Buy Me Flowers & Call Me Pretty · 5.18.23-6.25.23
Parachute Gallery · 1624 E 7th Ave #240, Tampa, FL 33605 · May 18 - June 25, 2023 | Extended to June 25th!
Opening Reception · Thursday, May 18, 2023, 6-9pm
Special Evening Reception · Thursday, June 15, 2023, 6-9pm
Joerod Collier aka Surreal Styles (Tampa, FL)
Kyra Connolly (St. Petersburg, FL)
Babette Herschberger (St. Petersburg, FL)
Chloe Lewis (Brooklyn, NY)
Jenn Ryann Miller (Tampa, FL)
Ivan Riascos (Apopka, FL)
Ketsy Ruiz aka Sketzii (Largo, FL)
Curated by Jessica Todd
Buy Me Flowers & Call Me Pretty is an unabashedly beautiful installation of floral-themed 2D work alongside ceramic vessels holding plants and flowers. This exhibition brings together artists of various disciplines and backgrounds to celebrate the simple and universally accessible beauty of nature. Each artist brings their own voice and visual language, which, when observed more closely, speaks to their individual stories and perspectives. As we collectively trudge through a daily gamut of disturbing news stories, this exhibition offers a space to rest, revel, and indulge in the prettiness.
About the Artists
Joerod "Surreal Styles" Collier · Tampa, FL
Joerod "Surreal Styles" Collier is a Tampa-based photographer whose artistic vision adds a touch of intimacy and ethereality to everyday objects and scenes. With his keen eye for detail and unique perspective, Collier has mastered the art of capturing mesmerizing moments that transport viewers to another world.
In addition to his photography prowess, Collier is also the co-founder of @Debonairdistrict and @Debonairprints, two creative ventures based in Ybor City. These platforms have become a hub for artistic expression and resources, with goals of fostering a sense of community within the creative industry.
Kyra Connolly · St. Petersburg, FL
Kyra Connolly is a ceramic artist and architectural designer based in St. Petersburg, Florida. She received her M. Arch from the University of South Florida’s the School of Architecture and Community Design, discovering ceramics during her education. Her background in digital fabrication and design alongside a working knowledge of clay, a tactile and visceral material, inform her creative process, creating works that mediate function and playful sculpture.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is a light-hearted exchange between functional objects, domestic space, and sculpture, manifest in soft-colored ceramic objects that evoke whimsy and play. Trained as a designer, I am concerned with how the art in our home visually and emotionally impacts one’s space. I want people to live with unexpected objects that are fun and that a point of conversation, and to make art that values usability but doesn’t take itself too seriously. My pastel-hued, biomorphic forms echo the spontaneous drawings of a child, with little meaning beyond the purpose of creating work that is meant to be touched, handled, and bring joy to everyday life.
Babette Herschberger · St. Petersburg, FL
Babette Herschberger completed an AS in graphic design with honors at the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She then developed a studio practice as a painter and collage artist. In 2015, she was an artist in residence at ArtCenter South Florida/Oolite Arts in Miami. In 2021, her work was included in the Skyway exhibition at the University of South Florida’s Contemporary Art Museum. Her work was published in New American Paintings, edition #112, and is in the collection of Miami Dade College’s Museum of Art + Design, as well as a number of corporate and private collections. Herschberger began a study in ceramics at The Morean Center for Clay after relocating to St. Petersburg from Miami in 2018.
ARTIST STATEMENT
As long as I can remember I have appreciated and collected the work of ceramic artists. After having formally studied and practiced graphic design for a decade, I began building contemporary primitive furniture which morphed into a full-time painting practice of 25 years.
Upon relocating from Miami to St. Petersburg in 2018, I discovered an extensive environment of ceramic studios and artists in the region. Just weeks after my relocation I began taking classes at the Morean Center for Clay and like many, I was smitten with the process and have earnestly continued my pursuit of this medium. It is the most challenging yet rewarding medium I have ever undertaken. I have a great love of industrial design and have focused almost entirely on functional ceramic work, making primarily drinking vessels that have a focus on form and color, each new piece or series is in itself a design challenge. They are small sculptures to me.
Working in this utilitarian direction for the last four years has afforded me the ability to teach myself how to hand build with clay and left me with the headspace I need to continue my painting process. It is my aim to bring both my painting practice and my clay practice into a more cohesive body of work.
Chloe Lewis · Brooklyn, NY
Chloe Lewis is a freelance Illustrator and designer who grew up in Fort Myers, FL and is currently based in Brooklyn, NY. She graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2018 with a BA. After college she pursued her love of illustration and graphic design. Growing up, Lewis was always searching for the essence of joy and playfulness. She hoped that being open to play with ideas, new perspectives could be seen. Her focus as an illustrator is to create works that spark joy in people. Her favorite subjects are nature, people, daily life, movies, and tv shows. She is a dynamic creator that embraces her varied array of interests to create captivating work that tells a story and elicits joy in her clients.
Jenn Ryann Miller · Tampa, FL
Jenn Ryann Miller explores materiality and aesthetics through abstract sculpture and painting. With a background in functional ceramics, her work subverts tradition and process through the experimentation with oblique materials and forms. Miller has been part of numerous solo and group exhibitions in Florida and the United States. Originally from Connecticut, she received a BFA from the University of Connecticut and MFA from the University of South Florida. Miller currently teaches ceramics at the University of South Florida.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work describes consumerist desire through the creation of carefully hand-crafted objects with ambiguous functionality and imagery. While depicting specific tools of domesticity or utility, the objects remain pluralistic. Utility, function and material become concept as craft is harnessed as a vehicle for the exploration of the conditions of manufacture. The objects created are simultaneously pejorative and celebratory; charming, with an irreverent sense of perfectionism.
