“We are originally from Pennsylvania, but we
came down here in 1986 when Dad retired,” Jon
said. “I never stopped helping him with his
projects, which included everything from palm
tree tables to cacti, birdhouses and whirligigs. A
lot of what we did back then had more of a
Southwest flavor to it.
“At some point I started using large pieces of
driftwood as a backdrop for these fish I was
cutting out of regular lumber. One day I was looking
at the driftwood and it suddenly became the
fish in my mind. I haven’t stopped looking at things
differently ever since. Every line tells a story, every
piece has a history.”
It takes a good eye to be able to single out a
lone piece of driftwood and turn it into a bird or
animal, but Jon has been doing it for many years
and it’s become his claim to fame. He still
randomly creates other pieces, though, and his
little shop in Placida was known for overflowing
with oddities, as well as his art. While he has
scaled down some of his inventory since the
move to El Jobean, he still looks for old pieces of
furniture and knickknacks, and if the wood is right
he will turn them into a Hatch work of art. An
old spice drawer or chest is transformed by Jon
painting it with a vivid fish or bird, straight out of
the bayous and back waters of Florida.
He dabbles in metal art as well, when he finds
the time or someone asks him to make them
something, and many people remember the old
vintage Florida kitsch signs he has made with old
railroad trestles and decking, as a living testament
to a Florida that once was.
What keeps him busiest right now is the
continuous collection of seasoned, natural wood.
He has gone up and down almost every river in
Finding the faces in the wood is part of the intrigue
for Jon Hatch. Here are two examples.
this part of Florida, and has gone as far away as
Maui to find good pieces. The biggest piece of art
he has done with that wood, he recalled, was about
15-feet-long and was a whale.
“I just saw it in the wood, a piece that came out
of Peace River,” he said. “I looked at this piece a
bunch of times and didn’t see anything special, but
at one angle I noticed a big knot growing out of
one side, and my perception of it changed. That
knot ended up being a barnacle on the whale’s
head. The piece was sold to a customer in Boca
Grande ... I hope it’s still hanging out there.”
He laughed, thinking back on what it’s been like
to make a living as an artist in Southwest Florida.
“One day you wake up and hey, you’re an artist
and getting paid for it,” he said. “I’m glad I went in
my own direction, and while there’s days I’m just
making art and getting by,
the great part of all of it is
seeing someone walk in my
gallery and see a piece they
fall in love with.”
Made to inspire all
lovers of the sea
Right in downtown Boca
Grande is another artist
with a penchant for natural
art. Cheryl Miller owns a
shop called Made to Inspire,
located in the Gasparilla
Adventures building at 333
Park Avenue. She opened a
year ago, in November of
2017, but previously had a
store in Naples.
Cheryl
Miller and
one of her
creations.