A dearth of places to buy traditional Bermuda art has prompted artist Deirdre Furtado to set up a new business to show the works of her fellow artists.

Mrs. Furtado hatched the idea after three of the Island's mainstay galleries closed their doors in 2004 and early 2005 ? Heritage House gallery, the Windjammer gallery and the Masterworks Foundation's Hamilton gallery.

The first exhibit is slated to open July 24, featuring oil paintings from well-known local painter and advertising executive Rhona Emmerson at the Lighthouse Tea Room. Next in line is watercolour artist Christopher Grimes to be followed by a third exhibit of drawings from Emma Ingham-Dounouk.

All of the shows so far scheduled are to be held at the Lighthouse Tea Room, which Mrs. Furtado calls an ideal place to exhibit these kinds of works. She knows this from experience having held a joint exhibit of her work and Mr. Grimes' paintings there recently.

The exhibits are being organised through Mrs. Furtado's new business venture, Artist Showcase.

Although this kind of business is a first for her, Mrs. Furtado has long been involved with exhibits having worked and volunteered at the Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard, Bermuda National Gallery, Bermuda Society of Arts and she spent the last two years at Masterworks Hamilton gallery.

She left that post when the gallery lost its Hamilton gallery lease in February.

Mrs. Furtado also knows the exhibit side first hand having shown her Banana dolls throughout the Island since coming to Bermuda in 1986 with her Bermudian husband, Frank.

Mrs. Furtado, 64, broke into the traditional Bermudian folk art naturally enough having crafted dolls from natural materials from a young age in her native Ireland. Later, in New York she sewed and sold primitive cloth dolls to a chic clientele from a Madison Avenue shop.

She said she honed her eye for what sells in Bermuda during her stint with Masterworks. She'll use that skill to advise the artists she invites to exhibit on what it most likely to sell.

Artist Showcase is designed to be a profit-making venture with commissions being taken on exhibit sales. Mrs. Furtado doesn't doubt the shows will sell because of her view that there are not enough places for people to buy traditional works that depict Bermuda scenes.

"I expect people to be lining up at the door [on opening night]," she said.