Advertisement

Gasparilla Festival of the Arts announces winners

 
Carolina Cleere’s Honey Child (mixed media) takes the Raymond James Financial Best of Show Award.
Carolina Cleere’s Honey Child (mixed media) takes the Raymond James Financial Best of Show Award.
Published March 1, 2015

Thousands converged on the 45th annual Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts Saturday but one person was probably more closely watched by the artist than any other among the throng. Elaine Gustafson is this year's juror, or judge, for the event and in her hands lay the decision for picking winning artists who would share $75,000 in prize money. This was a homecoming of sorts for Gustafson, who is the curator of collections at the Witherspoon Art Museum at University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Before she assumed that job in 2009, she was director of exhibitions and collections and curator of contemporary art at the Tampa Museum of Art.

Being an art festival juror is a challenge not only because one creates losers in the process of choosing winners. It also has to be done quickly and under pressure. Gustafson had to work her way through the tents of about 300 artists, set up in Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in downtown Tampa, and then make her selections. And here they are:

Carolina Cleere: Raymond James Financial Best of Show Award ($15,000); Suzy Scarborough: Board of Directors' Award ($7,500); Leeann Kroetsch: Roddy Brownlee Reed Award of Artistic Excellence through the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay ($4,000); David Nugent: Mayor's Award ($3,500) Ning Lee: President's Award ($2,500); Sandra Brewster: Friends of the Museum Award ($2,000); Adrian Jenkins: Yates Law Firm Emerging Artist Award ($1,500); Kate Harrold: Gensler Award of Merit ($1,500); Ummarid Eitharong: Hill Ward Henderson Award of Merit ($1,300); Antony Becker: Holmes Hepner & Associates Architects Award of Merit ($1,300); Steven Levine: Michael C. Gribbin D.M.D. General and Cosmetic Dentistry Award of Merit ($1,300); Daphne Covington: Ruth Ann Pollock Memorial Award of Merit ($1,300); Thomas Dumke: The Bank of Tampa Award of Merit ($1,300); Marina Terauds: Waller & Wax Advisors Award of Merit ($1,300); Rasa Saldaitis: Wells Fargo Award of Merit ($1,300).

Lennie Bennett, Times art critic