Bella Magazine April 2025 by PensacolaBella

ALSO INSIDE • Pensacola Chamber’s AltogetHer Conference

Big Brothers Big Sisters Big Gala

Krewe du YaYa Casablanca Ball

Photo by Barrett McClean

from the editor

Just as the Bella team found artful adventures all over town for this issue, the need for creative inspiration has led me to explore museums everywhere I go: New York, Chicago, Portland, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Boston, Vienna. It was at the Belvedere in Vienna where I witnessed the power great art can wield. I walked into the gallery where Klimt’s “The Kiss” hangs — bigger and more breathtaking than I could have imagined — and standing there, wrapped in her partner’s arms, was a woman who was weeping, overcome with the emotion of being in the presence of the painting. That experience taught me to tune in to the way art affects me. It can be tears or goosebumps at the sound of a great song or the calm that washes over me when I sit in the middle of a gallery and take in the light, color and shadow surrounding me. I’ve learned that I love to roam around a museum by myself with no agenda or time limit, stopping to ponder when something piques my interest, moving on when it doesn’t.

Last summer, my lifelong best friend and I had a girls’ weekend in Asheville, North Carolina, where we spent a whole day meandering through the working galleries of the River Arts District. It was fascinating to stop and chat with artists as they worked, and both of us fell in love with countless styles and mediums. But not long after we were there, flooding caused by Hurricane Helene destroyed 80% of the district. While the loss is hard to fathom, the thing about art is that it doesn’t need a place to survive. It lives in the imaginations of the artists. I’m happy to hear those particular creators are bringing back that wonderful place even in the wake of tragedy.

There is power in art: the power to heal, to move, to protest, to inspire. And we should fill our lives creatively, whether it’s where we go or how we listen to the world. I hope something in this issue inspires you!

— Lisa Player

Do you enjoy Bella? Would you like to share your thoughts? Feel free to reach out to me anytime at lisa@bellamagazine.com.

PUBLISHER / Kelly MacLeod

EDITOR / Lisa Player

ART DIRECTOR / Elizabeth Meyer

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Liz Biggs, Alice Crann Good, Sharla Gorder, Allison McCrory, Chelsea Owens, Cynthia Reeves, Sonshine, Magi Thomley Williams

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Toni Sparks, Kate Treick

(833) 358-4486

staff

Liz Biggs, writer/columnist

Liz Biggs is a Pensacola native and mother of four. Once upon a time, she had a high-pressure career, but now she has a pension and is a freelance writer for Bella Magazine. Liz enjoys music, dancing, tennis and travel and tries to find humor in everything.

Alice Crann Good, writer

Award-winning writer Alice Crann Good spent 20 years with USA TODAY and Pensacola News Journal; accolades include the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award. She was also a state college PR specialist and is author of Betsy the Bookworm children’s book series.

Sharla Gorder, writer/columnist

Sharla Dawn Gorder is a Pensacola Beach resident and columnist for the Island Times newspaper. She is the author of “My Vices Collide; a Celebration of Being a Little Messed Up,” and “Crayon Dawn,” a coffee table book sold in stores throughout the Pensacola area and at her website, crayondawn.com.

Jennifer Harrison, advertising

Jennifer Harrison is a Pensacola native (via the Navy). She is involved in the Pensacola community through IMPACT 100, Pensacola Navy Days, Food Distributions for Representative Salzman, Leadership Pensacola, ECPS Foundation, Achieve Escambia, ECCPTA and more.

Allison McCrory, writer/fashion stylist

Allison McCrory is almost a Pensacola native who has worked in writing and editing since 1984 when she started with The News, an afternoon newspaper that later merged with the morning Journal. The mom of two adult kids, Allison suffers from a tennis addiction, practices yoga and loves to cook.

Elizabeth Meyer, art director

Elizabeth Meyer spent her early career as a designer and design director at newspapers across the country. She is currently an adjunct instructor and director of The McKinley Avenue Agency at Ball State University. Betsy was born in Pensacola while her father was in the U.S. Navy.

Chelsea Owens, writer

Chelsea Owens grew up in Gulf Breeze and received degrees in communications and art from the University of West Florida. She has a lifelong passion for style and art, and over 10 years of social media and marketing experience. She is also a pilates instructor who enjoys both staying busy and relaxing at the beach.

Cynthia Reeves, writer

Long-time writer Cynthia Reeves spent 25 years as a broadcast journalist across the southeast, including 10 years as a news reporter at WEAR-TV in Pensacola. As a high school teacher of journalism, TV production and English, she passed her skills down to young writers. She also served several years as District 1 director for the Florida Scholastic Press Association.

Justine Roper, writer

Justine Roper is a doctor of physical therapy, personal trainer, and speaker from Pensacola. She has written women's health articles for publications like Essence and enjoys all things movement and food. She is the proud owner of InHer Physique Pelvic Floor Therapy & Wellness, where her passion for women’s health truly shines.

Leslie Peck, writer/beauty expert

Leslie Peck is a local aesthetician, makeup artist, lash artist and brow specialist. She has experience in TV, film, print and celebrity makeup in Los Angeles and 11 seasons of NYC Fashion week. Leslie was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal in 2007 for her work at Fashion Week.

Leah Seacrest, writer/fitness expert

Leah Seacrest, a seasoned fitness industry veteran with over 30 years, experience in group fitness and personal training, co-owns REGYMEN Fitness Pensacola and is the SVP of REGYMEN Fitness overseeing operations and franchise growth. She is a mother of three and loves spending time outdoors.

Sonshine, writer

Sonshine is a Northwest Florida media personality, currenting hosting “Sonshine’s Corner” on BLAB TV. She is a business consultant, author, motivational speaker and fitness consultant. Sonshinemoorer@gmail.com.

Toni Sparks, photographer

Toni Sparks is a proud Pensacola native. As the visionary behind Short Story Studios, Toni is dedicated to creating magazine-quality images with elegance and style. Her experiences infuse her photography with a unique perspective that celebrates and elevates every moment.

Kate Treick, photographer

Kate Treick is a professional photographer, writer, speaker and publisher who has called Pensacola home since 2012. She and her husband, Joel, have two teenaged kids and two funny little dogs. Kate loves spending time with friends, leading music at her church, reading and traveling. kate@katetreickphotography.com

Magi Thomley Williams, advertising/writer

Magi Thomley Williams, ACB, ALB is a business and nonprofit consultant, writer, trainer and speaker. Dedicated to improving her community by helping nonprofits build their boards, improve their media presence and attract donor funding, Magi enjoys writing about impactful nonprofits, thriving businesses and the women who lead them. Magi@ThomleyConsulting.com.

Teresa Torres Zwierzchowski, social media

Teresa Zwierzchowski has more than 20 years’ experience in communications, including more than 15 working for the Pensacola News Journal. She is a lover of all things communication including brand, culture, social media as well as community and public relations.

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The Adams, The Aycocks, The Picas, and Jim Vick and Cynthia Arnold | Beulah Family Dentistry and South ern Dental Associates | Jewelers Trade Shop and Pete Moore Chevrolet | Pensacola Kid’s Dentistry an d Sims Orthodontics | Proper Dermatology | Vaughn B rinkley Wealth Management Solutions

Live Auction

The DeBardeleben Foundation

Zarzaur Law | Boland Neurology | Tolan Charitable L ead Trust Fisher Brown Insurance- Jennifer Bone | Clark Partington Escambia County Sheriff’s Office

Skin Care Center and Gulf Coast Plastic Surgery

Lee Tracy and Intracoastal Outfitters

inside this issue

PROFILE

Lou Courtney, artist Page 28

BODY & SOUL What is creativity? Page 46

9 SPEND OR SAVE

OUT & ABOUT AltogetHer Conference Page 54

10 CAUSES: Dixon School of Art and Sciences

14 FASHION: Dress to express

22 COVER: Artful adventures

32 PROFILE: Staci Miron, endless inspiration

38 PROFILE: Mandy Glickman, an artful start and a big finish

42 LOCAL FARE: Pensacola Museum of Art, opening artistic doors to all

48 GNO: Seaglass Beach Cottage

50 LOCAL FARE: Creative journeys

52 WORTH THE TRIP: Utah, the adventure of an uncharted journey

58 OUT & ABOUT: Big Brothers Big Sisters Big Gala

62 OUT & ABOUT: Krewe du YaYa Casablanca Ball

64 HER PERSPECTIVE: The phone in my face

66 HER PERSPECTIVE: Random things that make me happy

the

cover: Model Lexi Tschannen paints a pretty picture in the Briton Court Aria maxi dress from Bluetique. Story on Page 12.

