techniques, contemporary projection mapping, lighting effects and interactive installations. Born in Mexico City, Alpizar moved to the United States with his mother when he was 5 years old and he has now visited every state in the Union with the exceptions of Alaska and Hawaii.
Linda Benson
Linda Benson is a Southwest Florida artist known for her depictions of Florida wildlife ranging from sand cranes and flamingoes to sea turtles and manatees. Since Hurricane Ian, Benson has been working on Rebuild and Recover, a project that includes work that reflects her experiences during the storm, which she rode out in her home off the Caloosahatchee River with her dog Elsa as it was flooded with four feet of storm surge. She lost everything — computers, artwork, cars and her studio-boat the Artist Xpress. Benson also uses those experiences to inspire the beginner to advanced students who take her watercolor classes at the Alliance for the Arts and other locations on Sanibel, Captiva, Cape Coral, Punta Gorda and Naples. Benson is a retired commercial artist. During her 20-year tenure in the newspaper industry, she won top awards for her creativity.
Danielle Branchaud
Danielle Branchaud has been exhibiting artwork across Southwest Florida since 2007. Over that span, she has earned a place among some of the most notable surreal artists in the region. Her work transcends the human perspective, purposefully voyaging into unsettling realms of thought and feeling in an effort to process her own experiences as well as those of others. In her paintings, Branchaud uses an intimate and efficient method of painting figures and dreamscapes in acrylics, while also occasionally experimenting with mixed media and sculpture.
Branchaud has exhibited at venues in Naples, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers, Sarasota, and Miami. Recent shows include “Imaginarium: Five Portals of Surrealism,” “Dark Art,” “Paint Me A Song,” “The Great Collab 2,” “Icons & Idols” and “A Drop of Poison” (Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, 2025) and “Thought Crimes” (DAAS CO-OP Art Gallery, 2025). While still utilizing her home studio, she also has a studio space at DAAS CO-OP on the Alliance for the Arts campus – that can be visited by the public on select days of the week. In addition to developing her own series work, she is known to pursue collaborative projects with other artists and is a co-founder of the Syzygy Collaborative Art Project. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Summa Cum Laude with specialization in painting from the University of Central Florida.
Stacey Brown
Southwest Florida artist Stacey Brown is an abstract mixed media artist whose work explores the intersection of psychology, spirituality, and creative expression. Working with acrylic, ink, collage, and hand-marked symbolism, she creates layered paintings that invite reflection and discovery. Vivid color, gestural movement and fragments of hidden text unfold slowly, revealing new meaning over time.
A two-time recipient of the City of Fort Myers Art & Culture Grant, Brown has exhibited widely in Southwest Florida, including at the Alliance for the Arts, ACT Gallery, and DAAS Gallery. She is currently a resident artist at Union Artist Studios. In parallel with her art practice, Brown has over 30 years of experience as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, informing work that bridges healing and visual expression.
Jan Butler
Jan Butler exhibits fused glass art at Arts for ACT Gallery that reflects her passion for continuous learning and experimentation, blending science and creativity into stunning art pieces. Her unique pieces include purses, honey pots, and night lights.
Pat Collins
Visual artist Pat Collins' mixed media works combine painting, printmaking, paper cutting, and experimentation in the process of creating murals, interactive constructions, and installations, as presented in her solo show, “Action Reaction Interaction” at Florida Gulf Coast University’s ArtLab, March 2022.
Collins’ interest in creating interactive art began in New York City with "Urban Anxieties" in the All Fools event in Williamsburg, then later for Art Royale events in Fort Myers. In 2014 Collins staged her impromptu “The Uninvited Photo Op” at Art Walk in downtown Fort Myers, photographing people posing with a life-size cutout of the Rachel at the Well statue, with or without her dress. Since then she has staged various participatory art pieces including “The Primate Party at the Podium,” a 2016 election season pop-up installation outside Faneuil Hall in Boston, and “Voting Priority 2020” in various Fort Myers public locations.
Recent grants from the city of Fort Myers helped fund Collins’ Creative Action Mobilized portable interactive mini art installations on wheels — "Intertwined in the Realm of Trees" last year and recently "Tidal Curiosities, Aquatic Lures" appearing at Art Walk in April, where participants made rubbings from related image cutouts.
Collins’ work has been exhibited twice at the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, the Florida Museum for Women Artists in Deland, Scope Miami, the Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg and other venues. Collins was awarded a solo exhibition, “The New: Now IV” curated by Frank Voorporten in Naples in March 2026. Other solo shows include the Collier County Museum of the Everglades, the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, and Howl Gallery, Fort Myers. Her limited-edition artist book, “Urban Anxieties” is in MoMA Queens Artists’ Books collection. Collins’ murals for Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore, North Fort Myers, and the Kappa Development Foundation in Fort Myers can be found on the cultureNOW website. The Fort Myers River Basin Mural Project includes three panels by Collins: “Flossie Hill,” "Tootie McGregor Terry" and "Turkey Hunt." Collins has a BFA in Communications Design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.
Tracy Owen Cullimore
Tracy Owen Cullimore, known as “Artsy Tracy,” is celebrated for her figurative work, specializing in alla prima portraiture of people and animals. An impressionist artist, Cullimore works in both oil and watercolors and is a signature member of the Florida Watercolor Society. Cullimore has garnered numerous awards at local, regional and state levels. She is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts, emphasizing Art History and Business Economics. She has also done extensive post-college training in fine art, advertising, and graphic design.
