Imagine growing up along the shores of Sarasota’s Phillippi Creek, back in the more bucolic 1950s and ’60s, in a house surrounded by lush vegetation—loquat, kumquat, tangerine, orange, grapefruit, mango and Surinam cherry trees providing fruit ripe for the picking. There, a child could run wild in a sort of organized jungle, catching fish and trapping blue crabs, playing atop ancient Indian middens (and dodging alligators) and visiting the neighbor next door who stored big glass jars of old arrowheads on the shelves of his kitchen.
Then imagine this as well: This house is also home to an artist’s studio with a northern light, as well as a Florida refuge for visiting artists, musicians and friends from all over the country who gather to get away from the cold, create new work, and enjoy convivial company.
This was the home, from 1950 to 1968, of famed Abstract Expressionist artist Syd Solomon, his wife, renowned hostess Annie, and their children, Michele and Mike. There, nature, painting, and sculpting, and an almost never-ending round of parties combined for what seems to have been an idyllic existence.
— Kay Kipling, Sarasota
July 10, 2025