Photo by Kate Treick Photography

BY CHELSEA OWENS / BELLAMAGAZINE.COM / PHOTOS PROVIDED

spendorsave

Max Mara floral-print linen wide-leg pants, $1,345, theoutnet.com

Adelia earrings, $65, sezane.com

Cyndi flats, $225, dolcevita.com

Linen-blend pants, $39.99, hm.com

Stackable geometric beaded drop earrings, $9.99, target.com

Dolce Vita Emmie flat, $50.98, dsw.com

where to shop

H&M: Cordova Mall, 5100 N. Ninth Ave., Pensacola; 855-466-7467; hm.com

Target: Multiple area locations; target.com

DSW: 1650 Airport Blvd., Unit 350, Pensacola; 850-512-1395; dsw.com

causes

Dixon School of Arts and Sciences

Using arts to inspire learning for students in kindergarten through eighth grade

By Sonshine / Photos by Kate Treick Photography

Dixon School of Arts and Sciences is a private, nonprofit school that provides education to students who apply for and receive an income-based scholarship. Dr. Kevin Kovacs, the principal and school director, says that the school is an important alternative to public schools, and he emphasizes the importance of small class sizes, which are capped at 18 students with a goal of 15 to 16 students per class.

The school leverages the arts to teach subjects in a creative environment and incorporates a focus on arts and S.T.E.A.M. education. According to Dr. Kovacs, the school receives grants from organizations such as Impact 100 Pensacola Bay Area, Sunday’s Child and other foundations. They are currently building a natural wonders park and cultural immersion lab, also funded by grants and donations, and they offer Dixon After Hours which is an after-school performing arts program with training in dance, voice and acting.

With a focus on social-emotional learning and mental health, the school is able to ensure students feel safe and confident in their learning. Students also benefit from the school’s partnerships with various organizations, including science and engineering groups, military flight academies and art galleries.

For more information and to learn how to support Dixon School of Arts and Sciences, visit dixonschoolota.org.

DIXON SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES MISSION: Dixon School of Arts and Sciences exists to provide values-based excellence in academic achievement focused on the arts and sciences and to provide creative experiences for its students, their families, and the community.

DIXON AFTER HOURS MISSION: Our Mission is to provide high-quality musical theatre training program for students in Escambia County. Our mission includes nurturing a love of performing arts and providing learning and performing opportunities for students who have been traditionally underserved in the community. To encourage a love of learning and challenge our students to be better global citizens.

Shopping list: Unique is an understatement for this skirt and cropped top set, one of the season’s favorite looks. Never a Wallflower cropped top, $258, and skirt, $258, in desert gemstone hues together create wearable art.

fashion

Dress to EXPRESS

Fashion rubber stamps absolutely everything

By Allison McCrory / Photos by Kate Treick Photography

When it comes to fashion, rigid rules are out, and individuality is in!

“Everyone can express their own style,” said Laura Belsinger, owner of Bluetique in downtown Pensacola. “I feel like the door is wide open.”

Yet, as always, style currents have a pattern, and this spring stripes are big, particularly in coastal blue and white.

Feminine florals and whimsical gingham are also showing up for spring. In contrast, a whole pride of animal prints is surging as Mercury rises.

Brown was huge in fall 2024. Surprisingly, a lighter, more muted shade of brown is one of spring’s favorite neutrals. Look for soft pink, cobalt blue, yellow and vernal green as well.

In the spirit of rule-free fashion, “it’s midi, maxi and short — all of the above,” Belsinger said.

“Skirts are huge again this spring,” she added, saying that sets with high-waisted skirts and crop tops are on trend.

While wide legs have been holding firm for many seasons and are still going strong, Belsinger stands staunchly behind skinny jeans as a timeless polished look that will always hold a place in women’s hearts and closets. Women are also having fun sporting micro and exaggerated barrel jeans.

The casual vibe that descended on fashion during the pandemic isn’t going anywhere.

“There’s a lot of sportswear feel this spring — the sporty sets,” Belsinger said.

In other news, necklaces have gotten chunkier, earrings are statement, totes are oversized (except dainty clutches), flat and peep-toe shoes are spring favorites, and fisherman sandals are making a splash.

Shopping list: Sporty sets are all in this spring and this one elevates it to a new level. Emily McCarty Poppy tank, $128, and skort, $128, in black and sand are comfy and uber classy.

Lexi Tschannen

For Lexi Tschannen, creative expression can manifest in a multitude of ways.

“I find inspiration in capturing the beauty of the Gulf Coast and incorporating that sense of adventure and artistry into my personal style and content creation. Whether it’s exploring a new restaurant, taking photos during golden hour, or finding joy in a walk on the beach, I always feel connected to the creativity and energy of this area,” said the Santa Rosa Beach resident.

While she spent most of her formative years growing up in Auburn, Alabama, Tschannen boldly enrolled at the University of Alabama, graduating with a public relations major with a concentration in digital communication and a minor in digital consumer engagement.

Degree in hand, she moved to the Gulf Coast and now works for a 30A country club while also pursuing modeling. Tschannen was initially scouted by MMG and recently signed with IZON.

“My hobbies include staying active with workouts, spending time on the beach and traveling to new places. I also love experimenting in the kitchen with creative recipes and discovering unique spots in the community,” she said, adding that pickleball, boating and açaí bowls are favorites.

“Living here has been such a blessing, as it combines my love for the beach and the Gulf Coast community with proximity to my dad, who is stationed at the Navy base in Panama City Beach.”

Shopping list: Brown tones, surging in fall fashion, are still strong this spring and showing up in gentler shades. This beige halter mini dress by Amanda Uprichard, $240, features earthy tweed and a fringe hemline.

Shopping list: Think ocean colors and movement! This Briton Court Aria maxi dress in cobalt, $280, is pretty, fluid and versatile.

About the location Artel Gallery

223 Palafox Pl., Pensacola; 850-432-3080; artelgallery.org

Clothes compliments of Bluetique 125 Palafox Pl., Pensacola; 850-432-1264; bluetiquepensacola.com

Hair & makeup compliments of Trends Salon

5018 Grande Dr., Pensacola; 850-477-6911; TrendsSalonPensacola.org

Hair: Briquell Chapron Makeup: Tanya Lauman

Model compliments of Izon Models & Talent LLC

301 N. Barcelona St., Suite E, Pensacola; 850-433-2099; izonmodels.com

Shopping list: Get lost in this abstract Finley Sydney crop top, $220. AG Saige wide leg crop jeans in pristine white, $225, complete the look.

stylingthe shoot

Where to shop: Bluetique

OnCept Montreal sneaker, $300

WanderFull black vegan leather hydrobag, $69

Cordani Pollie granito wedge, $225

Photography: Kate Treick / Fashion styling: Allison McCrory

enewton classic gold pearl cuff, $68

Spartina Blooming Gem earrings, $48

Sunburst statement studs, $34

CV Designs crystal flower drop earrings, $78 Pewter straw clutch, $36

Toran bracelet, $32.95

Spartina Kai cuff, $46

Lapis and malachite drop earrings, $36

Water bottle, $25

BRJ earrings, $26

Spartina Winding Oak cuff, $38

cover story

adventures Artful

WAKE UP YOUR CREATIVE SPIRIT

By Cynthia Reeves / Photos by Kate Treick Photography

There is a creative spirit in all of us waiting to be unleashed, and spring is the perfect time to awaken that animal.

Creativity is an essential force — quintessentially human — that motivates us with a desire and longing to create something. That primal drive cannot be seen or measured, but it is accessible through creative pursuits. For one person it is photography or writing, for another sculpting, painting or dancing.

