The Hermitage Artist Retreat has announced that Michael A. Gilkey Inc. has been hired to create and implement a landscaping plan for the gulf-front campus. The goal is to restore the property with native Florida plantings, create inspiring outdoor space for artists to work and to join the historic and administrative campuses. The new Hermitage landscape will utilize a native, indigenous palette of materials to create areas of beauty and privacy for artists, as well as gathering spaces for small and large groups. The project will be broken down into workable phases. The first phase will include a complete, accurate survey of the retreat, the restoration and renovation of the landscape at The Palm House, and the planting of a native buffer along Manasota Key Road. To preserve native ecology, the new concept will nourish the four ecosystems that are native to the Hermitage site: primary dune system, secondary dune system, mangrove swamp and coastal hammock. The landscape plan will culminate in the final piece of the mission statement—serving the community. There will be spaces for the internal community of artists to engage with each other and with the ecosystems of the site, as well as spaces for the Gulf Coast community to gather and glean inspiration from the work produced at this special retreat. The plan is projected to have a three-year timetable.

Hermitage Artist Retreat