Christar Damiano
Christar Damiano is a sound healing practitioner who supports whole person wellness-body, mind and spirit. She helps people release emotional blocks, restore balance and step into their fullest lives through vibrational sound healing. Crystal bowls and gongs create an immersive sound vibration that can calm the nervous system, reduce stress and promote deep relaxation. Sound healing is a powerful tool for restoring balance for overall well being.
Shah Hadjebi
Shah Hadjebi is an award-winning Southwest Florida watercolor artist. Hadjebi's artistic journey is rooted in a family of designers. He graduated from Syracuse University in the late 1980s and paints a wide variety of subjects from animals and portraits to classic automobiles, still life and architecture. Living in Southwest Florida has supplied him with an endless array of subjects and motifs. His main goal is to bring some presence and mindfulness into this hectic world and to live a life where his inner and outer purpose are aligned.
Claudia Goode
Claudia Goode is the ACT Gallery curator and a mixed media artist known for infusing her drawings, paintings, and collages with a dreamlike quality filled with surrealistic symbolism. She masterfully blends paint, paper, photos, and found objects to create captivating pieces. Additionally, she showcases her artistic talents by painting and restyling furniture and clothing. Goode’s current path has brought her much love, creativity and passion for ACT Gallery and Abuse Counseling and Treatment, Inc., where she also is the HR Director.
Roland Ruocco
Roland Ruocco conveys his perception of the world around him through artworks that involve diverse subject matter, artistic styles, and media, sometimes identifying problems and offering solutions, other times focusing on the beauty of nature, or perhaps industrial design. Over time, he has developed four separate series of paintings. “Sub Tropic” is an expression of the natural beauty of South Florida’s light, form, and color. “Modern Times” speaks of provocative social and political issues, often through satire. His “New Earth” series describes creating heaven on Earth through a state of higher consciousness. “Earth Counterpart” creates a virtual world described through detailed maps, paintings, and drawings.” For more, visit www.rolandruocco.com.
Terry Lynn Spry
Terry Lynn is a contemporary oil painter. Her work has been in local and national juried art competitions and can be found in private collections across the country. She won honorable mention in the abstract division in the December 2012 edition of Artist Magazine. She graduated from Phoenix Institute of Technology with a degree in production art and went on to study under Nina Conner. She also been teaching at the Alliance for the Arts since 2004.
Brian Weaver
Panamanian-born, Brian Weaver is a local artist whose work blurs the line between street and fine art in an effort to encourage dialogue. In this vein, Weaver uses graffiti as an instrument of social change and a platform to advocate for issues such as racism, animal cruelty and the lack of arts education in public schools. As co-founder of Artsemble Underground, Weaver not only works with partner Cesar Aguilera to make art more accessible and immersive, but also with local schools and nonprofits, like the I Will Mentorship Foundation, to show youngsters how to make a living through art. His murals span Southwest Florida and extend from the West Coast to the East Coast of the United States. His work has been exhibited at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, the Cape Coral Art Center, and the Alliance for the Arts.
After relocating to Southwest Florida from Colorado in 2013, Weaver participated in numerous area street art festivals such as Fort Myers Art Walk. He also founded All Walks of Art Festival in Cape Coral and Mystery Walk in downtown Fort Myers (a six month immersive art experience that re-imagined Art Walk through large-scale installations, optical illusions and emerging contemporary art forms). He often shows his newest works at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, Cape Coral Art Center and pop-up shows produced by Artsemble Underground. He is also the founder of an underground warehouse called Epicenter by Circus Arts United, most famous for its Battle of the Arts contests and fundraising events for local nonprofits, now in its fifth year.
He attended the School of Communication Arts in North Carolina, graduating with a degree in Graphic Design and Computer Animation.
Project to Save Mankind – Juliana Versari & Cory Patterson
“Project to Save Mankind” is a cinematic sci-fi fantasy short film that propels viewers into an epic battle for the future of Earth. In this cosmic odyssey, forces of light and darkness collide in a high stakes struggle for dominion over humanity. Through stunning visuals and cosmic characters, this short film rockets through the stars to explore the ultimate question: Who will claim our world in the end?
“Project to Save Mankind” was produced by filmmakers Juliana Versari and Cory Patterson. Patterson, who works under the name Ten to Two, is a multidisciplinary visual artist and cinematographer whose work bridges the worlds of film and fine art. Working as a director of photography and gaffer across television, commercial, and branded content for more than 26 years, his foundation is rooted in the language of light, composition, and movement. His on-set experience—shaping scenes through lighting design, lens choice, and atmosphere—has directly informed his transition into creating original visual art. What began as a technical mastery of cinematic storytelling has evolved into a personal artistic practice that captures still moments with the emotional weight of a film frame. He expands beyond traditional cinematography into photography-driven mixed media, creating pieces that feel both narrative and timeless. His work reflects a deep understanding of visual tension, negative space, and the subtle power of light as both subject and storyteller.
Juliana Versari is a Fort Myers–based artist whose work explores the vivid terrain of surrealism and the subconscious mind, illuminating the emotional and symbolic layers of human experience. Rooted in the traditions of surrealist and cubist movements and shaped by international travel, Versari developed a deep appreciation for diverse culture, spiritual philosophies, and symbolic storytelling. Her work weaves together reference to esoteric traditions and quantum physics, fused with her passion for science fiction, comic‑book aesthetics, and street‑art culture, her work creates immersive visual narratives that invite viewers into spaces of reflection, curiosity, and imaginative exploration.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