The Pensacola area is rich with opportunities to exercise that drive to create, move and explore.

EXPLORE CERAMICS

When Christine McArthur retired from many years making dental crowns and bridges, she discovered she could not shake the desire to create, so she found herself behind a pottery wheel at First City Art Center.

“I love to play in the mud and seeing the finished product,” she McArthur loves it so much she has returned to the Friday class for three years. She is currently working on a small bowl. Unlike some of her classmates, she does not sell or show her pieces. They are just for her personal enjoyment. As she shapes and forms the clay in her hands, McArthur stops frequently to greet her classmates, laugh admire someone else’s work. She admits part of the delight of the class is the sense of community and the friendships she has made.

Kara Struck, Christine’s pottery instructor, agrees that creating art in a group is enriching.

Ceramic students at First City Art Center see their creative visions take shape on the potter’s wheel.

“It’s cheaper than therapy. It satisfies,” Struck said. “I also connect with a group of people who are seeking some of the same things.”

Struck has a degree in ceramics and art and design from LSU, but her full time job is as a nurse at Sacred Heart Hospital specializing in neurological issues like strokes and seizures. The three-hour class once a week is a creative outlet for her just like it is for her students. It is where she destresses and makes connections.

Struck starts class announcing, “If you have any specific glaze questions. I’m all yours! Otherwise, just work on whatever you’re doing.”

There is a lot of freedom for personal expression, but she offers demonstrations and specific content as well. Like the other classes at First City, students are at a variety of skills levels.

“Some are brand new; some sell at art markets,” Struck explained. “All you’ve got to be is willing.”

First City Art Center serves 10,000 children and adults each year. There are 250 adults in ceramics classes per week, and executive director Bart Hudson said, “predominately the majority of them are women.”

The age range is 18 to 80-plus.

“We have folks who have never touched clay or a paint brush,” Hudson said, and intermediate level groups who are reconnecting with classes they took in college or high school.

There are classes in everything from Pottery on the Wheel, Sculpture and Glass Making, Intro into Painting and Mixed Media Art Journaling.

Struck encourages all to give it a try.

“Figure out where you fit in. It satisfies something different in everybody.”

EXPLORE DANCE

Nikki Konzelman and her sister, Holly Tolbert, flex their creative muscles on their feet. The siblings take a multi style adult dance class at LaBelle Performing Arts in Pensacola.

“We just did it to embarrass our kids. Now they are our biggest supporters!”

Konzelman grew up dancing; Tolbert is a dance mom who got the itch to dance after watching her children’s enjoyment. On Tuesday nights, they join another group of women who share their love of the movement.

It is joyful to them.

“It is good to move,” Konzelman said. “I need to move my body more. I can’t get on a treadmill. That would be a mistake!”

Kelly Shearn is their instructor. She

TOP: Kelly Shearn leads her adult students through a multi style dance practice.

ABOVE AND RIGHT: Dance students get into a creative groove at LaBelle Performing Arts.

teaches multi dance and tap, but the studio also offers adult ballet classes in addition to dozens of classes for children. Her adult multi class is a mix of musical theatre, tap, lyrical, stretch and conditioning and hip hop. Everyone is welcome.

“We have women straight out of high school and in their fifties,” Shearn said. “We don’t discriminate. If grandma wants to dance; she can come, and she does!”

Some people take the classes all year long; others just drop in for a session or two.

The class Konzelman and Tolbert take is currently preparing for their annual recital by learning an opening scene for a musical theater performance.

“The footwork is right, left, right toe, step...”

Shearn leads the class in an energic and playful scene from the Pitch Perfect Musical. The eight women in class for the Tuesday night session each express their own personal style. Konzelman breaks out in some hip hop moves and jokes around with the other dancers. Her sister is a bit more reserved, but both women thrive in the class.

“The fun is contagious, and the enthusiasm is contagious, and no one cares what you look like,” Shearn said.

She believes everyone should try a dance class at least once, “especially because as adults our first priority is never ourselves. It is 45 minutes of pure joy.”

EXPLORE COLLECTING ART

Other women find pure joy in collecting art or visiting art studios and galleries. If you love fine art, but do not necessarily want to pick up a paintbrush or dance on stage, consider an afternoon at a local art gallery or reaching out to an art dealer.

Gloria Lemmey of Pensacola, the founder of Milkkrate art agency, offers opportunities for women to tour the studio of the painter she is currently representing.

Lemmey has arranged opportunities to visit abstract artist Ryan Mayall’s studio in Pensacola, or to host a small art party at someone’s home. You bring the champagne, and she’ll unveil the art and the artist. These intimate gatherings introduce both collectors and novices to the world of art.

As Struck prepared to lead her pottery wheel class, she reflected on the idea that to explore art and to create does not necessarily take skill. It takes desire. A little passion.

“A lot of people are mistaken that they have to be an artist. You don’t have to be an artist to make art” or to love art.

PELVIC FLOOR PHYSICAL THERAPY

Lou Courtney profile Art creating the artist

By Sharla Gorder

Artist Lou Courtney welcomes me into her home in Old East Hill with a smile and a hug, and I am immediately transported into a fascinating gallery of original art. Every surface in every cozy room is adorned with Courtney’s life’s work, and I am enchanted.

Shelves are arrayed with intricate (and delightfully bizarre) clay sculptures. The fireplace is surrounded by a colorful clay mural. Walls are adorned with original paintings, photographs and playful sculpted animal heads (a flamingo and a rabbit). Ledges and sills are lined with small bronze figures and vases.

It’s hard to believe that all of this started with intuition and kittens.

“The approach to my work is intuitive,” Courtney said. “Each series evolves from ideas that tumble around in my head like unruly kittens.”

Courtney and her kittens have been creating almost since before she can remember. She still has a piece her mother saved — a blue-green swath of color — that was tacked to her bedroom wall, where it hung for seven years. Courtney was eighteen months old when she painted it.

And she has been an artist ever since. Dance, however, was her first love.

“Dance is art moving through us, which I find beautiful,” she said.

Courtney is still involved in dance and other forms of physical movement, taking a variety of ballet and yoga classes and swimming at the downtown YMCA.

Her visual art career began in earnest during those angsty teenage years.

“I started having all those typical adolescent problems and was on restriction most of the time.”

She was cloistered in her room alone (pre-internet) with little more than books and pencils and pens. So Courtney drew and drew and drew, eventually moving from pencil, to pen and ink — those oldfashioned nib pens that you had to dip into an inkwell.

At 14, the young artist was admitted to the highly acclaimed School of the Arts in Winston Salem, for dance.

“But then, for the high school program, I went into the visual arts, studying drafting for theater, set design and costuming,” she said.

From there, various college programs and jobs further expanded her artistic and professional repertoire.

“For seven years, I freelanced for furniture companies, designing and creating prototypes for sculptural furniture,” Courtney said. “In 2002, I began sculpting custom tile installations and sinks, sold all over the Southeast for a decade.”

She has also designed two local public art sculptures and won several awards at the prestigious Greater Gulf Coast Arts Festival and Art in the Park.

Accolades and astonishing talent notwithstanding, Courtney maintains a genuinely warm and humble demeanor and philosophy, crediting her art with making her who she is. And who she is, continually evolves.

“Life is about creating ourselves —

Photos by Kate Treick Photography

we are in a liquid state. Creating art has enabled me to process traumas and relieve self-judgment and move me toward joy, courage, compassion and hope.”

Even when hope is hard to find. Especially then.

Years ago, after having a hysterectomy, Courtney found herself grieving the loss of her womb. She had not had children.

Alone in her studio, she began sculpting. Within a few weeks, a new collection had begun, her Body Part series.

It began with a small pink uterus — complete with ovaries and fallopian tubes that were hollow and could hold water for small plants or flowers to root.

“I wanted to grow something in my uterus,” she said with a smile.

Courtney’s other collections are no less inspirational.

Perhaps best known is her “Cannonball” series, displayed and sold at Blue Morning Galleries, in downtown Pensacola, for years.

