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We are up to our beholders’ eyeballs in art on Marco Island these days and it’s a good thing. Or things.

ArtQuest begins in earnest tomorrow with an outbreak of new pieces placed around town for all to see and, perhaps, some to buy. The parties at the art sites, such as Orion Bank, Studio Gallery and others are at 3 p.m. or 4 p.m., culminating in the main celebration about 5 p.m. that evening at The Esplanade.

ArtQuest, created by the relatively young and coltish Marco Island Foundation for the Arts (MIFA), is growing like a weed, rather, more like an orchid, now enjoying new office space at The Esplanade.

ArtQuest also includes a “Meet the Artists” symposium and luncheon on Friday at the Marco Island Yacht Club. (Call 642-9481 or 642-6367 for more information.)

The Art League of Marco Island, long a magnet for amateur and professional artists, is expanding its outreach with programs for every possible demographic, it seems.

Their next important event is this coming Sunday at the league’s Lauritzen/Rush Galleries on Winterberry Drive. It’s called The Mini-Masters Silent Auction, a fundraising event. The approximately 70 pieces up for bidding include works in watercolor, oil, acrylic, drawing, etching, serigraphy, lithography, photography, wood and collage and mixed media. They’re all 5” x 7” unframed originals.

A mimosa reception is set for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. that day.

Bidding on the art pieces starts at $25 and ends at 12:30 p.m.

This blizzard of creativity on Marco prompted me to look to some local artists for answers to a few questions about art. One of the most prominent is Jo-Ann Sanborn, whose paintings of the incomparable natural environment around here decorate offices and homes of people lucky enough to have acquired them.

Q: Jo-Ann, how does a person know if he or she has any art talent?

Jo-Ann: “Drawing is easier for some people than others but some are willing to work hard to get better. Like any job or skill it’s about wanting to do it and be willing to put in the practice time. What is talent? The ability to reproduce something perfectly?”

Q: How long should one struggle before trying something easier, like brain surgery?

Jo-Ann: “Take an anatomy class and see whether you like drawing the person’s head or cutting on the head.”

Q: Can one have fun dabbling in art even if they can’t paint a barn wall?

Jo-Ann: “Yes! Learning anything new is always good.

Everyone benefits from the arts. I get great satisfaction when someone tells me I have opened their eyes to the color and beauty of the Everglades. Changing the way someone looks at something is probably what art is all about.”

Thoughts from other Marco Artists:

Betty Newman: “I always was drawing as a girl. And when I got older, it was a great way to meet boys. I love to paint people. I love to do nudes, but don’t do many because people don’t want to take their clothes off for me.”

Stephen Muldoon, who taught himself to paint: “I knew I was to be an artist by fourth or fifth grade. It was the only thing I was good at. It was rough for awhile. I went many winters without heat and no money. So I painted murals in bars for almost nothing. In Key West I made a lot of money painting naked bodies. That got me on the Playboy Channel and Wild on E! It was crazy.”

See? Today, ArtQuest and the Art League. Tomorrow? The Playboy Channel. Could it happen to you?

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Chris is a former news anchor for CNN and ABC-TV stations in Atlanta, Houston and Washington, DC. Email: chris@chriscurle.com