The Youth Council welcomes you to CTRL+Art+Create,a collection of artwork from middle and high school students across Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties.
Organized entirely by the Tampa Museum of Art’s Youth Council, this exhibition was created to provide a professional and inclusive space for the next generation of artists to display their work. Less than a third of the almost 200 works submitted were accepted by the Youth Council. The Youth Council prioritized openness and accessibility, encouraging students to express their unique perspectives through a variety of mediums and themes. The works on view were created by artists in grades 6 to 12 working in mediums ranging from painting and sculpture to jewelry and fiber arts. The artists addressed themes like materiality, self-discovery, environmentalism, trauma, love, and current events.
CTRL+Art+Create invites visitors to view a diverse array of artwork from students around Tampa Bay.
The Youth Council and their Programs are supported by Tampa Museum of Art’s NextGen members and Art & Aces.
Head Coach Jon Gruden passes the George S. Halas trophy around the team plane on the flight returning to Tampa from Philadelphia after the Buccaneers secured their spot in Super Bowl XXXVII. Photo by Tom Wagner/Tampa Bay Buccaneers
On View September 27 to October 26, 2025
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers mark their 50th season with The Bucs at Fifty: A Photographic Retrospective, presented with the Tampa Museum of Art. This exhibition highlights five decades of Buccaneers history.
It features perspectives of historic players and coaches, iconic moments from the field, and rarely seen behind-the-scenes photographs. Together, these images reflect the evolution of the Buccaneers and their lasting impact on Tampa Bay.
The Bucs at Fifty invites guests to celebrate the milestones of the past while recognizing this is a team and a city that remains very much on the rise.
Tom Brady throws the Vince Lombardi Trophy to teammates on another boat as they celebrate their Super Bowl title in Tampa, Florida, on Wednesday, February 10, 2021. Photo by Kyle Zedaker/Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Jimmie Giles #88 celebrates on the field after a victory during the 1979 season. Photo by the St. Petersburg Times.
The exhibition is open to all museum guests with daily admission.
Exclusive Season Pass Krewe Member Benefit: Present your Krewe Card to receive complimentary museum admission for up to five guests from September 27 to October 26, 2025. Please note – the main account holder’s Krewe Card must be used for redemption.
Childe Hassam (American, 1859–1935), Old House, East Hampton, 1917. Oil on linen. Framed: 28 3/8 x 38 ¼ inches. Bank of America Collection.
Discover the rich story of how American artists adapted and transformed Impressionism in In a New Light: American Impressionism 1870–1940. This major exhibition traces the movement’s journey from its French origins to its dynamic reinterpretation across the United States, revealing how artists blended European influences with American landscapes, cities, and everyday life.
Featuring more than 100 paintings and works on paper from the Bank of America Collection, In a New Light offers a vibrant look at the evolution of American art during a time of national reflection and renewal. Many artists featured in the exhibition studied abroad—particularly in France—where they embraced plein air painting and the bold color and light of Impressionism. Upon returning home, they helped shape a new artistic language rooted in American identity and place.
Organized geographically, the exhibition highlights artists working in key American art colonies, from the coasts of California and New England to the deserts of New Mexico and the streets of Chicago. Visitors will encounter panoramic landscapes by Hudson River School artists, tonal works influenced by the Barbizon School, and expressive paintings by renowned Impressionists like Childe Hassam, Daniel Garber, and Guy Carleton Wiggins.
The gallery installation follows a salon-style presentation, immersing guests in the diversity and energy of the era. Alongside iconic Impressionist scenes are works by American Realists and Tonalists, offering insight into the wide range of artistic voices that helped define the American experience at the turn of the 20th century.
This exhibition has been loaned through the Bank of America Art in our Communities® program.
Chauncey Foster Ryder (American, 1868–1949) Untitled, c. 1900s Oil on canvas Collection of Roger Kipp and Mark Wollard
In the 1880s, Impressionism made its way to America from Europe and became a national style of painting in the United States that remains widely beloved to this day. With roots in France, Impressionism launched in 1874 with an avant-garde exhibition by Parisian painters—Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and others—who challenged traditional painting styles of the time. Although Impressionism in France experienced a period of popularity for only a decade, it captivated young American artists abroad who were inspired by the painters’ ability to capture light and color through observation and plein air painting.
In the 19th-century, Paris was the center of the art world and artists flocked to the city to study art in its esteemed academies and famous museums. The École des Beaux-Arts, the oldest and most admired art academy in France, was highly selective of its students. Many Americans studied at Académie Julian where the language requirement was less strict and more significantly, open to accepting female artists. American painters were initially bewildered by and then beguiled by the Impressionist movement. They adapted to this new direction and in turn inspired other artists, art dealers, and American collectors, including Industrialists Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon, to embrace Impressionist art. Artists featured in American Gaze, such as Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, William Merritt Chase, and Theodore Robinson, helped introduce this new approach to painting to American audiences.
The modern age was upon America. Like their European counterparts, the American Impressionists were inspired by the philosophy that painting what they knew and what they experienced firsthand was more truthful and thus more meaningful. Rather than capturing the past or historical moments on canvas, the artists were more interested in painting fleeting moments in the untouched landscape and the modernization of cities in the young nation. Artist colonies on the eastern seaboard, such as Shinnecock Hills in Long Island, founded by William Merrit Chase, and Childe Hassam, who taught off the New Hampshire coast, created a stronghold for Impressionism in the United States.