These joyful sculptures were inspired by the photographer Phillipe Halsman’s “Jump” series — a collection of photographs of famous people jumping

into the air.

“He observed that their expressions reveal a truer, freer self,” she noted.

Courtney’s Cannonballers are stout sculpted likenesses of ordinary folks in various airborne cannonball poses (before they splash into a pool). They are carefree and charming, Courtney’s counterpoint to the economic and emotional strife of the 2008 recession.

Her “Little Monsters” series, a.k.a. “Familiar Strangers,” came next — a truly fascinating study of our innate human incongruity. These pieces run the gamut from adorable to grotesque, often within the same sculpture.

“This series became about empathy” she says. “People may be beautiful on the outside, but not so beautiful of the inside — or vice versa. It’s about looking beyond the surface of people, to have empathy for others — and for our own inner child.”

And Courtney’s inner child likes to play in the dirt these days.

She begins most days with a cup of coffee and a tour around the big courtyard between her house and studio. She tends to her flowers and fishpond and sets her attitude for the day before she begins her creative work/play.

Her muse du jour, who she has named the Many Faces of Beauty, has Courtney returning to the canvas, where she has begun a bright and lively series of paintings inspired by the flowers in her garden.

What’s next? Courtney said she’s moving toward possible abstractions of the natural beauty she finds in her yard, or if clay calls her back, perhaps she’ll create more of the 7-foot-tall, sculpted totem poles that adorn her courtyard.

But mostly, Courtney is not concerning herself much with what might be next. She is enjoying “being here now,” because here and now is where the art is. It is where the love is.

A favorite quote by artist Mark Chagall inspires Courtney in her work and in her personal life.

“I look only for love,” Chagall said in an interview.

Courtney looks for love too, and she finds it everywhere. She incorporates that love — of nature, of humanity, of her own inner child — into everything she creates.

And she creates everything — or so it seems. Her work is as prolific and multifarious as it is beautiful.

Her kittens are always up to something.

Deanie Sexton Photography

profile

Endless inspiration Staci Miron

“I am not afraid of any challenge. What inspires me as an artist is I can’t do it wrong.”

— Staci Miron, award-winning experimental artist

Walking into award-winning artist Staci Miron’s studio, you are hit with a strong sense of fascination and quickly realize the artist is enabling you to see her personal workspace, her creative approach and results.

This is rare. It’s commonly understood in the art world that artists’ studios are unseen, for the most part.

The mélange of details displayed in Miron’s studio helps paint a picture of her. Numerous easels and canvases, paints of every color, brushes of every size, stacks of past and just-started pieces of art leaning against walls, in corners, and on furniture and the floor come together, introducing you to the complexity of Miron — regaled in Northwest Florida and beyond as an “experimental artist.”

Miron has been a professional artist sine 1989, reaping many awards and doing one-person shows and countless commissions. Her artist creed is “Faces, Spaces, Places.” And her trademark is “helical” piano keys.

She paints in oil, acrylic, watercolor, tempera, mixed medium and collage, and she’s a sculptor. As soon as you think you’ve defined her work and mediums, she’s off doing something she has never tried, so the above list is not all-inclusive.

“I get ideas while I am trying to sleep, so I have paper and pen by the bed,” said Miron, who is currently working on two watercolors, three oils and a 2D sculpture with oils — and a lamp made with a Remo drum.

“I can’t explain it. Inspiration just comes.”

This has been her way for a long time. For instance, the inspiration for two paintings of towns, created years ago and displayed on an easel, came from a calendar given to her by her late grandfather, Giuseppe Pullicino, who immigrated from Malta.

The idea for her hollow bunny sculpture that holds a votive candle on a dresser came from a piece she owns — “Blue Bunny” by Pensacola artist Morris Lee Eaddy, who describes his art as “abstract, realistic, whimsical, and color rich.”

“I can switch in intermedia art at the drop of a hat,” explained Miron, whose work is featured in the 2025 Pensacola Museum of Art’s Members Show and who recently sold a piece to the Saenger Theatre. “I can be at the wheel one minute throwing clay on the same day I am finishing an oil painting.”

Colorful and successful palettes don’t fall far from the tree. Her daughter, Giovanna “Gigi” Miron, 23, is an artist and senior in the art of department at Florida State University. She, too, has art in PMA’s Members Show.

“Giovanna is a well-rounded wood worker, sculptor and

Story

Alice Crann Good / Photos by Kate Treick Photography

designer,” Miron said.

Miron’s other daughter, Giova Miron, 25, is “enjoying” a fellowship at the University of South Alabama in math and computer science. Her thesis is focused on how differential equations and AI work together to develop programming.

“That’s what we want for our kids, for them to be a better, stronger model of ourselves,” said Miron, who has been a single mother for many years.

Prismatic diversity colors Miron’s life.

As a child growing up in West Bloomfield, Michigan, she was a ballerina, age four to eight. Then when she was six years old, she started drawing and copying Charles Schulz Peanuts characters.

“At 8 years old, my dream was to go live with the Schulz family to be his understudy and help him crank out his syndication,” Miron shared, laughing. “My parents vetoed that idea and put me on the ice instead, where I quickly excelled watching others, listening to coaches and enveloping everything in the sport — from proper equipment, nutrition, discipline, determination and cross training.”

Miron spent about five years as a figure skater training at the Olympic training facility, the Detroit Skating Club, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She said it was there that she gained the discipline and confidence to succeed in her art career, thanks to mentor Chey Cook, a figure skating instructor and artist.

Cook’s love of teaching and mentoring also rubbed off onto to her student.

Today, Miron is an active art teacher who enjoys instructing the elderly. She

teaches classes at several assistedliving/senior-living/retirement communities including The Blake of Pensacola, Homestead Village Pensacola, Arcadia Health and Rehabilitation Center in Pensacola, and Grandview Retirement Center. She also offers free instruction for several nonprofits and ministries and provides classes presented by area businesses.

And she offers private one-on-one and group art classes for all ages.

“I teach to impart the love of art, technique, color theory, composition, texture, etc.,” Miron said. “I enjoy watching, waiting and helping to develop each painting with individuals as they gain a sense of emotional release, accomplishment and sometimes even pride as they make several decisions within the class.”

If classes aren’t your thing, you can purchase Miron’s art by contacting her via Facebook and Instagram or from various Pensacola businesses including Just Judy’s Flowers, Local Art & Gifts, Sweet T’s Designer Consignment Closet and Antique Boutique, and Alla Prima Coffee Roaster.

In addition to her many art endeavors, amazingly, Miron found yet another way to keep juggling all of the balls in her life.

To buttress her finances and assist others, she started a business in 2009, SonShine Companion Care, LLC. The business offers a broad range of services for the elderly including conversation and companionship, rides to doctor appointments, outings, cleaning and household chores, delivery and more. You can learn more at sonshinecompanioncare. com.

She also turned her home into an Airbnb.

“The ultimate goal is to showcase how each facet of my life adds value to people in front of me,” Miron said. “My goals this year are to paint Pensacola, Pensacola Beach and montage collages of people’s lives, memories, families and trips. And to assist the elderly.”

And Miron said she will always maintain her memberships with Olive Baptist Church and the National League of American Pen Women.

She realizes it’s a long list of things she’s got going on.

“When people ask me, ‘What don’t you do?’” she explained, “I reply, ‘I don’t eat cauliflower.’” Say goodbye to

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MANDY GLICKMAN

AN ARTFUL

START AND A BIG FINISH

By Liz Biggs / Photos by Kate Treick Photography

For more information about

or email bigfinish@cox.net.

Mandy Glickman’s business, visit Big Finish LLC on Facebook and Instagram

Her artwork is now showing at Haus of Hue, 1320 N. Ninth Ave., Pensacola.

Inspired by her grandmother, who was an interior designer for several Hollywood stars including Carol Lombard and Loretta Young, Mandy Glickman knew she wanted to be involved in the art and design world at a young age. Her grandparents lived in Los Angeles from the early ’30s to the ’50s where her grandfather, Chet Lauck Sr., portrayed Lum of the “Lum and Abner” comedy radio show.

