FORT MYERS BEACH
Iconic Fort Myers Beach landmarks and buildings were wiped away during Hurricane Ian.
And now painter Chester Rodgers is using his art to remember the beloved beach the way it was before the storm and now in the aftermath.
“Art is a therapy for anybody,” Rodgers said.
For Rodgers, heaven is wherever his pencil and canvas take him even if Rodgers has a rod in his chest.
His heaven, his home, Fort Myers Beach has been to hell and back.
“All your people you know… their houses are gone. People are dead. It’s just you know, you do your best to try to block it out,” Rodgers said.
Chester Rodgers is a Fort Myers Beach-based artist who plays tribute to the town. (CREDIT: WINK News)
Rodgers was born and raised in Fort Myers.
“I’m the kid who sat in the back of the class… the “C” student … drawing muscle cars,” Rodgers said.
He doesn’t forget a thing since he was a kid.
“My earliest memory is my mother packing five of us kids in the station wagon and bringing us to the beach,” Rodgers said. “We hit the arches. That meant we were at the beach. Then we hit that ****** bridge. Had to wait 20-30 minutes. My mother was ready to turn us around and take us back home. Us kids hated that ****** bridge.”
Chester’s work includes a painting of the Fort Myers Beach pier.
His artwork is not just art, it is a mile-marker in time for the people of Fort Myers Beach who have been going down a long, winding road for the last few months.
Chester Rodgers is a Fort Myers Beach-based artist who plays tribute to the town. (CREDIT: WINK News)
“He is an inspiration to other people down here on the beach. It means a lot to us,” said Jennifer Johnson, a fan of Chester’s. “I can at least look at some of the artwork and still have some memories that you know, good memories from the beach.”
To Rodgers, the storm did not erase the memories.
“I actually thought about leaving, but there’s nowhere I want to go,” he said.
WINK NEWS