The mural above, Celestial Tigers, located outside the Oceanic Market building in Tampa, is by Florida artist Michelle Sawyer.
She is currently showing recent paintings at Parachute Gallery, located in the Kress Contemporary building in Ybor City.
Also check out her Instagram for recent work.
Jenn Ryann Miller’s charming creations, seen above, are currently on view at Tempus Projects in the Kress Contemporary building in Ybor City for her solo exhibition, Hobby House.
From the gallery-
Hobby House– where art meets self-indulgence, subversion meets humor, and creativity meets absurdity. With ceramics, sterling silver, a little photography and a lot of gemstones Hobby House presents objects that are meticulously crafted for no good reason other than looking fabulous. Hobby House contemplates the places and practices of art making with humor, irony, and a little wit.
Jenn Ryann Miller explores materiality and aesthetics through sculpture and painting. With a background in functional ceramics, her work subverts tradition and process through the experimentation with oblique materials and forms. Miller has been part of numerous solo and group exhibitions in Florida and the United States. Originally from Connecticut, she received a BFA from the University of Connecticut and MA from the University of South Florida. Miller currently teaches ceramics at the University of South Florida.
In another of the Tempus Projects gallery spaces is Justin Myers‘ exhibition, What Did We Use To Say, seen below, which uses collage along with a video and sound installation to explore the concept of memory.
From the gallery and artist-
What Did We Use To Say? Trying to remember things from the past from distorted and fragmented memories. Is that really how it happened? With intention, the mind has the ability to erase just as easily as it does create. The mind decides what stays and what gets purged for the new. Are you in control? Or is the subconscious doing as it pleases? In this work, I explore deconstruction, recomposition, and sampling, and their impact on memory and perception.
Justin Myers, a Tampa Native, is a member of music projects Justin Depth, Alien House, and Diamond Man. He also is the co-founder of Tampa-based record label, Image Research Records.
Justin studied printmaking at HCC in Ybor City and began experimenting with sculpture and installation-based works during his time there. Myers finds inspiration from discarded imagery, random thought, and spontaneous actions. Over the last 10 years, Myers has participated in numerous exhibitions at Tempus Projects, including the T-shirt shows, Mix Tape Show, Return to Sender, and an offsite window installation as part of a partnership with Downtown Tampa and more. In 2020, Myers partnered with his brother, Jeremy Myers on a virtual exhibit with Tempus Projects titled, “One Day of Perfect”. Justin has been involved with Tempus Projects since his music project Alien House made its debut performance in November of 2011.
Both of these exhibitions are on view until 12/14/23.
Installation by Edgar Sanchez Cumbas
The Ybor City Arts Tour was last week and was a great way to check out the many spaces currently in the Ybor City area. The Kress Contemporary building with its multiple galleries, artist studios, performance space (The Fringe Theatre), and microcinema, was definitely a highlight.
The above images are of sculptural work by Edgar Sanchez Cumbas (he was also in the Department of Contemporary Art group show in the same building). It is just one of the rotating works you can find while walking around the space.
Below are some selections from the event.
Kim Radatz opened her space, currently showing an installation focused on the “C” word.
Screen Door: An Ybor City Microcinema is always showing interesting films from a variety of genres. Pictured are the seating area and the movie posters lining the hallway outside of the film viewing area. For the art tour they were showing past Flex Fest short films.
On the third floor are a large group of artist studios with several walls hanging work by many of the artists.
Work by Jon Pannier
Sculpture by Eileen Goldenberg
Polaroid work by Brian Pannier
Lots of great work by the three very different artists that make up the Y3K Collective- Jon Pannier, Eileen Goldenberg, and Brian Pannier, seen above.
Work by Juan Espinosa (left) and Ashley Cantero (right) of Dluance
Inside Dluance
Creative space Dluance is run by visual artist Ashley Cantero and music producer/ graphic designer Juan Espinosa.
Paintings by Marilyn Binder Silverman
Paintings by Eilzabeth Fontaine-Barr
The work above is from the painters Marilyn Binder Silverman and Elizabeth Fontaine-Barr who share their studio space.
Painting by Karol Batansky
Self taught painter Karol Batansky just moved in to her new studio from the Ybor Art Colony which is closed while currently being renovated.
Mixed media artist Chase Parker makes a variety of work, including the unique sculptures pictured above.
Ron Watson creates highly detailed drawings at his Shades of Gray Studio.
Below is one of the common spaces filled with work by a selection of artists. It’s always worth a trip up from the 2nd floor galleries even if most of the artists are not in their studios to see what’s new.
Work by Jenal Dolson (left) and Michael Jones (collage, right)
The next post will focus on three spaces outside of Kress Contemporary that were also part of the tour.
“Ybor’s Colonel”, Acrylic on canvas
The images above are from El Arte: Echoes of Cuba a group exhibition on view at Clearwater’s Main Library this past summer that included the work of Tampa Bay artist Lynn Rattray. The work is part of her ongoing project creating portraits of the Historic Ybor City chickens. Each work she creates includes a biography of the bird.