After they moved to Hot Springs, Glickman loved visiting and admiring the fabrics and beautiful objects at her grandmother’s interior design business. Hoping to follow in her footsteps, she majored in interior design and art history at Florida State University.

After graduation, Glickman spent her first summer back in her hometown of Pensacola under the artistic wing of Jody Bond, assisting with jobs all over the Gulf Coast. In New Orleans, she was introduced to master finisher Joel Dyer, continuing to assist him on projects as recently as two years ago.

Glickman continued her interior design career in Atlanta working for Brunshwig and Fils showroom in Atlanta Decorative Arts Center and later for Marcia Davis and Associates, designer of the NY Marriott Financial District as well as the Norfolk Marriott and Convention Center.

“I loved my three years or so there, but it was the late ’80s and early ’90s, and I didn’t love the corporate world or having to wear pantyhose, so I moved back to Pensacola and thought I’d try something different,” Glickman said. “I longed to have my own business but didn’t know what or where.”

Glickman and a childhood friend created C&M Central Market located on 12th Avenue in East Hill where Ozone Pizza is now located. They had a wonderful deli — selling rotisserie chickens, gourmet items, beer and wine.

“One of my best memories is painting the wine room mural — sky and limestone to mimic the exterior of the building,” Glickman said.

When the deli days came to an end in the late ’90s, Glickman decided to focus on her calling of being a decorative painter. She took faux finishing workshops in New York and added to her portfolio in order to build her decorative business. Working as an assistant to Pensacola designer Jim Goldman, Glickman met her future husband, artist/actor/musician Jeff Glickman, when he was in town with a crew from Eli Wilner & Co. from New York City.

Living in New York City, Glickman was a faux finisher for Sirmo’s Lighting, worked for John Derian in his studio and retail space, and worked with Elizabeth Dow, who decorated the White House for Obama.

“Jeff and I moved back to Pensacola in 2004 and incorporated Big Finish LLC in 2005,” Glickman said. “We specialize in plaster kitchen hoods and fireplaces, color matching, custom stains, woodgraining and marbling, metal leafing, gilding, decorative finishes for walls, furniture and pretty much everything else that involves paint.”

They also partner with local artist Cindy Mathis for interior mural work.

She loves being part of the interior design world.

“I love being a part of their master plan — whether it is a large focal wall, beautiful gem of a powder room or kitchen hood, or just tweaking the color of the drapery hardware to elevate their design,” Glickman said.

Her advice to anyone wanting to be creative is to keep learning.

“I hope to take more workshops this year because there is so much I don’t know. They are a fun way to meet other creatives and you can learn from other people,” Glickman said. “Try a small project at home. Whether it’s a powder room or a piece of furniture that has potential — it’s just paint!”

From childhood dreams of following her grandmother into the world of interior design, to being most fulfilled when painting, Glickman feels fortunate that her two passions came together. “It certainly didn’t happen overnight, nor was it a direct path,” Glickman said. “But I am truly blessed to be able to do what I love, with my love, in the town I love.”

FRIDAY LUNCH

EVERY FRIDAY FROM 11:00 AM TO 2:00 PM

Honey brÛlée Velvet icE Honey brÛlée Shaken espresso

To learn more about the PMA’s many offerings and about its fascinating historic home on South Jefferson Street, visit its website, pensacolamuseum.org.

local fare Pensacola Museum of Art

Opening artistic doors to all

By Alice Crann Good /

It’s a standard week for hundreds of excited children to scurry through the Pensacola Museum of Art’s front doors and be greeted by Caitlin Rhea for a tour.

“Yes, it’s pretty typical for me to see 100 kids before lunchtime,” said Rhea, curator of education and public programs. “As soon as one school leaves, another school comes in, but I am very happy to give tours and love what I do.”

Rhea meets all of these potential art enthusiasts via PMA’s partnership with 43 K-12 schools within the Escambia County School District.

And with more than 700 pieces of art upstairs and a variety of exhibits/shows, a PMA tour is memorable.

In artful fashion, the youth tours are a valuable lesson during which Rhea and docents share museum rules and etiquette before a tour starts, present an introduction to the museum and its history, introduce each space of the museum and what galleries feature, offer a behind-the-scenes perspective to learn how a show/gallery is set up and bring the children together at the tour’s end to talk and ask questions.

A certainty: Rhea’s tour time is never boring.

“Kids are often fascinated by the history of the building and that it used to be a jail and ask questions:

‘If this building used to be a jail, are there ghosts that live here now?’

‘Is this museum haunted?’

‘Where are all the jail cells?’”

There is one question Rhea said she receives often from adults during group tours which is in regard to a rumor about a system of tunnels under the museum that connects various buildings.

“As far as we know, there are no such tunnels,” she said.

And, no, the museum is not haunted, Rhea stated with a dose of laughter.

It’s clear within a few moments that Rhea is at the heart of the museum’s activities in her role of designing, developing and implementing educational and public programs.

And when you look at the PMA’s mission, it makes sense. A part of the University of West Florida Historic Trust since 2016,

Photos by Kate Treick Photography

the PMA promotes itself as a museum that’s more than a museum, serving “as an inclusive space for discovery and dialogue rooted in art, ideas and culture” for children and adults.

It lives up to its mission by offering a vast artistic menu of opportunities, everything from tours, classes, teen/ adult workshops, public programs, special events/receptions, permanent and rotating art exhibits, local/regional/ national shows and more — such as the free Art Academy for Autism designed for children and young adults.

“We want everyone who walks in to have a creative experience,” Rhea said. “We want to help people slow down and contemplate what they are getting. We encourage children to look closely at art; we promote creativity and critical thinking.

“I am all about activating the exhibits, bringing the community in. I also design most of our workshops for teenagers and adults, about six per year. A lot of our core programs are for kids, but I want to make sure that we are reaching every demographic.”

Community is key, across the board, Rhea stressed.

“I am motivated to create engaging programs that activate hands-on, visual-arts learning, stimulating imaginative thinking for all ages. I am passionate about community outreach that effectively advocates for all ages and abilities, promoting accessible creative spaces.”

— Caitlin Rhea, curator of education and public programs at the Pensacola Museum of Art/UWF Historic Trust

Two annual “staple” shows the community strongly supports, said Rhea, are the Youth Art Focus Show (ended in February) and the juried exhibition Members Show (running through June 1).

Overall, PMA strives diligently to be far-reaching, with the curatorial team planning two to three years in advance, Rhea said.

Although she wears many hats, Rhea works alongside a team, including Nicholas Croghan, director; Jaime

Diffee, preparator and curatorial coordinator; Richard Rodriguez, exhibition designer; Amy Eve, business manager; Robin Zimmern, development director; art teachers, chaperones, docents, interns and the PMA Board of Directors and Guild.

An accomplished artist herself, Rhea has been surrounding herself with art and artists for years. Prior to her three years with the PMA, she was an adjunct instructor at Pensacola State College/ Visual Arts, and the executive director of First City Art. She is an adjunct professor at the University of West Florida and teaches art appreciation online. And she is married to artist Jimmy Rhea, assistant professor of art/ sculpture/3D design at Pensacola State College.

And Rhea’s mission hasn’t changed along the way.

“I am motivated to create engaging programs that activate hands-on, visualarts learning, stimulating imaginative thinking for all ages,” Rhea said. “I am passionate about community outreach that effectively advocates for all ages and abilities, promoting accessible creative spaces.”

Where

PMA EDUCATIONAL CHOICES

The Pensacola Museum of Art offers many learning opportunities for youth, some free, some with a fee. It also offers workshops for teens and adults. Here’s a sampling of ongoing classes for kids.

FREE

• Preschool Art & Story Time (Age 2-5)

• Art Academy for Autism (Age 5-16+)

FOR A FEE

• Mini Makers (Age 4-6)

• Afterschool Art (Age 2-6, scholarships available)

• Next Generation Homeschool (Age 7-10)

For more information and details about classes for children and upcoming teen/adult workshops, visit pensacolamuseum.org. The website is chockfull of info.

body & soul

What is Creativity?

