The Lobster Trap Art Gallery is a unique art gallery in Islamorada full of colorful tropical art from Nadine & Glenn Lahti and other local artists Located in The Florida Keys. You can find us at mm 82.2 next to Mangrove Mike’s at 82200 Overseas Highway. Call us any time at (305)664-0001.
We have painted hundreds of original works and constructed over 10,000 hand made lobster trap frames all since 2003. With bright tropical colors and island music playing, come see why this gallery is the epitome of Island Life. Our business is growing day by day and we are glad to announce another milestone which is signified by the launch of our web store – another wonderful way to browse and enjoy the best commodities from our brand. Being an international store is a great challenge for our firm but we will take it with honor and dignity. We can promise you that you will feel all advantages of online shopping because this is way better and more comfortable than the traditional one. You don’t have to live on the islands to lead an island lifestyle!
About the Artists
Nadine is originally from Hazleton, Pennsylvania and Glenn is a South Forida native born in Ft. Lauderdale.
We lived and worked in South Florida at our company “Glenn’s Greenery”, which was started by Glenn in 1976.
Nadine was the wholesale nursery manager and grower of the 16 acre facility.
The company grew quality indoor plants that were then leased to major corporations in the South Florida area. We designed and maintained the plants on a yearly contract to hotels, restaurants, office buildings, and other indoor facilities.
We were married in 1999 the year we sold our company after 23 successful years. After selling “Glenn’s Greenery”, we retired and moved to Lower Matecumbe Key, just South of Islamorada in the fabulous Florida Keys. We avidly pursued our love of fishing and everything “Keysey”.
In early 2002 we decided to take an art course at our local community college as a hobby. Since we had never painted before it was quite challenging. After a semester of art lessons, we both stuck to painting and seemed to have a “knack” for it. We have since developed our own distinct style.
Glenn during this time made some frames from old lobster traps and we gave them as gifts to our family and friends. With the encouragement of mainly our family, who told us “you could sell those”, we decided to do our first art show in January of 2003.
Armed with a half a dozen paintings, about 40 lobster trap frames, (most of which were empty), and some photos we took, we did “Art Under the Oaks” in Tavernier which was very successful. The rest they say is “history”. Since then we have done over 60 art shows and show our work in 5 galleries from Key West to Key Largo. We have shipped our work all over the United States and the world; including Australia, Italy, France, Scotland, England and Hawaii.
Nadine focuses mainly on Tropical Wildlife include local birds and fish. She likes painting with oil the best. Glenn does a lot of Nautical Landmarks, like lighthouses and beautiful sunsets, and prefers to use acrylics. Both have a unique style of Tropical Art! Our newest addition is our website, www.lobstertrapart.com, which features our newest original works, popular prints of our original paintings, empty lobster trap frames, and our newest fine art section. Also included on our site are our upcoming shows.
Come by and see us at one of our events. Give us a call if you need a custom lobster trap frame, or would like us to paint something special just for you!
We love what we do and feel lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world which is both inspiring and gives us such wonderful scenes and subjects to paint. We hope you enjoy our work as much as we enjoy creating it.
Nadine and Glenn