Art Palm Beach Announces Success of 2016 Fair

The 19th Annual Art Palm Beach took place January 20 – 24, 2016, at the Palm Beach County Convention Center and welcomed more than 28,000 visitors. 80 exhibitors from 21 countries – 50% participating for the first time – announced successful sales. In 2017, Art Palm Beach will take place January 18-22 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. 

“Our goal this year was to bring the fair to a new level of quality in the exhibitors, the art and the offerings around the fair,” says Lee Ann Lester, founder/organizer, Art Palm Beach. “The attendees, collectors, exhibitors, artists and the organizations and institutions we worked with complimented us over and over again – and sales supported this fact,” continues Lester. 

The fair opened with a VIP preview and Mayor Jeri Muoio of West Palm Beach was on hand to present David and Lee Ann Lester with a proclamation. The Mayor proclaimed January 20, 2016 as Art Palm Beach Day, “Whereas, Art Palm Beach is celebrating its 19th edition as the preeminent art fair n Palm Beach County…and continues to educate and enrich the lives of the community and visitors through its lecture series and official poster competition for art students.” 

More than 5,000 people attended opening night including such Palm Beach luminaries as Judie and Larry Schlager (established the Judith P. and S. Lawrence Schlager Family Fund at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), philanthropists Paula and Peter Lunder, Jessica Mezzacappa (daughter of founder of Mezzacappa Management a New York-based hedge fund and investor in Miami’s Wynwood art district), Willa Doolin (daughter of Frito-Lay founder Charles Doolin), Mark Locks, style icon Helga Piaget, founder of the Passion Sea Continued ART PALM BEACH WRAP UP/2 environmental project (of the Swiss watchmaker and jeweler Piaget clan), Wyatt Koch, and interior designer extraordinaire Kenneth Crawford. Other blue chip guests included Hans Mautner, Chairman of Simon Ivanhoe Group, Dr. Carol Damian, Richard Gray (Richard Gray Gallery – Chicago), Susan Lloyd (widow of founder of the Marlborough Gallery), and Leonard Lauren, Vice President of Ralph Lauren.