Elusive concept means something different to three local creatives

By Allison McCrory / Photos by Kate Treick Photography

Flexible thinking. Openness to new ideas. Following a passion. Making new connections.

All the above could define creativity, a popular buzzword in the 21st Century, when unorthodox paths to success are often replacing traditional models. (Think influencers!)

To be clear, creativity is not limited to visual art.

been taught that we aren’t. We have fears that get in our way constantly,” Jipson said.

Mimicking, rote learning, staying in the box, so to speak, are often applauded while new ideas may be ridiculed, often by the least creative critics.

“A lot of people think creativity is drawing,” said UWF art professor and creativity researcher Jim Jipson, who has instructed engineering and business students in methods of tapping into creativity. “I think it’s looking at things a little differently than most everyone else does.”

Jipson believes plumbers and chefs are two highly creative jobs. Starting a new business is a creative venture. Constructing a good life with limited resources requires abundant creativity.

“I can teach technique easily. Thinking is the hard part,” Jipson said.

PUSHING PAST FEAR

“I personally believe that everyone is creative, but we’ve

Fear of an insult or rejection or a failing grade can be debilitating — but those things might just be an impetus for change for the better. So Jipson’s advice is to shed the fear — creativity’s worst enemy.

All this resonates with Pensacola graphic designer Katie Cooper-Bussell.

“As a child, I loved to draw and I loved art class in elementary school. Admittedly, though, I was very self conscious about my abilities until I was much older. I also excelled at science and math, so I never really considered myself an ‘artist,’” said Cooper-Bussell.

Eventually she found her way back to her first love, changing her science major to fine arts. In 2013, she merged her technical and artistic skills to launch Lemon Life Design, a branding and design company focusing on local businesses and non-profits.

Katie Cooper-Bussell

“I LITERALLY CAN DIE NOW”

“I think a lot of people don’t allow themselves to be creative. Start with a spark,” said Pensacola author Kristen Alger.

For Alger, the spark that ignited her life’s creative work happened 30 years ago when she discovered a bundle of letters in her husband’s grandparents’ Green Bay, Wisconsin, home.

That discovery led to three decades of digging into the story of a Belgian Catholic young man as he traversed Europe with two friends via train, bike and foot. All the while he corresponded by letters with his forbidden love, a Protestant Virginia teacher.

Researching and creating “Three Innocents Abroad” was Alger’s life work despite raising a family, teaching school and publishing a book of short stories.

“I literally can die now,” joked Alger, who describes the book as her “life love.” It will launch on Oct. 24, 100 years after her grandfather-in-law set sail for Europe.

UNEXPECTED CONNECTIONS

Creativity sometimes surfaces as connecting two ideas into one. For example, Uber merged job seekers with cars with carless

ride seekers.

Pensacola author and master gardener Terry Henry discovered her 102-year-old mother’s lifelong passion for gardening was a metaphor for growing much more than plants. It was her refuge in difficult times as well as her canvas for creating art that still attracts a host of admirers. Faith in a beautiful garden and the diligence to make it happen inspired Henry to create a book full of gardening advice and metaphors. (Publication date is yet to come.)

As a master gardener, “I can give people gardening tips, but they relate back to relationships and what makes us strong,” said Henry.

As the daughter of an active, independent centenarian (plus two), Henry has a passion for inspiring others to embrace the opportunity for creativity in the later stages of life when time is often more abundant.

“Part of my life vision is to learn and to teach. But also to let people know as we are getting into this stage of our lives that there are adventures ahead. There are things to learn!”

Kristen Alger Terry Henry

SEAGLASS BEACH COTTAGE

• Where: 3755-D Gulf Breeze Pkwy., Gulf Breeze

• When: 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday through Saturday

• Cost: Art class prices range from $50 to $75 per artist

• Info: 850-733-9861; seaglassbeachcottage.com; Facebook/ SeaGlass Beach Cottage

RIGHT: Michelle Noa and Holly Games, Seaglass Beach Cottage owners, make the perfect art-bar tenders.

girls night out

IT’S A PARTY! Seaglass Beach Cottage

By Sharla Gorder / Photos by Kate Treick Photography

It’s a party, and you’re invited! Come hang out at the bar with us — no, not that kind of bar — this kind: the Seaglass Beach Cottage Art Bar in Gulf Breeze. It’s a neighborhood “bar” like no other.

A dozen of Bella’s best gathered for some girl time at the shop recently to make some memories — and some art. We closed the place down, and not one of us woke up the next day with a hangover.

Our “bartenders,” Michelle Noa and Holly Games, artists and co-owners of Seaglass Beach Cottage, greeted us like family. Sam, the resident pooch, kept us all safe. I served appetizers and mocktails and we all enjoyed catching up and browsing the fabulous finds in the shop, while our hosts prepped our project for us.

We bellied up to the bar and found all our art supplies neatly organized around a 12 by 12 wooden “canvas.” Everyone had their own supply of tumbled and fired glass shards, various sticks and stems, and dozens of intricate butterfly decals. There were also piles of seashells and driftwood, scraps of braided rope and fishing nets and tiny sea-life trinkets: turtles and rays and jellyfish and octopuses. And of course, there were paints and glitter and even Pensacola Beach sand.

For the next two hours, we laughed and learned. We chatted and created. And we all produced our own original and unique glass and resin works of art. Many of us worked around a common theme — wildflowers and butterflies — while others took a totally free-form approach. But every single one of us created a masterpiece to take home and be proud of.

Seaglass Beach Cottage, while specializing in these unique art classes, is first and foremost a coastal art gallery and gift shop.

“When we first opened, we featured 30 local artists,” Noa said. “We are always on the lookout for unique art and gifts.”

Among their best sellers are a line of insulated stainless tumblers, beautifully crafted with resin and Pensacola Beach sand. Their beach photography by Jeff Waldorff also does extremely well. And Barry Flood’s cypress carvings of mermaids, pelicans and other sea creatures are very popular.

“Tourists want something original to take home to remember their visit. A shot glass from a big T-shirt shop just doesn’t cut it,” Noa said.

And the locals want something special too — a place to go to be inspired.

“We have always wanted to be an inspiring place,” Games

said. “We have laughed, cried and prayed with people. We enjoy forming relationships as we meet people who visit the store. We want people to feel comfortable here.”

And they do.

“When we first opened,” Games said, “we had a guy come in to see Sam, our resident laid-back lab. Next thing we know, this guy is lying on the floor at the front of the store with the dog.”

Seaglass Beach Cottage is a warm and welcoming place, owing largely to the rapport of its owners. Noa and Games are not just business partners; they are best friends. They met in high school more than 30 years ago and have remained close ever since. When they decided to go into business together in 2016, it was not without caution.

“Before we opened Seaglass, many people advised us not to go into business together, as friendships rarely survive business partnerships,” Noa explained. “However, Holly and I have always had a very open and honest friendship, and we vowed that nothing would ever take precedence over our relationship.”

They work well together — like the left and right sides of a brilliant brain. While they are both artists, Games draws from of lifetime of retail experience to keep things running smoothly at Seaglass. Her first business was a lucrative lemonade stand when she was eight.

Of course, the challenges of running a business have changed a bit since then. COVID threw a monkey wrench into everyone’s business plans. But for Noa and Games, it also inspired a unique opportunity.

“When COVID hit, and the bridge shut down, and people weren’t shopping, we had to roll with the punches,” Games said. “We had to figure out how to stay afloat. Our art classes drew people back together. And they just keep coming back. We have had people take more than a dozen classes here at our Art Bar.”

In addition to the glass and resin art classes, Noa and Games host all kinds of painting classes and are excited to introduce a new series of children’s art classes this spring and summer.

“We want to offer kids some art experiences that they don’t typically get in school. We have some great ideas.”

Yes, they do. And a “bar” that you can frequent with your friends and create art has got to be among their best. While their weekly classes are always innovative and fun, they also host walk-in art project days on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Or you can just stop by and browse. Chat with Games about your kids. Share a recipe with Noa. Lie on the floor with Sam. It’s all good.

They’ll meet you at the bar.

