Navarre couple collaborate on art
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

Franklin Hayes/Gulf Breeze News Marty, left, and Art Kraatz work together to make handbags that compliment each other's artistic skills. Art, despite being legally blind, paints beach scenes and his wife Marty quilts.

Many are familiar with the old adage that depicts couples making beautiful music together, but how about art?

One couple in Navarre found a way to be symbiotic not only in their marriage, but in their pastimes as well, blending their two forms of artwork to make uniquely picturesque creations.

Navarre residents Art and Marty Kraatz retired from their careers less than a decade ago and now fill their time painting and quilting like many retirees. However, their creations cooperate with one another to bring out the best work from each other.

Art, who is legally blind, paints serene coastal images with a photo-realism style that nearly conjures the distinct scent of fresh gulf-air in the viewer's mind.

"The only thing that gets in the way of my painting is my nose," Kraatz said with an amicable grin while relaxing in his second story home studio. The lifelong artist and retired art supply salesman explained that he's been a painter almost as long as he's had congenital myopic degeneration and nystagmus, a hereditary condition that causes blindness.

Much of the Kraatz's work features coastal scenes and animal life. The Kraatz say they were drawn to the Gulf Coast's pristine beaches and emerald waters.

"I'm always astounded with what he can see and what he can do," said Marty. "When I'm trying to work with color he's my greatest asset. Never let what you can't do get in the way of what you can do."

The couple spoke excitedly about how coastal life has always intrigued them, describing how they spent 17 years saving money for a vacation that would take them from their former home in St. Louis to the tropic beaches of Tahiti.

"We're beach people," Marty explained. "We always want to go to the water. When you see the waters here in the Gulf, it rivals Tahiti and all those exotic locations. You ask yourself 'why did I spend all that money and travel that far? It's right here.'"

The couple said they have called the Navarre area for around five years and that the pristine coastline and emerald waters are a major influence in their work. Art paints watercolor beach scenes, and Marty weaves reduced reproductions of his work into quilts and beach bags. Marty's personal fabric storeroom is a standard sized bedroom filled to capacity with beach themed colors and patterns that is right next door to Art's studio. The couple's artistic synergism developed over 18 years as Marty began quilting, but their love for each other was nearly automatic.

"On our first date I asked him if he was mad at God [due to his poor eyesight]," Marty said. "He said 'Why, no. I can breathe and hear and do all these other things.' I knew that was what I needed in my life, something positive."