Information on Ybor’s Colonel from the exhibition-
“In 2016, a law was broken. In the dark of night, a dingy bedraggled rooster was dropped off in the streets of Ybor City. Thrown away by his owner, he had little chance of survival in the feral community and his future seemed bleak.
Fast forward: He ascended to become the superstar of Centennial Park. Soon stunning in both appearance and character, he was dubbed, The Colonel, and a group of diverse humans became his fan club. Our Colonel was the guardian of baby chicks and new mama hens, protecting the little families from danger. Now when this artist sits in the silence of the park, she still feels the magic of our Colonel and sheds a tear for a life well lived.”
More detail on the Ybor City chicken project from her artist statement-
…A portion of her portfolio is dedicated to the free roaming chickens of Historic Ybor City. “Why chickens”, you might ask. The history of these beautiful birds dates back to 1885, when Tampa’s cigar industry was first established by Vincent Martinez Ybor. Moving his industry first from Cuba to Key West, he ultimately rebuilt in Tampa. His hopeful workers brought their families, and their chickens, from Key West, dreaming of a new and prosperous future. When the Great Depression hit that same year, the economy crashed and the cigar factories shuttered their doors.
Forced to seek new opportunities, the workers moved on, leaving their chickens behind to fend for themselves. Having adapted to life on the streets, the descendants of those original birds proudly remain in Tampa’s Historic Ybor City, linking us all to that bygone era. It’s the descendants of these original chickens that Lynn paints. Having spent much time observing the chickens, it is each bird’s personality that she seeks to capture, as much as the likeness. Working hand-in-hand with Dylan Breese, founder of Ybor Chicken’s Society, and The Ybor Misfits Micro-Sanctuary, (@theybormisfits), a recently established 503(1)(c) non-profit designed to help sick and injured chickens.
This collaboration assures that each portrait reflects not only the likeness but more importantly, the personality of the bird.
Rattray has a studio in the Kress Contemporary building in Ybor City and it is often open to the public. There you can find more of her chicken portraits as well as see the other charming paintings she is working on. The image below is of her studio at last night’s Ybor Arts Tour.
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.
The artists included are-
Joerod Collier aka Surreal Styles (Tampa, FL)
Kyra Connolly (St. Petersburg, FL)
Babette Herschberger (St. Petersburg, FL)
Chloe Lewis (Brooklyn, NY)
Jenn Ryann Miller (Tampa, FL)
Ivan Riascos (Apopka, FL)
Ketsy Ruiz aka Sketzii (Largo, FL)
This show is on view until 6/25/23.
Tempus Volta, one of Tempus Projects’ spaces in the Ybor Kress building in Tampa, is currently showing Gigi Lage’s solo exhibition, Exposure Garden.
From the gallery’s website-
Lage uses generative AI as a tool to construct still frames from the artist’s own text input. Lage examines how AI processes its learning patterns from existing data and how its output defines the image, its deranged textures, and the story found within the frame. This work explores themes surrounding the implication of replication, the complexities of a single image, and a machine’s relationship to our natural world.
Exposure Garden uncovers the disturbances between AI-generated realities and our human experiences through the exploration of human life in natural elements as processed by machines. Lage explores the simulation of human connection as re-imagined video stills & film negatives. These extractions of images romanticize a version of our world in a dream-like state; through another type of mind that may or may not be our own.
This show will be up until 6/15/23.
“The Great Mother Text, Papaya and Pearls” and “Frozen Conch” photographs from Cristina Molina’s “The Matriarchs” series
Painting by Eric Ondina
“Here, Together” Photograph by Amber Bernard
It was an exciting night for art this past Thursday in Ybor City, Tampa, as several spaces opened their doors in the Kress Building.
Tempus Projects now has three spaces in the building. In their main gallery was KARST GROUNDS ::QUATRO SUNISTRA, the fourth iteration of their annual open call exhibition exploring “the sinister side of the Sunshine State”. The work varied in medium, and included painting, photography, and sculpture.
From their website-
The exhibition title is a portmanteau of “sunshine” and the Latin word “sinistra”—the forebearer of the English word “sinister” which retains some of its original connotations of something that is harmful and inauspicious. The play on words reflects the often idyllic/nightmarish dichotomy Florida embodies in its natural, social, and political climates. This serves as a thematic jumping-off point for the exhibition’s applicants as the artists investigate this peculiar state through their diverse perspectives and unique approaches.
In their Tempus Volta space was Beneath the Mistletoe Screaming, a group exhibition and holiday shop with lots of great affordable art, with most pieces ranging from $5 to $500.
View inside Tempus Volta
Paintings by Alex Torres
Paintings by Lynn Manos
Drift, is Tempus Projects’ independent curator’s space (seen below). On Thursday they were showing and selling work from various artists.
All three spaces were showing strong work. Make sure to check out Tempus Projects’ Instagram for updates on the galleries.