This month we asked Bella readers to share a favorite artful adventure they have undertaken. Painting the skyline in a fun city? An exotic cooking class? Sharing an art class with friends? Something else? Read about their artful adventures and share yours with us at Facebook/pensacolabella or Instagram/pensacolabella.

local fare

Creative JOURNEYS

Pensacola Retreat Center has allowed me to participate in a local getaway with fellow sewists. Crafty Glo is an awesome host and ensures you have all you need when taking time for yourself. No matter what your craft interest, this place has it all to allow you and friends to be creative.

— KaSandra Lee, owner, Kassie’s Kraft Werkes

My favorite artful thing to do is to walk on the beach and pick up shells and to take pictures of sunset or sunrise at the beach. I have jars of shells all over my house with all kinds of shells from every beach that I’ve been to. Some shells are perfect, some are broken; just like life, it doesn’t have to perfect. We can find beauty in all shells.

— Kim Hajek, home loan advisor, branch manager, Hajek Home Loans

My favorite artful adventure is right in my own backyard here in Pensacola, at the Pensacola Retreat Center. I am a quilter, and every time I walk into this space, I am excited to sew my heart out, get advice from other retreaters and feel like I am part of a community. I attend the open sew retreat weekends where anyone can come with any project and create!

— Stephanie Benson, Piperbird Studios

One of my favorite adventures is New Orleans. I love the culture, the music, the architecture of the buildings and the history of the city. There are so many tours to do around the city and surrounding area. I also love walking around Jackson Square, enjoying the street performers and browsing the wares of the local artists creating sculptures, paintings and pencil drawings. New Orleans has a piece of artful adventure for my soul.

It is my home away from home.

—

Angela Burden, Escrow Officer, First International Title

Food is my favorite form of art, where every ingredient tells a story. And my perfect artful adventure combines my love of food with my zest for travel. Through immersive experiences with local chefs, I’ve learned the stories, cultures and passions of the people and places I’ve visited.

In Tuscany with Chef Veronica, I recreated Nonna Olga’s cantucci with almonds and vin santo as Chef painted stories of her Italian heritage. In Ireland, Chef John’s bacon and cabbage sliotars blended Irish food history with ancient Gaelic sport. And in Charleston, Chef Forrest introduced me to near-extinct heirloom crops that are transforming both food and spirits across the South. These experiences remind me that food is life’s most delicious adventure. Mangia and enjoy every bite!

— Charlotte Bergman, TierOne Media

—

Compiled by Magi Thomley Williams; Illustration by Getty Images

UTAH

The adventure of an uncharted journey

By Magi Thomley Williams / Photos by Jackson Williams

Unplanned travel is one of the adrenaline rushes my husband, Jackson, and I share. Adventures without set agendas or reservations (except flights) are great fun for us. Recently we decided on such a trip to Utah. Friends told us we needed to get a reservation, or we’d never get into the most popular national parks. We didn’t listen, and had no problems being admitted to any of the parks.

Maybe it’s my husband’s winning smile. And traveling without a hotel reservation? Who does that? We do!

We have found that spontaneous travel offers both challenges and freedom. Our flight landed in Salt Lake City where low-hanging clouds made the territorial views less than picturesque. And Temple Square, which some would say is a must see, was closed for construction. But the Natural History Museum of Utah, with exhibits of millions of years of human, animal and geologic evolution, engaged us for hours.

Utah is decidedly steak and potatoes territory. Elk steak, bison steak, beef steak and BBQ ribs. Breakfast potatoes, potatoes with gravy, sweet potato fries, beer-battered fries. When we asked the hostess at a Salt Lake City Italian restaurant for a recommendation, rather than share her pasta favorite, she advised us to order the house steak salad. She was right — the steak was deliciously smoky and tender.

As we headed for Provo, the first winter snowstorm set in, surprising even the locals, so we diverted to a tiny town called Beaver. We snagged the last room available at a hotel where the desk clerk suggested we visit a locally owned eatery for dinner and even gave us a discount card. Crazy Cow Café was fun, boasting a mention in a Stephen King novel. The ribs and mashed potatoes were hearty and tasty. We were delayed in Beaver until the snow thawed midday on our second day, so we grabbed photos of local landmarks covered in snow. Places that will never appear in a travel guide. The peaceful snow-covered valley surrounded by white-capped mountains was a delightful surprise.

A marketing campaign for the Mighty Five

National Parks drives most visitors to the five parks and little else. Our favorite stop wasn’t a National Park, but a State Park recommended by the maintenance guy at our Moab lodge. Dead Horse Point State Park delivered better panoramic views than any of the National Parks we visited. Dead Horse Point offers up an interesting if haunting legend. As the story goes, the point was used to corral wild mustangs by cowboys who would choose the horses they wanted and leave the remainder fenced in on the mesa to die from thirst in view of the Colorado River flowing 2000 feet below.

Moab is the quintessential tourist village; a downtown filled with boutiques, local art, coffee shops and restaurants. There, snow and rain drove us inside for fireside beverages at our lodge instead of hiking at Bryce Canyon National Park. I didn’t whine one bit about that!

Approximately 70% of the land in Utah is designated as national parks by the federal government; topography of unique color pallets and sculpted rock designed by water, ice, extreme temperatures and time.

While we took drives, walked and hiked through breathtaking landscapes, we were disappointed at the number of visitors rushing out of their vehicles, posing for selfies, and scurrying to the next photo destination. They didn’t take time to celebrate the balanced rocks, spires, arches and hoodoos as sunlight played on the ancient and evolving terrain.

Immersed in over a million acres of silence and scale created over 65 million years, inhabited by native people 10,000 years ago, I felt like a speck in time and space. Over a span of maybe 80 years on earth, what mark will I leave, I wondered?

Life is a bit like this road trip, with unexpected detours and unplanned events, and far too short. I was reminded to take a moment to savor the present; to embrace the unexpected adventure of an uncharted journey.

A road trip through rugged Utah parks offers abundant picturesque opportunities for exploration, contemplation, hikes and selfies.

out&about

AlltogetHer Conference

The Greater Pensacola Chamber’s AlltogetHer conference on Thursday, Jan. 30, at Echo Life Church provided a day of inspiration, empowerment and community. This third annual event featured keynote speaker Polly Payne, the Founder & CEO of Horacio Printing LLC, alongside seven accomplished InfluenceHers. Hosted by Carol Carlan, the event provided attendees with an unforgettable chance for personal and professional growth.

Photos by Kate Treick Photography

The ambassadors and volunteers from the Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce worked together with this year’s InfluenceHERs to provide an unforgettable day for all of the participants at the 2025 AlltogetHer conference.

Chamber Ambassadors Patti Mohan, Jamie LaPointe, Fran Crumpton, Whitney Brickner, Charlotte Bergman

Renee Walter, Sam Mertins, Savannah Connell, Esther Keener, Shannon Addison

Katie Musick, Ashley Ranow

Olevia McNally, Rachael Gillette, Ashlee Hofberger

Kierra Potts, Patricia Gandolofo

RIGHT: Briana Wigley, Ashley Saba, Leslie Moland, Leslie Ward, Selena Emerson

BOTTOM RIGHT: Crystal Duncan, Donna Bryant, Vicki Walborn, Susan Schoen, Valerie Boyd

BELOW: Gabi Thomas, Alyssa Gryb, Lauren Flores, Amanda Holtzhower

ABOVE: Barbara MacNeil, Whitney Lucas

TOP LEFT: Kristen Bryant, Marcy Matthews-Bethea, Ingrid Davis.

BOTTOM LEFT: Connie Hansler, Amanda Wood, Casey Brueski, Sydney Allen, Benjamin Petrose

out&about

Big Brothers Big Sisters Big Gala

This year’s Big Brothers Big Sisters Big Gala on February 8 was an incredible evening filled with great food, exciting auctions and meaningful fundraising. But the most touching part of the night? Hearing firsthand how this program has changed the lives of the brothers and sisters who are part of it.

