Angel Rivera Morales, “Dystopian Paradise I, II, and III”, 2023, Acrylic and oil on canvas
Gilbert Salinas, “As We Speak”, 2022, Mixed media on canvas
Juan Nieves Burgos, “Germinar de patria” and “Mundo sin tiranos”, 2019; Carmen Rojas Gines, “She Warrior-SW3 “Guerrera”-G3″, Steel metal
Valentin Tirado Barreto, “Salcedos Death- La Muerte de Salcedo” and “Rebellion of the slaves- Rebelión”, Acrylic on canvas
Currently at Creative Pinellas is the group exhibition Keepers of Heritage: Hidden Tales / Custodios de la Herencia: Cuentos Ocultos, on view until 10/15/23.
From the Creative Pinellas website-
Keepers of Heritage is an extended collaborative effort whose purpose is to document, present and promote the contributions of artists of Puerto Rican artists in the Caribbean archipelago and abroad.
Its roots go back to 2015 with the presentation of the “La Diaspora” exhibition at the Terrace Gallery in Orlando City Hall. Since then, the collective has expanded and traveled to institutions such as the National Museum for Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in Chicago, the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, and the Albin Polasek Museum in Winter Park, Florida.
Over eight years, the collective has documented and presented the work of nearly 30 artists whose artistic practices include a diversity of mediums such as painting, drawing, sculpture, engraving, multimedia, and photography.
Mary Ann Carroll (1940-2019), “Untitled (Backcountry Twilight)”, n.d., Oil on Masonite board
Harold Newton (1934-1991), “Untitled (Painting of the Indian River)”, c. 1958, Oil on Upson board; Alfred Hair (1941-1970), “Untitled (Marshland with palm), c. 1958, Oil on Upson board
James Gibson (1938-2017) “Untitled (Moonlit palms)”, n.d., Oil on Upson board
The Highwaymen are a group of African American artists celebrated for their distinctive paintings of Florida’s natural environment. Working in and around the Fort Pierce area beginning in the 1950s, these self-taught artists depicted the state’s scenic coastline and wild backcountry, often in dazzling combinations of color and tone. Brilliant tropical sunsets, windblown palms, towering sunlit clouds, and blooming poinciana trees are among the many subjects that have become iconic images of Florida in part because of the paintings that the Highwaymen created. In the state’s postwar boom years their paintings found an enthusiastic audience among a growing population of new residents and visitors. Unrecognized by the region’s art establishment of galleries and museums, the Highwaymen by necessity catered directly to their patrons, selling their paintings door-to-door along such thoroughfares as Route 1. It was from this practice that the name “Highwaymen” was later coined.
The popularity of Highwaymen paintings waned in the 1980s as the vision of Florida was reimagined by an ever-increasing population and once-pristine landscapes were lost to development. Then in the mid-1990s a new generation of collectors, with fresh eyes, rediscovered the paintings and began to assemble significant collections. These collectors saw the art of the Highwaymen as an important artistic legacy and together with several writers, scholars, and enthusiasts began the process of establishing the historical context and reevaluation of their work. Books and articles followed, bringing a new level of recognition for the achievements of these artists and, with that, growing popular acclaim. The contribution of the Highwaymen to the cultural life of Florida was formally recognized in 2004 when the group of 26 artists was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.
Living Color: The Art of the Highwaymen brings together 60 paintings by a core group of the Highwaymen including Al Black, Mary Ann Carroll, Willie Daniels, Johnny Daniels, James Gibson, Alfred Hair, Roy McLendon, Harold Newton, Sam Newton, Willie Reagan, and Livingston Roberts.
Focusing on work produced from the 1950s to the 1980s, the exhibition is an in-depth examination of the group’s initial period of success when their groundbreaking style of fast painting was being developed. Fast painting is a hallmark and essential innovation of the Highwaymen. Facing limitations imposed by the racial prejudice of their time, they had little or no access to formal training or to conventional art markets. To overcome these obstacles, they produced large numbers of works which could be sold at very affordable prices. Some estimates of the group’s overall production during their heyday exceed 200,000 paintings, with certain artists creating dozens of paintings per day. Their creative response to the racism they confronted resulted in an original artistic practice.
