Beautiful Beasties, a Community Stepping Stones Exhibit @ HCC Ybor

[From the Lost Files of the Summer of 2013...]

Community Stepping Stones, "Beautiful Beasties"

Community Stepping Stones (CSS) is located in one of Tampa's poorest neighborhoods in an idyllic setting by the Hillsborough River. They are dedicated to the idea that art heals, and talk about neural pathways etc., but they do not have to sell me. CSS sells itself. I only have to talk with and see the faces of the kids making art at CSS to know this. They are bright, aware and full of hope and love for the future. CSS was founded in 2004 by Ed Ross, a USF Art Instructor, and has grown and served the community ever since.

Community Stepping Stones, "Beautiful Beasties"

For "Beautiful Beasties", the participants studied and researched aspects of the local ecology. This time they studied and researched plankton, including going out into the Bay to physically gather specimens for later study. Out of these observations and intimacy with Nature came the show "Beautiful Beasties" @ HCC Ybor.

Community Stepping Stones, "Beautiful Beasties"

They used upcycled materials for the works in this show. I couldn't help but notice a leap in the quality and inventiveness of the CSS artists with this show. This show deserves to be shown again at any galllery, one of the major aquariums in the state, or in a corporate building lobby.

Community Stepping Stones, "Beautiful Beasties"

Congratulations to the entire crew at CSS, particularly Sigrid Tidmore, Kathleen McCabe, Robert Rorebeck, Ed Ross, Brenda Gregory, Anna Clemens, Joshua and Elisha Edmund, Dominic Ives, Alonzo and Daiairion Jackson, Frankie Jackson, Jonquaisha Maddox, Sarah McCartney, Oniel Mexile, Jacqueline Reyes, Yorimar Saez, Sage Vega, Heidi Boyd, Maricello Calle, Jennifer Fritz, Schemica Georges, Jessica Haferty, Hadley Hansen, Elizabeth Mitchell, Luana Panacek, Lakeema Matthew, and many others, Carolyn Kossar and HCC Ybor for a very good show.

You are not just building artists and good citizens, but forging living works of art. I salute you.

--- Luis