Photos by Toni Sparks / Short Story Studios

Jeff Wayne Pastucha, Diana Quigley, Mary Hoxeng, Heidi Huerta, Sandy Zern, Brent Lane, Chris Claire, Jessica Siderio, Meg Peltier, Angela Lane

Glenn & Kim Aderholdt, Jennifer & Brandon McFarren

Prakey & Liz Aghamkar, Sara & John Davy, Tammy Chaney West, Rene West

Frederick Longmire, Jessica Howie

Jesse & Theresa Goodyear

Townley Crowe, Martha Holden

RIGHT: Chrissy Darling, Maddie Vo, Jimmy Cox, Meghan Darling

BOTTOM RIGHT: Madison Leonard, Meri Asmar, Lauren Hughes, Sally Bergosh

BELOW: Paula Shell, Cristina Williams

ABOVE: Lauren McQuigg , Hannah Stella

TOP LEFT: Adam Scott, Shannon Scott, Krista McGreevy, James McGreevy, Kayla Wilson, David Wilson

BOTTOM LEFT: RJ Allen, Stacy Robello, Melanie Allen, Kaipo Robello

out&about

Krewe du YaYa Casablanca Ball

Photos by Toni Sparks / Short Story Studios

Susan Durham, Jeanne Killingsworth, Theresa Morehouse, Holly Pitts, Jennifer Morris, Jamie Rogers

Since 2002, the Krewe du YaYa has been one of the top fundraising organizations for breast cancer in the Pensacola area. The 2025 Krewe du YaYa Casablanca Ball on Feb. 1 was a formal night of fun, food, dancing and fundraising with music provided by Horseshoe Kitty.

Stephanie Turso, Olivia Fisher, Caitlyn Horne, Wendi Summers, Stephen Glover

Kirk Babcock, Darlene Babcock, Kimberley Bonner, Kathy Sherwin, Whitney Whitman, Stewart Whitman

Anna Lacy

Melody Rodriguez, Brittany Zazueta

Nekola Harrison, Jayne Senkbeil, Cherie Carvalis

Stephanie & Roger Hillis

Sandy Erik, Brenda Zetelski

By Sharla Gorder

This Artist’s Way her perspective

I’m a slow reader. Always have been.

So, really, it shouldn’t surprise me that it took me a while to finish the book — but 21 years? That’s a record, even for me. I started Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” on February 16, 1993. The date is written right there on the inside cover. I finished it on January 12, 2014.

And then I wrote two books.

Well, it was a little more nuanced than that, but I do credit Cameron — and her 12-week (or 1,092week) course on recovering your inner artist — with kickstarting a creative process for me that has now become a way of life.

“The Artist’s Way: a Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity,” has, to date, sold more than five million copies and been translated into 40 languages. It made a huge resurgence during the pandemic and continues to fly off the shelves today. Creatives of every ilk — musicians, writers, painters, sculptors, actors, architects, chefs, blogger, podcasters … you name it — have embraced the book over the decades. Writer Elizabeth Gilbert stated there would be no “Eat, Pray, Love” without “The Artist’s Way.” Music producer Rick Rubin credits Cameron with inspiring him to write his own stellar book on living the creative life — “The Creative Act: A Way of Being.”

your inner artist.” They must be done solo, and without distractions. These “stocking the pond” activities are intended to keep one’s creative reservoir fresh and flowing and teeming with ideas. My most recent book is a direct result — a direct report, actually — of the insights gleaned during my daily playdates with my muse on the beach in front of my house.

Each of the twelve chapters in “The Artist’s Way” is focused on recovering a different aspect of your own creative legacy, the premise being that we were all born artists. Cameron quotes Picasso: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

Cameron offers literally hundreds of ideas about how to solve this problem. I read back over the passages I highlighted and comments I made in the margins of the book and am astounded by the promises fulfilled and the enduring wisdom imparted in its pages.

“Creativity lives in paradox. Serious art is born from serious play.”

“The grace to be a beginner is always the best prayer for an artist.”

And my personal favorite, “You will learn to enjoy the process of being of being a creative channel.”

I too credit Cameron’s book with giving me the courage and the resolve to put my own work out there. It didn’t happen in 1993 — it wasn’t time yet — but the stage was being set with those first “morning pages,” that first “artist date.”

These two foundational practices of the 12-week course, in various iterations, still abide with me. The morning pages, three pages of longhand, stream-of-consciousness writing done first thing upon awakening are intended to “get us to the other side: the other side of our fear, of our negativity, of our moods.” This always feels like clearing the clutter for me, like tidying the kitchen before preparing a delicious meal.

The artist dates are blocks of time, “especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness,

This is what Cameron hints at with the title of the book. It isn’t “The Artist’s To-do List,” or “The Artist’s Instruction Manual.” It is “The Artist’s Way,” a path, a mindset, a state of being, a natural manner of moving through the world with openness and curiosity. Yes, like a child.

When I was little, playing was my raison d’etre. But eventually the responsibilities of adulthood supplanted all that fun, and I told myself that I didn’t have time for such frivolity. Everything I did was a means to some practical end.

Then my inner artist began to squirm; she’s five. “Play with me,” she begged. Let’s go to the beach. Let’s color. Let’s tell stories.”

We did. We do. It’s just our way.

By Liz Biggs

The Creative Type her perspective

Forget Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be …”, my question to the universe is whether ‘tis nobler to wander and ponder or to get stuff done.

The Type A people in my life love to show tangible results for their efforts and scoff at those who don’t have anything to show for themselves at the end of the day. But if you are a Type B like me, you get stuff done mostly in your head. Sometimes, your aspirations and accomplishments aren’t necessarily valued nor tangible. Creative thinking, musing, reading, writing, pondering, thirsting for knowledge … don’t get the groceries bought or dinner cooked. And they definitely don’t clean out the closets.

According to Dr. Google, one of the top traits of a Type B personality is procrastination — having a lack of sense of urgency to complete tasks. Which may explain why I have had a month to write this column but have waited until the due date to face the dreaded blank page. This drives my husband crazy; he would complete it on day one. Me, I haven’t even thought about it. There are just too many other things to think about. Like fun facts about jellyfish — did you know that these brainless, heartless, boneless creatures are capable of immortality? There is a species that can play its lifecycle in reverse, transforming from an adult medusa back to an immature polyp. Also, Frank Zappa is the namesake of one species of jelly, Phialella zappai. It is important that I know these things. Sometimes I will start a time-consuming chore or project and can focus for a little while. But then a miserable feeling overtakes me — like I’m an animal in a cage. So, I will impulsively go outside and walk for miles, taking pictures of anything interesting or beautiful. My mama always called it “getting your ya-yas out.” I must have a lot of ya-yas to get out. And, if I haven’t spoken or connected to another human

being, after about an hour I have no choice. I must talk to someone — a stranger on the street, a text to a friend. If only the stuff in the closet or drawer could talk to me, I might be more inclined to continue with the chore.

Years ago, I read the book “Quiet” by Susan Cain because one of my four children is an introvert, and I needed an instruction manual. Introverts are like aliens to me; they need solitude to recharge their battery after a party or gathering. I’m the opposite — solitude drains my battery — it is exhausting. I must interact with humans for energy and survival.

A perfect day for me is to wander and ponder. Daydream and write. Piddle and fiddle. Dilly-dally. Notice things. Read and Google stuff that I want to learn about. Randomly text my friends and family. And not be scolded for my lack of tangible results. (Of course, there are many imperfect days when I have to do all the un-fun things like taxes, work, pay bills, clean up and meet deadlines.)

The scoffing sometimes makes me wish I could be someone else. Someone less chatty and creative and more productive and organized. But I can’t. I can only be me. Not Type A. Maybe not even Type B. Just a somewhat productive Type C. (Is there a Type C? I must Google that. If there is, does it stand for curious or creative?) If there is a Type C, I bet their closets and drawers are very messy, but they work hard every day to make the world a better place. I bet they love to connect with people and make them smile. I bet they try to make this mundane world more fun and livable. Maybe they don’t have much to show for themselves at the end of the day, but they’ve worked really hard at raising kind-hearted children. Maybe they are full of flaws, but they spend their days searching for beauty in this world and sharing it with others.