Opening at The Woodson African American Museum of Florida in St. Pete this Saturday, 9/9/23, is Florida Highwaymen: The Next Generation – The Legacy Continues, an exhibition of work by Ray McLendon, son of Highwayman Roy McLendon, who creates Florida landscapes in the same iconic style his father used.
Clearwater Main Library is currently showing Cuba: The Natural Beauty, a selection of photographs by Clyde Butcher. Butcher is famous for his large black and white photos of nature, taken with a large-format 8×10″ or 11×14″ view camera.
About the show from the Clearwater site-
Commissioned by the United Nations to create a portfolio of the mountainous lands of Cuba, Clyde Butcher set out on three week-long expeditions into unfamiliar lands. He explored the island country’s varied geographic regions, from the Sierra Maestra Mountains in Cuba’s eastern Granma province, to the southern coast between Manzananilo and Santiago de Cuba. He ventured to places including Baracoa in the northeast, the southern waterfalls of the Serra de San Juan, and the mogotes of the west in the Piña del Rio region.
While taking photographs for the Conference for the Sustainable Habitat of the Mountains, Clyde thought about being part of an event changing history for the better, and enthusiastically saw an opportunity to make a positive difference. His photography transcends political boundaries, challenging us to work together to protect natural places across the globe.
This exhibition will continue until 10/31/23.
This past Wednesday (8/16) Butcher discussed his work at Clearwater’s Capitol Theater. It was a pleasure to hear him discuss his history, his travels in Cuba, his work, a visit with President Jimmy Carter, and life since his stroke. He will often sit for hours, under an umbrella, just to get his shot. It was a thoughtful, humorous, and often inspiring lecture.
It is definitely worth checking out his website to see more of his work and to read about his unique life. His wife Niki is an artist too, and her work is also on the website.
He has two galleries in Florida- The Venice Gallery and Studio, and Big Cypress Gallery near the Big Cypress National Preserve Oasis Visitor Center in the Florida Everglades. There are places to stay on the Big Cypress property and you can take a guided tour of the natural surroundings.
Norbert Gonsalves, “Mood Indigo” and “Mellow Yellow”
“Interrupted Structure #61” by Babette Herschberger, Mixed media collage and acrylic on panel and “Stoneware Cups”
“Maia” and “Hektor” clay works by Craig Wood
Ceramic pieces by Jennifer Rosseter
Above are a few pieces from some of the artists in Salon Gestalt at the Morean Center for Clay in St. Pete, Florida.
From the center about the show-
Salon Gestalt is an annual exhibition of work created by the studio artists working out of the Morean Center for Clay. As the largest clay center in the Southeast United States, we take pride in the diverse collection of work that is created within these walls. Since 2001 our historic train station has brought together innumerable artists who, despite their individuality, find common ground in a shared passion for clay. Our center is a space where artists engage in dialogue, exchange ideas, and challenge one another. There is power in community, and clay has the unique ability to foster a strong sense of camaraderie. In sharing space, these artists support one another and grow together, nurturing both individual artistic practice and collective ambition.
Salon Gestalt is a reinterpretation of the Paris Salon. While the original exhibitions have a history of exclusion and classism, our revision of the Salon rejects the notion that there is hierarchy in the arts. The Morean Center for Clay is a space where the novice and experienced artists can come to create and learn in a communal environment where everyone is accepted as equal. Together these artists form a collection of work that creates something greater than the sum of its parts.
For more about the artists pictured above, head to the websites and Instagram links below.
Work by Jenny Granberry (top) and Victoria Block (bottom)
Journals by Eva Avenue (top left) and Laura Waller (bottom left) and photography by Andrew Sovjani
On the second floor of the Dunedin Fine Art Center are photographs by Andrew Sovjani and a collection of sketchbooks from a variety of artists, many of which you can look through- with gloves of course. It’s easy to spend lots of time with all the inspiring books these artists have created.
The exhibition closes 8/13/23.
About Andrew Sovjani, from the gallery-
Andrew Sovjani is a visual artist recognized for blurring the boundaries between photography, printmaking and painting. Raised in a family of working studio artists, art making is in his blood. Andrew has drawn from his life experiences in the scientific world and living in Asia to create transcendent bodies of work that are often extremely peaceful. His award-winning photographs have been shown in exhibitions throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan and are held in many public and private collections. He has won awards of distinction at many of the top fine arts festivals in the nation and was a finalist for the Critical Mass book awards in 2008 and 2016.
