November 20, 2021 - Art Market is back!
The biggest little gallery in Sarasota county!
Original and affordable art for all. Come visit us!
Winter Hours:
October - May
Tuesday - Saturday / 10:00 - 4:00
Artist Spotlight
Margaret Lacoste
Margaret Lacoste is a self-taught mixed media artist working primarily with polymer clay
to create her colorful, fun and funky, lightweight, one-of-a-kind art pieces to wear
including earrings, pendants, bracelets & barrettes. For the home, Margaret handcrafts
polymer clay tiles to be combined with beads, shells, and glass, creating a unique mosaic
wall art as well as a collection of quirky little trinket/ring bowls that have become very
popular.
With a love for color, texture, and pattern Margaret was influenced as a child by her
mother who was a passionate decorator, way before her time, preferring the endless
supply of color, pattern, and design that wallpaper provides over simple painted walls.
Growing up in a very large family in a very small Vermont town their home housed an
eclectic art collection on top of those colorful walls. Different from all the neighbors but it
was fun.
Armed with some of her mother’s decorative paint technique books, Margaret began her
own exploration with paint and color. This led to hand-painted furniture and juried art
shows on the coast of Maine where she was also running her own vacation rental
business.
Always crazy for mosaics by the 1990’s she was making and successfully selling
ceramic mosaics. After taking a polymer clay class in 2002 she was hooked, realizing
polymer clay offered an opportunity to be more expressive.
Before curing, the clay can be blended into any color. It’s rolled, shaped, twisted,
textured and sliced to form a never-ending array of designs. After curing, each piece is
sanded and finished. Her designs are so detailed they are sometimes mistaken as
painted works when it’s the clay itself that provides the color and pattern.
Now retired from the vacation rental business, she divides her time between New
Hampshire and Venice, Florida where her art can exclusively be found at the Cottage
Art Gallery.
