On Friday night a terrible fire claimed the home and studio of Grand Isle Art Works, artist, Anne Zolotas.  Anne has been with the gallery since we opened on July 10, 2010.  Anne is best known for her driftwood and wire animal sculptures.  She creates full size horses, herons, dogs, water birds and so much more.  She owns Good Hope Farm which is also the home for CHAMP, the Champlain Adapted Mounted Program.  CHAMP is a non-profit, volunteer driven,providing year round horse assisted activities and therapy.  Anne’s love of animals comes through with every piece she creates.  As we say to gallery visitors, “She looks at driftwood with an altogether different eye”. Just the right piece of driftwood to impart the liveliness of the animal being constructed.  Anne’s studio and home went up in flames.

On January 28, 2017, we will honor Anne at our 6th Annual Meet the Artist, Groundhog Gay Gala.  Her artwork will be displayed prominently.  All proceeds from the sale of her work will go to Anne.  In addition we have added a donate button to our the gallery website (www.grandisleartworks.com), as well as providing a collection jar on the sales counter in the gallery.  We are putting together a GIAW raffle of gallery artist’s artwork with the proceeds going to Anne.  The raffle winner will be drawn on February 14th as our sign of love for Anne.  The outpouring of raffle items has been so great, we will sponsor a second raffle to be drawn on March 15th.

If you have just moved to the islands from East Overshoe in the last week and don’t know Anne, creating her bio would take an enormous amount of time.  She is THAT active in our island communities.  She owns and runs Pan’s Pizza in South Hero, is a member of the South Hero Fire and Rescue squad as well as a Select Board member – and that is only the beginning.  Please help us return the favor to Anne Zolotas.

For every $5.00 donated, we will add your name to our raffle.  Please help us help Anne build a new studio!