The 2023 Emerging Artist Exhibition in Creative Pinellas’ gallery space highlights work from the ten Pinellas County artists chosen by the organization for this year’s Emerging Artist Grant.
Above are sculptures by Amy Wolf. She has written several articles for the Creative Pinellas website which give some insight into her work and are worth a read.
According to artist Kimberly Engel, the paintings above “explore vibrant color interaction while inviting viewers to meditate on an illusive horizon line where sky meets water.”
From the Creative Pinellas website-
Kimberly Engel is a contemporary abstract painter who lives and works in Clearwater, Florida. Her distinct gestural style combines a love for color interaction with spontaneous mark making. Engel’s paintings explore levels of transparency, evoking depth and light. She is inspired by the constant presence and changing states of large bodies of water. She has lived on the shore of Lake Erie in Euclid, Ohio prior to moving to the Gulf Coast.
Engel describes her process as an exploration of herself and ultimately the dissolving of herself mirrored in the process of making and deconstructing works. Her gestural marks have been described as both compulsive and somewhat calligraphic. They undulate and disappear under thin veils of color.
Denis DeBon created the unique glass works seen above.
His biography from the gallery website-
Dennis DeBon is the creator of EnergyWebs, which are one-of-a-kind works of modern glass art. He is often been compared to artist Jackson Pollock. Like Pollack, Dennis uses simple artistic techniques and has combined reverse painting on glass with spin art and taken both to a whole new level.
Each EnergyWeb is cut from a large sheet of plate glass, then free-style hand-cut into shape, scalloped, polished then spun. Dennis uses a multitude of application techniques and color combinations when creating each piece before firing and hand-signing them.
Every EnergyWeb is a unique, one-of-a-kind work of modern glass art and he is the only artist in the world creating them.
In addition to selling his artwork at fine art festivals across the country, Dennis was commissioned as the artist to create the Richard Dawkins Awards. In addition, his past creations have been presented to James “The Amazing” Randi, Carl Sagan’s widow, Ann Druyan, and the Zora Neale Hurston and the Koi Society of America award winners.
Dennis was born and raised in Buffalo, New York and attended the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, where he studied photography and graphic design.
He now lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida and when he isn’t creating art, you might find him writing screenplays or in the boxing ring . . . working as a professional boxing referee.
For more of the artists in the exhibition, head to the pages below.
Paintings created from zoomed-in sections of the underpaintings of the larger works
“Memories”, 2023, digital photographs
“Memories”, 2023, digital photographs (closer look)
Gallery 221, at Hillsborough Community College’s Dale Mabry Campus, is currently showing Snow in September, an exhibition of work by Kirk Ke Wang. The layered mixed media works are really pretty but there is a deeper meaning within the details.
From the gallery about the exhibition-
Kirk Ke Wang (b. Shanghai, China) is a multimedia artist whose work focuses on critiquing modern stereotypes as a diaspora. Throughout his career, Wang has used painting, installation, mixed media, video and photography to present his vision of the world, led by a consistent thread: the fear of inexorable cataclysm.
Wang’s solo exhibition in Gallery221@HCC draws inspiration from a 13th century Chinese play called The Injustice to Dou E, also known as Snow in Midsummer. In the story, the tragic and unjust death of Lady Dou E causes the heavens to snow during a hot midsummer day, thereby proving her innocence.
Today, the story symbolizes injustice and tragedy, and in Wang’s exhibition Snow in September, the artist parallels the Chinese fable with abstracted images of more recent tragedies such as 9/11, calling to mind the moment when the twin towers collapsed, and debris rained down like falling snow.
Through retelling tragedies, Wang tries to find a spiritual solace and the meaningfulness of being human.
Morean Arts Center in St. Pete, Florida, is currently showing Fresh Squeezed 7, their annual exhibition of emerging artists in Florida. It’s a great opportunity to see some of the best artwork being done by local artists. The exhibition closes 6/22/23.
From the the Morean Arts Center’s press release-
As always, our selection panel culled over 120 applications from across the state, narrowing the exhibition down to the six artists featured here. It’s always a joyful and heartbreaking process, seeing so much inspiring good work and only having a limited amount of space in which to show it all.We were looking for diversity in medium, in ideas, and in geographical location, all of which somehow comes together to form a delightful, cohesive whole.
