A crowd of local artists and art lovers sit outside HCC Dale Mabry’s Gallery 221 listening to Lowry’s speech. It sounds gimmicky, but Lowry is trying to make a point: Community has made HCC into the local art destination it is.
USF and The Ringling Museum made HCC’s earliest art exhibits possible, via loans, in the 1980s. In the 1990s, HCC showed even more local artwork, including Professor Eric Joost’s photography.
“Showing regional artists is part of what makes the arts at HCC special,” says Amanda Poss, HCC Dale Mabry’s Gallery Director.
The Ybor campus has long been the focal point of HCC’s art program. Curator Carolyn Kossar joined HCC Ybor in 2001. She says they’ve had a permanent art collection in Ybor as far back as she can remember.
By contrast, the up-and-coming Gallery 221 didn’t start building their permanent art collection until 2012. Since then, they’ve hosted solo and group shows by countless Tampa Bay area artists. Many of these artists donated art to the campus’s permanent collection.
“Now art is becoming a part of the Dale Mabry campus as well,” says President Allen Witt.
With HCC turning 50, Poss and Kossar called artists who have exhibited in the past to tell them about the upcoming anniversary show. Over a dozen artists donated art to the college’s permanent collections in response. Many of these donated works are now on display in the college’s 50th anniversary art exhibition. They’ve received so many donations the art is bursting out of the galleries and traveling down the halls.
St. Petersburg artist Nathan Beard donated his colorful “Exit Music #46” to the Dale Mabry collection this year. The 30” x 40” acrylic painting now hangs in Gallery 221. In it, Beard pulls together a combination of lines, patterns, and layers best seen in person. Prior to this, Beard’s abstract paintings graced HCC Dale Mabry walls in 2014 and 2016.
Selina Román’s work was also displayed at HCC Dale Mabry twice. In 2013 her photographs appeared alongside Wendy Babcox’s photography. Then in 2016 she had a solo show. The Tampa photographer (and adjunct professor) donated a photograph from her Confidence Tastes Like a Low-Slung Cloud series.
The untitled “Tubes #3” depicts a woman tubing down one of Florida’s natural springs… sort of. Is it possible to go tubing with your head underwater and your ass stuck up in the air? And if you were tubing in this fashion, what would be the proper dress code? A blue sequin dress with purple tights? Maybe this photograph isn’t about tubing at all. It’s easy to see why CL named Román Tampa Bay’s Best Conceptual Photographer in 2015. Román’s photography does much more than reference Florida’s beauty and quirkiness. It draws you in and forces you to ask life’s ultimate question: “Why?”
HCC Ybor professor and Tempus Projects owner Tracy Midulla has work in both the Dale Mabry and Ybor galleries. This is at least the third time her work has appeared in HCC galleries.
Lately, Midulla’s been painting over prints of old Renaissance paintings. In “So this was her kingdom,” currently on display in Gallery 221, Midulla painted over most of Raphael’s “Self-Portrait with a Friend.” The mask of white paint covers all but the eyes and hands, cloaking the figures in mystery. In Raphael’s own “Self-Portrait with a Friend,” Raphael stands in the background, his hand resting on his friend’s shoulder. In Midulla’s “So this was her kingdom: an octagonal house, a room full of books and a bear,” you see two pairs of eyes and two hands. You wonder what else is happening beneath all the white paint. It seems as though anything is possible.
You can find Suzanne Camp Crosby’s photography in Gallery 221, in the Ybor City gallery, and outside President Shawn Robinson’s office. Crosby taught at HCC Ybor for over 30 years before retiring in 2015.
“I feel like I grew up here as an artist, as an educator, and as a person,” she tells us.
Standing in the Ybor gallery, Crosby tells me “Homage to Rembrandt” is one of the most challenging photos she’s ever taken. The color photograph shows the art studio outside Crosby’s old office at HCC Ybor. An abandoned student painting haunts the foreground of the photo. Crosby projected an image of Rembrandt’s self-portrait onto an easel behind it, showing us what the student was trying to recreate. The high dynamic range (range of light intensities) is the stuff of dreams for most photographers, but Crosby tackles it like a boss.
HCC’s 50th Anniversary art exhibition is like a who’s who of local artists. I wish we could give every artist and donation a paragraph. Perhaps the omissions will convince you to get out and see the artwork yourself. I can’t think of a better way to get to know Tampa’s arts scene this November
This article appears in Nov 8-15, 2018.