Welcome to Tampa Regional Artists!
Our Mission: Dedicated to promoting artistic excellence and art appreciation by providing a permanent gallery space for education, exhibition opportunities, outreach activities and fellowship for artists and the Tampa Bay Area community.
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Important Reminders:
If a Call to Artists is published on our website, you may enter your submissions at any time up until the final date of the Call to Entry.
Current Exhibition: Landscape
Judge’s Comments:
1st: Summer Serenity / Pastel: Vicky PageI found this to be a wonderfully aesthetic image, and I felt as if I could actually be standing at the stream’s edge. The choice of a slow subtle moving body of water such as this has an aspect that you don’t have with a seascape or waterfalls. That being, since the water in the setting would be so slow moving, there’s no sense of “absence of motion”. You get the feeling that you could be viewing the setting in real-time as opposed to it being a snap-shot, catching the water’s motion in a split-second of time. It was as if I waited long enough, I might witness a distortion in the reflections from the movement of some aquatic life below the surface. Beyond aesthetics, the composition is excellent and I was really impressed with the overall skill with the presentation of details using pastels which I consider to be a quite challenging medium.
2nd: Pigeon Roost Creek / Watercolor:Steve Eckstein
This piece would be a perfect example to show a class when discussing “composition”. Aside from the well-distributed areas of light and dark, the piece is blessed with a variety of “points of interest” scattered about that seem to keep the viewers eyes in constant motion. Then, even with my glasses off and viewing this piece out of focus it had a special pleasing appearance. Then with my glasses back on, and slowing my eyes down enough to further examine the details, the piece just kept getting better as I realized the level of expertise that was on display here.
3rd: Storm Corn Passager / Oil: Eileen Petre
For this piece I had no problem assuring myself that it wasn’t a bias toward the subject that had me thinking so highly of it. Had it been a photo on Facebook, or if I witnessed this in a corn maze in real life, I would probably quickly move on. But a sign of a talented artist is to be able to create an image from something a viewer may not care for and have them keep coming back repeatedly to look at it. And that’s what we have here. The artist did an excellent job creating textures. You can really sense the dry stiffness of the corn husks, yet the delicate nature of the corn-silk. The colors and shading did well at giving the image depth, but the contrasting areas of focus and blur took that to the next level.
Honorable Mention: Terra Verte / Resin & Alcohol Ink Rakhi Jha
Here, I wish I knew more about the medium because I can literally only guess how difficult it was to create, so I may have underestimated this piece. What I do know is that I see a wonderful crisp image of a sunrise (or sunset) at the shore, with some waves midway out, just about to roll over, as the ones further in the distance in the upper right are doing. And a pleasant finely focused portion in the foreground with diminishing sea foam where the water must be rolling over submerged rocks. Correct me if I’m wrong, but if there were ANY inconsistencies in working the resin, we would see flaws in the finish, especially with it being high gloss. Instead we see this beautiful professional gloss coating.
Honorable Mention: End of the Trail Pastel Herman Weinberg
I really enjoy the looseness and impressionistic qualities of this piece. I don’t know if it’s anything that can be taught, but I know I couldn’t paint this style if I tried, and that’s something that impresses me. The scene is a very pleasant use of natural, non-exaggerated color and I like the use of the bolder, more dramatic features in the foreground contrasted with the less defined elements in the distance. It pleasantly leads the eye up the path, and as your eyes approach the farthest reaches, the brightest gives the viewer a tendency to squint. It’s a very effective use of light.
Honorable Mention: Walking in Tampa at Night / Photography Judy Pence Milsaps
I’ve passed by this building so many times and love the aesthetic qualities of the metallic spires. What I’ve also seen quite often are uninspired photos or art using this subject that, in my mind, are relying too much on those aesthetics to “sell the image”. But in this photo, I see a carefully selected angle and composition that cleverly accessories the spires and results in a photo that would be a great choice for a brochure. The aspects that I particularly like are:
a. The hard squared off sections of the structure contrasted by the elegant curving of the porch.
b. The sharpness and clarity that really reveals the beauty of the architecture in the spires.
c. Then, the warmth and inviting look of the windows, illuminated from the inside, with just subtle hints of what lies beyond the shears. For those who bother to look this close, it can lead you to wonder, or even make up the events that could be going on inside. It really brings in a human quality without the actual presence of people. These features in particular (the illuminated windows) are ones that a photographer with lesser skills might totally miss, and end up with bright, bleached out, featureless rectangles and lose that human connection. Great Capture!
Click here for the list of artists and artwork that will be on view at the Bay Area 18 Exhibit. The Exhibit will be on view from May 6 to 29. Join us to celebrate the artists and artwork at the reception on May 16, 6 to 830 PM.