While we don’t necessarily plan it that way, themes and commonalities do emerge among the artists selected for the exhibition. We’re happy to announce this is the first year that we have an ALL FEMALE line up. And due to the inclusive interpretation we use to define an emerging artist (no previous solo shows in Florida), you’ll find artists here who are still pursuing their MFAs (KJ Skidmore and Leeann Rae) AND artists who are returning to their first love of art after finding fulfillment in decades of other related careers (Latonya Hicks and Deborah W. Perlman).
Other themes you may notice as you peruse the galleries are the inventive (and exuberant!) use of materials. Denise Treizman and Latonya Hicks both incorporate cast off, recycled and vintage materials in their dimensional wall work. While Denise’s process is more spontaneous and Latonya’s is deliberate and measured, they both create joyful works of art that invite contemplation and perhaps a spark of recognition from the viewer.
KJ Skidmore and Laura De Valencia both deal with contemporary issues and pop culture in their work, though to wildly different effect. KJ’s humorous mixed media paintings address the notion of the male gaze, and the women who must endure it. Laura’s installations use fashion culture as a jumping off point to raise questions about international stereotypes and the borders (both visible and not) that immigrants have to experience on a daily basis.
Both Leeann Rae and Deborah W. Perlman create work that challenge the viewer to look longer, and to think deeper. With their disparate materials (Leeann with soft pastel and Deborah with cut paper), they raise notions of space, whether physical or mental, real or imagined, in the present or a memory from the past.
KJ Skidmore “Squeeze ‘n’ Block”, Acrylic and coffee
KJ Skidmore
KJ Skidmore “Angel’s Bar”, Acrylic, fabric, trim, paste and wood paper
The work above is by Tampa based artist KJ Skidmore.
Morean Arts Center’s information about the artist-
KJ’s current work is based in painting/drawing that extends into3-D space through multimedia installation. Her immersive spaces are chaotic and aggressive, but at the same time alluring. She works within her own bizarre and disjointed narratives and themes containing warped textual elements, strange cartoon characters, and color palettes that are both grimy and fluorescent. Her material use is variable and may include masses of hair clumped together with canned beets, pink stained carpet, fabrics, wood, plaster, teeth, rain jackets, and Smurf-themed objects.
KJ’s painted series Burger Time caricatures leering male clientele as flat, monster-like cartoons that interact with a staring waitress to explore gendered tropes and forms of voyeurism. This series reconstructs reality in relation to being female by presenting experiences like getting stared at or groped within a hokey themed attraction called “Burger Time” restaurant. Her series is meant to revolt the viewer through acknowledging the male gaze, while also celebrating its trashiness and the culture surrounding it. She uses humor to poke fun at this harmful and uneven power dynamic. The series presents this sickening concept through more palatable presentation such as expressive cartoon figures and bright colors.
KJ is from Gainesville, FL, but was living on the West Coast until recently. She is back in Florida pursuing an MFA at USF in Tampa.
For more of the artists in the show, continue to the next page.
There was a lot to see at last Saturday’s ArtWalk in St. Pete, Florida. Below is a brief roundup. Many of these artists and exhibitions can also be seen for the rest of the month (if not longer).
Above is ceramic work by Rebecca Stevens from her exhibition, The Good Life, at Morean Center for Clay. Her work is influenced by her experience as a ballet dancer, ancient Greek art, and by Art Nouveau.
Soft Water Gallery, part of the Arts Xchange in the Warehouse District is showing Abstract Visions, work by Steph Gimson.
Tommy Bayot’s exhibition Lines is on view at The Factory St. Pete, part of their Pride Month celebrations. The show will be on view until 7/2/23 and includes a variety of work, in addition to the abstract pieces below. Check out his Instagram for more.
Ketsy Ruiz, “El Yunque in my Corazón I and II”, acrylic on canvas
Work by (L to R)- Chloe Lewis, Kyra Connolly, Ketsy Ruiz. and Joerod Collier
Photos by Joerod Collier, Ceramics by Babette Herschberger
Currently on view at Parachute Gallery in Ybor City, Tampa, is the group exhibition Buy Me Flowers & Call Me Pretty. The show celebrates the beauty of nature and features seven artists with Florida roots.
