Nearly two years after announcing her plans , Leoma Lovegrove is finally opening her new art gallery in downtown Fort Myers.
The popular Lee County artist announced the news Monday on Facebook: The gallery opens Friday, Nov. 15, on Dean Street.
Lovegrove says she’s thrilled to welcome her fans to the new place.
“It’s huge and I can showcase my large art,” she says. “I’ve never been able to do that in Matlacha.”
Lovegrove’s Matlacha gallery has been closed due to flooding from Hurricane Milton , Lovegrove says, and she has no immediate plans to reopen it.
“We will look at it again in late 2025,” she says. “(I) don’t want to say never. But I brought a lot of Matlacha with me downtown.”
Leoma Lovegrove’s Fort Myers gallery announced in 2023
Lovegrove first announced the move in January 2023 and signed a five-year lease on the downtown storefront three months later. Since then, the project was delayed by permitting and Hurricane Ian.
The renovated, approximately 2,800-square-foot storefront is more than three times the size of Lovegrove’s old, 800-square-foot gallery. The ceilings are 30 feet high, she says, giving her room to display her large-scale paintings.