From cutting-edge international exhibitions to MFA showcases, local universities are ripe for gallery-hopping.
University of South Florida
The smart, adventurous exhibitions at USF's Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) hold appeal for visitors from far beyond the university's Tampa campus. Together with its sister institution, world-renowned print atelier Graphicstudio (both comprise the USF Institute for Research in Art), CAM offers students a first-rate opportunity to engage with established and emerging practitioners through exhibits, symposia, artist talks and tours.
Past highlights: Elsewhere (2007), devoted to video art, photography and installations that explored ideas about travel and the quest; MashUp (2008), a group show highlighting themes of destruction and popular music in visual art.
Permanent collection: Includes works by Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, James Rosenquist and Robert Stackhouse.
Party particulars: Receptions generally take place the first Friday of an exhibition's run. A generous spread of hors d'oeuvres and gratis drinks attracts a massive crowd of starving art students in skinny jeans, staff, faculty and local contemporary art devotees.
Now on view: CAM is currently closed for the installation of New Weather, an exhibition featuring work by Diana Al-Hadid, Iva Gueorguieva and Robyn O'Neil, and will reopen to the public on Fri., Nov. 6.
Also on campus: The Centre Gallery, a student-run exhibition space housed in USF's new Marshall Student Center.
3821 Holly Drive, Tampa, ira.usf.edu, 813-974-4133. To arrange a tour of Graphicstudio, call 813-974-3503.
Hillsborough Community College YBOR CITY
Situated in HCC Ybor's beautiful new visual and performing arts building, the Campus Art Gallery hosts distinctive exhibitions of work by a diverse slate of artists from around the country as well as local and regional practitioners. Throughout the year, a variety of cultural perspectives and artistic media are represented.
Past highlights: The Slow Death of a Flamingo, featuring paintings, photography and sculpture exploring the theme of Florida's economic development woes; Swing Your Empire, witty, wonderfully crafted sculpture by HCC faculty member Roger Chamieh.
Party particulars: Receptions generally take place on the first Tuesday or Thursday evening of an exhibition's run to coincide with the college's schedule of evening classes. Depending on the show, events draw a mix of arts and international students, faculty and community groups like the Peruvian Club of Tampa (for the recent debut of Juan Pacheco's exhibition) as well as Bay area art lovers at large. Light refreshments on hand.
Now on view: Juan Pacheco and the Ancient City of Caral, a fiber pyramid installed by the Peruvian artist.
Next up: In November, Snake Dance Moon, featuring work by Taos, Abiqui and Rosebud Sioux artists.
Palm Ave. & Avenue Republica de Cuba (14th St.), hccfl.edu/yc/art-gallery.aspx, or call gallery coordinator Carolyn Kossar at 813-253-7674.
University of Tampa
Devoted primarily to exhibitions of UT faculty and student work (like a yearly BFA exit show), UT'S Scarfone-Hartley Gallery periodically plays host to exhibitions of work by up-and-coming alumni and nationally known artists in residence at the university's STUDIO-f printmaking facility. Every other spring, the university's biennial exhibition, Electronics Alive, fills the gallery with cutting-edge digital art.
Past highlights: Lippo Parades (2006), featuring paintings by David Giansante, Gerald Collings and Daniel Hesidence, three New York-based UT alums with burgeoning careers.
Party particulars: Receptions generally take place the first Friday of an exhibition's run and attract a mix of students, faculty and the public. Periodically, UT's dance department stages a performance in conjunction with exhibition openings. Light refreshments on hand.
Now on view: Fine Arts Faculty Exhibition.
Next up: In November, a group exhibition by alums Rob Bovarnick, Chalet Comellas and Perri Neri.
401 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, ut.edu/scarfone-hartley-gallery, or call gallery director Dorothy Cowden at 813-253-6217.
Ringling College of Art and Design
Ringling's Selby Gallery hosts sophisticated exhibitions of work by nationally and regionally known artists as well as Ringling faculty, staff and students. (Nearby Crossley Gallery, a student-run space, regularly features work by fine arts majors.) In line with the breadth of Ringling's academic offerings, the Selby Gallery frequently showcases illustration and digital art in addition to painting and sculpture.
Past highlights: Ruinations (2008), sculpture and installation by Leslie Fry and mixed-media works by Tom Nakashima; Traces: Contemporary Romanian Art (2008).
Party particulars: Receptions generally take place the first Friday of an exhibition's run.
Now on view: Robert Andrew Parker: Artist/Illustrator/Artist and Yoon Cho: Cultural Adjustments, through Oct. 31.
Next up: In November, the Annual Ringling College Faculty and Staff Exhibitions.
2700 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, ringling.edu/SelbyGallery.88.0.html, 941-359-7563.
St. Petersburg College
The Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art (LRMA), founded by artist-philanthropist Allen Leepa, houses a permanent collection as well as temporary exhibitions on SPC's Tarpon Springs campus. The college also runs the Florida International Museum (FIM) in downtown St. Petersburg, which recently hosted a selection of works from the permanent collection of the now-defunct Gulf Coast Museum of Art.
Past highlights: At FIM, In a New Light: Selections from the GCMA Collection included seminal pieces by regional artists earlier this year.
Permanent collection: LRMA's 6,000-piece collection includes works by founder Allen Leepa, his stepfather, noted expressionist painter Abraham Rattner and his mother, Esther Gentle, as well as Picasso, Henry Moore, Georges Rouault, Hans Hofmann and Max Ernst.
Now on view: Arnold Newman: One World/One People, an exhibition of 53 of the photographer's portraits of prominent Jewish figures, including Woody Allen, Saul Bellow and Marc Chagall; Epitaph: Roadside Memorials in America, photographs by Angelo Mantas.
Next up at LRMA: In November, Rocky and Friends, an exhibition honoring the 35th Anniversary Palm Harbor Fine Arts and Crafts Festival (and Tarpon Springs-based artist Rocky Bridges). At FIM: Two concurrent exhibitions of quilts — Rooted In Tradition: Art Quilts from Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum and Sew — It's Art! Best of Pinellas County Quilts — open Nov. 6 and run through Jan. 10.
LRMA, 600 Klosterman Road, Tarpon Springs, spcollege.edu/central/museum/, 727-712-5762; FIM, 244 Second Avenue N., St. Petersburg, 727-341-7900.
Eckerd College
Elliott Gallery, a dedicated space for visual art exhibitions, showcases work by students, faculty and alumni as well as contemporary artists from around the country. A separate, two-story space in Armacost Library highlights special projects.
Past highlights: Landscape Photography by Benjamin Dimitt '76 featured black-and-white images of Florida's landscape by the Eckerd alum, who teaches at New York's International Center of Photography.
Party particulars: Receptions generally take place on the first Sunday of an exhibition's run, but two new exhibits open with a reception this Friday, Oct. 23, 6:30-8:30 p.m., in conjunction with the college's alumni weekend.
Now on view: Margaret R. Rigg, Retrospective: Paintings, Graphic Design and Calligraphy, through Nov. 25 (Elliott), and James G. Crane, Retrospective: Paintings, Collages, Drawings and Cartoons, through Jan. 4 (Armacost)
4200 54th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, eckerd.edu/academics/visualarts/
This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2009.