To the Editor:

Over the last 11 months in this office, we have made it our mission to become more visible and continue to strive to provide value for the membership. But there is so much more to do, and we need your help.

It is essential that we have representation from our membership on committees, nominations for serving on our Board of Directors and volunteers for our many events that we organize throughout the year.

BY LIZA STROUT - Hope Grayson never had a moment where she realized that she wanted to be an artist. There never was a question.

Growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., she spent her youth playing baseball and visiting the Brooklyn Museum. After she graduated from the University of Vermont with a degree in Art and Philosophy, she began at the NYU School of Journalism.

She left the school when she went to work for Fairchild Publications, at the Daily News Record as the Young Men’s editor. She wrote features on male celebrities such as Leonard Bernstein, The Beatles and Robert Mitchum. In her career there, she interviewed many of the male fashion leaders of the day.

Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, one of Florida’s science-based conservation organizations whose mission is to conserve and enhance bonefish, tarpon, and permit fisheries, has scheduled a local fundraising event for Friday, Feb. 3 at the Gasparilla Inn in Boca Grande. Seating is limited, so please confirm a reservation by January 27.

The Boca Grande Art Alliance and island resident Boots Tolsdorf will be presenting the second part of the Andrew Wyeth series on Monday, Jan. 30 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Boca Grande Community Center Auditorium.

Boots will be focusing this part of the lecture on Wyeth’s works after his father’s death, the nudes and drawings of Siri and Helga, and the stories behind them in his own words, as well as some not-so-familiar, temperas of his beloved Chadds Ford, PA countryside.

Boots is long familiar with the Wyeth family of painters, and served 15 years as a docent for the Brandywine River Museum where Wyeth’s works were consistently featured.

The suggested donation to the Art Alliance for this lecture is $10.

Call 964-1700 for more information.