Detailed elements are often obtuse, made with an air of insouciance to counteract the machined perfectionism of mass production. They reward a closer look; every detail has been carefully considered. The objects are ambiguous, yet familiar. They reference objects of domestic banality, ritual, devotion, and sensuality with the formal qualities of art objects. Too see them often feels unfulfilling, you must interact with them to activate their potential – but this potential is denied by the conditions of the fine art white walled environment.
Through the rejection of commodity and mass manufacture, the objects are in turn made into valuable commodities. As an expanded exploration of material and the formal elements of sculpture and painting my practice focuses on the formal elements of scale, space, and the relationships between surface, form, material, and craft. Through these formal elements the objects are able to encourage discourse about the function of material and objects in contemporary culture.
Ivan Riascos · Apopka, FL
Ivan Riascos is an interdisciplinary artist. He earned a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an emphasis in Photography in 2008. In 2014, he earned his MFA in Emerging Media at the University of Central Florida and was awarded the MFA Provost Fellowship. He recently was one of the finalists for Pathways 2022: The Carlos Malamud Prize. Riascos was born in Southern California to parents that immigrated from Colombia and has resided in the Central Florida area since the age of seven. He considers himself a diarist and an anthropologist in his practice, using various mediums such as sculpture, photography, collage, painting, ready-mades, and ceramics to address identity, religion, family, memories, perception, and relationships.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Under the Veil of Darkness is a series of nighttime portraits of small pockets of arboraceous areas in urban and suburban areas that speak of beauty. Growing up in Florida, I remember the sounds of crickets, the eeriness, and the stillness of the evening's darkness and it's beauty it offers. I seek overlooked and illuminated patches of wilderness to recapture forgotten lush landscapes lost due to growth and over-development in our areas.
Ketsy "Sketzii" Ruiz · Largo, FL
Ketsy "Sketzii" Ruiz, a painter, digital illustrator, and muralist, conveys her ethnic identity and culture in her art. Growing up in the Puerto Rican diaspora of the United States greatly inspires her work. As a self proclaimed "military brat" she was raised in the subculture of the nomadic Army family. Living all over the US, she was constantly seeking community and found diaspora Latinx wherever she traveled. Her art is an ode to these diasporas that often feel left out of the narrative while longing for a connection to home and longing for a connection to their culture.
In the Shop
A rotating roster of regional and national artists are represented in the gallery shop.
Alejandra Areingdale aka “Krochetiando” · Tampa, FL · Alejandra is a Venezuelan-American crochet artist born and raised in the Tampa Bay area. She frequents local events to support other Tampa artists and to vend her own work. Initially getting into crocheting to make gifts for family and friends, Alejandra has found a love for the medium. She enjoys hand-crafting items that bring joy to others, highlighting how multisensory art can strengthen interpersonal connections.
Fairy Tale Teas, Marissa Kinsler · Odessa, FL · Marissa Kinsler is the creator, founder, and lead Fairy Godmother of Fairy Tale Teas. Forever a lover of fairytale princesses, desserts, and romantic tea parties, Kinsler knew from a young age that she would live a life that celebrated all things abundantly beautiful—a life where she would not only enjoy magic, but share it with others. Kinsler and her team of fae {fairytale creatures} scour countryside's all over the world in search of the perfect fairytale to inspire each magical tea blend.
Cindy Liebel · Fredericksburg, VA · As an artist, Cindy Liebel has been a passionate visual storyteller for as long as she can remember. Her grandfather first inspired her love for photography, a craft she explored and honed during her formative years. The opportunity to learn and develop basic metalsmithing techniques in 2007, captivated her creativity and ultimately inspired her to rebrand and launch Cindy Liebel Jewelry in 2014. Since then, she has been refining her craft and continually seeking new ways to evoke emotion and delight customers through intentional design.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Cindy Liebel Jewelry is jewelry for the individual, the ever-curious collector who actively engages with the world and thrives on exploration. For every empowered individual, each piece is made to feel effortlessly comfortable, making style easy and timeless. You'll always find a diverse assortment of styles, crafted to outlast trends, gift giving, and for regular enjoyment, from leisure to your next noteworthy event.
My unwavering commitment to ethical and sustainable sourcing pushes the limits of my creativity and invites me to explore new opportunities in design. All jewelry is mindfully crafted with sustainability in mind. I intentionally source all materials from supply chains that focus on environmental stability and that educate consumers about sustainable mining and ethical trade. To that end, I use recycled sterling silver, gold and other precious metals acquired from trusted, responsible suppliers, or I will recycle the metal myself. Whenever possible, I reuse raw materials and incorporate post-consumer materials in the packaging.
I draw inspiration from features of Scandinavian design aesthetics, contemporary architecture and Art Deco, including geometric patterns and abstract line art. My designs start with a hand-drawn sketch and are transformed into scaled paper models, allowing me to see the form and shape of the design in a more tangible way.
Exhibiting artists Babette Herschberger and Chloe Lewis also have artwork in the shop!
