STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

More Explore

• Nifty Thrifty
• Tea Time
• Naples Native Takes on Worlds Best at Torrey Pines

Share and Enjoy [?]

Tamara Broker is a different kind of artist – unpretentious, solar, and down to earth.

She welcomed me in her Cape Coral house that doubles as her art studio: in between home schooling her son and working around the house she creates her very unique art in the lanai.

Her home showcases a lot of her palm pod fish and wood masks creations: proudly displayed on the walls of the living room, kitchen and bedrooms are colorful and cheery examples of what a gifted and imaginative artist like Broker can do with a bunch of palm pods and some paint. “I make art with what people discard as garbage,” she jokes as we sit in her living room. Broker’s husband picks up palm pods that other people place on the curb for the trash man, brings them home to his wife and she transforms dead palm branches into unique pieces of art that explode with color and brightness. Looking at palm pods turned into amazing looking fish makes me realize that it is true indeed that “one’s man trash is another man’s treasure”.

“My art wasn’t always like this. It used to be dark, angry and sad. If you look at the evolution of my art you can pretty much see the story of my life in it,” she muses with a peaceful smile on her lips. It’s hard to imagine someone as solar and easy going as Broker ever being dark or angry, but then again it’s natural to believe than someone’s art and outlook on life might change wildly in a span of over thirty years. At 51 she feels –and looks- younger than ever and emanates positive energy whether she’s talking about art, philosophy or everyday life.

Broker has been an artist ever since she was very young. As a little kid she was encouraged by her father to follow his steps and explore her musicality: she did, and in the process she learned to play the piano, the clarinet and the guitar. Her father, a minister from Idaho, and her mother, a German-speaking Russian from the Volga region, were very strong influences in young Tamara’s life. Until the day her father died, when she was only 8 years old, her parents took her and her siblings traveling around the U.S. and Mexico, experiencing different cultures and diverse environments.

“My mother used to tell me that you can do anything you dream of. She really wanted me to pursuit art, just like my father did. They were wonderful people and wonderful parents,” says Broker, smiling at the memory of her folks. After graduating high school in Washington state she moved to Chicago and attended the Art Institute of Chicago, where she graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts in 1983.

But young Broker had no intention to settle down in one place and live a conventional life. She saved up all her money for two long years so she could embark on an adventurous trip to Africa with her best friend. Uganda and Kenya in the mid 80s weren’t exactly safe and secure places to be, but Broker enjoyed every minute of it. The colors and the people of Africa inspired her and gave her a new perspective on life. After six months of traveling, breathing the hot African air and even dodging some bullets, Broker decided it was time to go back home to the U.S. She moved to San Diego, where she continued working on her art while she also took a job as Supervisor of Financial Aid at the Fashion Institute of Design.

Working at the Institute turned out to be more than just another job: while on the job she met Gilberto, her future husband, a man from Panama that shared many of her interests and passions. Being so close to Mexico once again inspired Broker to go further with her art: revisiting the beautiful and magical places she had seen as a child with her parents kept her artistic legacy alive and pushed her towards more solar and vibrant creative expressions.

When she moved to Florida with her husband and son the palm pod idea just hit her while she was looking at the pods and realized that they look like long, skinny fish. An avid scuba diver and fish lover she immediately went to work on her new project, trying to transform an old beat up palm pod into a beautiful piece of art. A few hours and some paint later the branches looked nothing like agricultural debris and more like the perfect gift for someone whose house already has everything.

The fish come in all sizes and so many different colors there is no to pieces that are alike. The bodies are made out of palm pods, while the fins are made with pieces of thin metal scraps. Broker paints the pods and the metal with indoor/outdoor paint so that –once dried- the fish can be displayed wherever the customer desires, including the lanai or their front door. Broker has displayed and sold her art at a multitude of art festivals like the Island Festival in Islamorada and the Key West Seafood Festival, but these days with her boy to home-school and so many other responsibilities she mainly displays and sells her art though her website, www.elpescadoloco.com El Pescado Loco, Spanish for “the crazy fish”, is the perfect name for Broker’s home based company.

“I try to make affordable art, so everyone can enjoy it,” she beams showing me more and more fish and mermaids in different hues of yellow, blue and green. Starting at $45 for a fish and $75 for a mermaid her art is more than affordable even on a tight budget. For more information or to buy a palm pod fish visit the website www.elpescadoloco.com