Young at art

BY CHAD GILLIS
Naples News (Naples, FL)

As a 4-year-old, Alina Eydel found art relaxing, a playful exercise in curiosity and expression. She’d often spend time petting her favorite cat, and drawing the feline while it slept on the sofa.

Her parents, Gary and Lana, both new quality art. Gary was a graphic and industrial designer, Lana an interior designer. Both graduated from the Leningrad School of Art and Design in Russia, their home country.

Considering their backgrounds, the Eydels weren’t surprised when Alina, their only child, exhibited their artistic passion and skill. They were amazed, though, by the advanced level of the child’s work.

“We started finding these beautiful drawings all over the house, under the couch and laying on the floor,” said her father, Gary Eydel, holding a sketch of a lady holding a cat. “I put a magnifying glass to the drawings and there were microscopic details in the cat’s face.”

Originally from the Ukraine, the family moved to Los Angeles shortly after Alina was born. Gary and Lana became fixtures in the local art scene there, they said, visiting shows and befriending established artisans.

“I took (Alina’s) drawings to a friend who owned an art gallery in L.A.,” Lana Eydel remembers, “and she told me to stop torturing Alina with crayons and magic markers.”

Alina moved on to acrylics at 6. Three years later, she had amassed enough material to show her work at art festivals and galleries around Southern California.

Now 17 and living with her family in North Naples, Alina has sold more than 300 pieces and is — says Sharon McAllister, director of this weekend’s ArtFest Fort Myers — one of the most successful teenage painters in the country. Her work, shown in big cities across the country, will be on display at the juried show in downtown Fort Myers, an event that draws more than 50,000 visitors each year.

Alina’s work also was chosen for this year’s ArtFest T-shirt. “I’ve never done Fort Myers before,” said the young artist, sitting at the dining room table covered with paints and other art supplies. “And I’ve never had one of my paintings on a shirt before.”

Much of her inspiration comes from traveling, she said. The family spent a summer in Venice, Italy, where Alina marveled at Mediterranean architecture. Later it was Tahiti, home to a flourishing black pearl industry that captured her imagination.

Traveling the world in search of inspiration hasn’t cramped her education, though. Alina attends Beacon School in New York, an Internet-based school with a artistic curriculum.

Alina said she wants to study art when she graduates from Beacon, possibly at Florida Gulf Coast University. Then again, she’s already a successful artist, and her original work fetches between $1,500 and $15,000.

McAllister said Alina’s work is very advanced for her age. “It just blows me away, really,” McAllister said. “It’s beautiful, refreshing. It’s a totally different look.”

Like most shows, Alina will be the youngest painter showing work there. Alina said she doesn’t mind being a kid in a world mostly reserved for adults. “I really don’t think about it because it’s part of my life,” Alina said. “It’s always been this way.”

McAllister, though, is excited about having a 17-year-old as one of the festival’s main draws. “There’s a maturity to the work that you don’t expect of someone her age,” McAllister said. “Most artists who have her abilities are old enough to be her parents.”

Alina’s parents agree.

“She’s one of the lucky artistsm I guess,” said her mother. “I’m so excited for her. Sometimes I joke that she doesn’t have an alternative. It’s who she is supposed to be.”