Art Show @ Centennial Park, Ybor.

The Art Show at Centennial Park is in its second year. For a small show, it has $2000+ in prizes. Curiously, there were relatively few artists present compared to the number of crafts and farmers' markets tents.

Tom Gibbons' stand

Tim Gibbons is a multi-talented artist working in a variety of media. Many of his works deal with natural themes as can be seen on the left.


On the right are four of his projection screen paintings. One can literally fold them up and put them away, and unfild them and set them up anywhere. Here we see a predominance of blue, mysterious themes involving idolated people. The Astronaut and the aquanaut both in an alien medium, and weightless, bear some similarities, though one on the right is male and suited up, the other female and at home, nude in the water at left.

If you notice, all four of these paintings are about voyages into the blue. One is a ship's prow, the other of its riggings, then the aqua- and astro- nauts.

Tim teaches art at the Hyde Park Art Studio at 702 S. Albany. [Link]  Tim's own site is here:    [Link].

Samantha Churchill and her sculptures.

I had the pleasure of running into Samantha Churchill, who has been reviewed here many times. Her distinctive aluminum wire, and now some in partial copper wire, sculptures as seen on the table before her are turning up everywhere I look. There's one now as a public work on Franklin Street, by the NW corner of Tampa Theater, catty cornered with the Hub.  

Tatyana Igumnova Hankinson, a painter whose sensitivity to color is considerable, was there. I've reviewed her several times here. We spoke and she told me she had been painting plein-air, and this was one of the first of those paintings to be shown. To see more of her work click here: [Link].

Jennifer Lue, seen at left with one of her paintings, is a multi-talented artist, recently returned from years in Japan. She is steeped in Japanese culture, Kendo, photography and painting. She also plays the violin well, and is interested in quantum computing. She is one of the current wave of young multinational artists. Bright, diverse, fluent in several media, languages and cultures, yet remarkably grounded and calm.

Jennifer Lue, "Bay at Oga"

A beautiful seascape,which reminds me of a large Georgia O'Keefe painting at the Art Institute in Chicago.

Jennifer Lue, "Desert Hands"

"Desert Hands", one of Jennifer Lue's mixed-media works is part painting, and part ceramic (?) sculptural hand forms emerging and re-entering sand in a somewhat surreal desertscape. The contrast between the flat and 3D parts resonates with the metaphor for the flow of time and space.

See more of Jennifer's work and life here [Link]

Tina King, "Nagasaki"

I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Tina King, who hails from Alabama, attended the Memphis College of  Art (as have two other notable artists in this area). The painting on the left,  "Nagasaki", shows a nuclear mushroom cloud in the background. In front, a child-like figure holding a cell phone looks at the viewer. One of Tina's themes is the unchecked proliferation of technology. She reminds us of its human measure.

Tina King, "Quantum Time"

Another parable on the pace of technology, this oil on canvas painting is eerily potent and subtly colored. Her work has a solid foundation in realism which is what makes the departures from it strong.

Tina King and her work, "Warning"

On the left is the artist and her enigmatic work "Warning". There are overtones of feminine empowerment and confrontation. Neither the  giant crow nor the girl appear to flinch in this standoff, but the crow in flight in the background seems to tell us who won. To see more of Tina's work see here: [Link]


Congratulations to all the artists for making this a good show.