Wednesday, May 17, 2006 

Wednesday May 17^th, Carol, owner and operator of the New Moon  hosted a night of Wine and Art featuring two local artists:  Karen Friedman and Debbie Forsmith, as well as over $300 worth of wine.   

Featured Artist Karen Friedman lives locally, in downtown Fort Lauderdale and creates mixed matched tile mosaics ranging from $25 to $200 with different colors, themes, textures, and imagination.  She’s been mosaicing since 2001 when she found herself in seclusion in the woods of North Carolina and taught herself how to mosaic.  She claims that she’s a Found Object Artist and laughs at herself when she finds treasures in other people’s junk.  She is currently in FAU’s Urban & Regional Planning Master’s program and finds time only during breaks from school to create.  As a former writer for Express Newspaper, she is well connected within the community.  Karen goes by Weavegrrl and can be contacted at weavegrrl@yahoo.com.

Second Artist of the night was Debbie Forsmith.  Debbie hails from Finland and has been drawing since the age of five. While using pencil and charcoal, she creates some of the most intricate and interesting graphic depictions surrounding the lesbian culture.  Even though she does many other subjects—she loves the female form, shape, and energy.  Each piece takes her weeks to complete, and even the ones done years ago she will eventually go back and tweak even more, little by little.  She is now a local artist and soon will be seen more and more.  Debbie can be contacted either through Carol at New Moon Café or via email at debtari@cs.com. 

Last but not least, Carol, the wonderfully charming and well-connected owner of New Moon Café, held a Wine Tasting.  For $15, you had the chance to taste some of her favorite wines, six in total, and meet and talk with the artists.  Three of Carol’s favorites were:  Late Harvest Washington State Risling, Sangiovese 2004, and No a 2004 Sauvignon Blanc from Lake County.  All tasters were given a New Moon Café souvenir wine glass and chance to mingle. Carol plans many more events like this, so stay tuned to my column The Art of Life for more details.