American Impressionism developed its own identity—one deeply intertwined with the country’s social, cultural, and historical shifts. American Gaze: Impressionism, Paintings from Tampa Bay Collections celebrates the contributions of American Impressionists from the late 1800s to the 1930s, a period of great transformation in the United States. The exhibition features six sections with over 60 paintings on view: Impression, French Influencers; Light Shifts; Figures and Flora; Countryside; and American Gaze. Together, the paintings highlight how American Impressionists captured the beauty of their surroundings and reveals a broader story of artistic evolution in the United States.
Cora Bowen Layers Of Identity Mixed Media Blake High School, Grade 11 Art Teacher: Linda GalganiVerity Skelton Sun On My Skin Acrylic Gibbs High School, Grade 12 Art Teacher: Brian McAllisterZayla Semmons Rebirth in the Forest Ceramic Freedom High School, Grade 12 Art Teacher: Helen KirkYazmin Hernandez-Ramirez Waving Colors Digital Photography Plant City High School, Grade 12 Art Teacher: Niki CarpenterRamsey Mom Self Portrait- Sea Of Green Mixed Media Spoto High School, Grade 9 Art Teacher: David ConnellGabrielle Marquez Casa Batlló Graphite Academy Of The Holy Names, Grade 12 Art Teacher: Melissa Lima
This annual high school art exhibition features exemplary work created by high school students throughout the 14th Congressional District and Hillsborough County. Students compete for two top prizes: the Museum Choice Award and the Congressional Choice Award. The artwork selected for the Congressional Choice Award will continue to represent the district in the National Congressional High School Art Competition, hanging in the Cannon Tunnel of the U.S. Capitol for one year.
The 14th Congressional District and Next Generation High School Art Competition is presented in partnership with the Office of U.S. Representative, Kathy Castor.
Presenting Sponsor:
Special thanks to the judging committee and award sponsors for their support
Pepe Mar, b. 1977, The Deep End, 2022. Mixed media on wood panel in artist’s plexi box. 60 x 48 x 10 inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of Stanton Storer, 2024.428.
In this refreshed presentation of the Tampa Museum of Art’s permanent collection, Here and Now: Selections from the Contemporary Collection highlights key holdings and new acquisitions of contemporary art. With a focus on art of the moment or art of our time, Here and Now nods to the collecting history of the Museum, as well as the significance of the present—the materials, narratives, and events informing contemporary art making. As the works in this gallery demonstrate, contemporary artists portray life around them from the vantage point of observer, inquisitor, cartographer, or cultural historian. Moreover, the works on view often blur the boundaries of traditional media—for example paintings may be emphasized by sculptural or photographic materials; the ready made or found object serves as the source of inspiration; or an assortment of various images creates a whole picture.
Collection building is ongoing, with generations of curators building TMA’s holdings through thoughtful additions. Gaps in art historical timelines or genres are present in almost every museum collection. Borrowing art helps bridge gaps from a specific era or area of the globe. As TMA’s contemporary acquisitions continue to grow, Here and Now will also feature meaningful loaned artworks by significant artists to further contextualize the collection. For example, the monumental collage Untitled by Los Angeles-based artist Mark Bradford and the sculptural painting Sondela Forever by South African painter Simphiwe Ndzube, both on loan from private collectors, present nuanced explorations of home, place, and self—major themes within TMA’s collection. Over time, the selections in this gallery will rotate with artworks representative of the here and now.
Manuel Mendive (Cuban, b. 1944) Alimenta a mi gallo y se alimenta mi espíritu (Feed My Rooster and Feed My Spirit), 1998 Oil in canvas Framed: 80 x 60 x 3 inches The Rice Collection
Wilfredo Lam (Cuban, 1902 – 1982) Untitled, 1973 Oil on canvas Framed: 36 x 32 ½ x 3 inches The Rice Collection
José Bedia (Cuban, b. 1959) Más de lo mismo y uno de necio (More of the Same and One of the Foolishness), 2000 Ink, conte crayon, white chalk, and pastel on amate paper Framed: 50 x 97 x 4 inches The Rice Collection
When it comes to art, the Rice Family’s first visit to Cuba in 2013 was as memorable as it was pivotal to their vocation as collectors. Cuban art became a gateway to embrace the heart and mind of a fascinating culture and its people. Collecting was no longer a hobby, but a passion, and over time the Rices would fall completely “under the spell” of Cuban art. For a decade, Susie and Mitchell’s Cuban Art Collection has been growing consistently in scope and quality, now treasuring the works of more than seventy artists from different generations and aesthetics.
The exhibition deviates from a traditional historical narrative and is presented as a compass rather than a timeline―a map for a journey through the varying themes, genres, and styles that align with the sensibilities of two generations of collectors in the Rice family. This first of six sections, The Language of Forms and the Forms of Language includes early works that demonstrate an affinity for abstraction among some Cuban pioneers of modernism in the late 1940s. The works in The Prophet’s Dream delineate both political and social awareness and the critical communal identity present in Cuban art through generations subsequent to the Cuban Revolution of 1959.
Cuba is described as an island-nation, a term that refers not only to its physical and geographic properties―the cluster of islands, islets and keys that form the biggest archipelago in the Antilles―but also the people who inhabit it. The works in The Great Journey: Archives express the trauma of national exile and the artists’ relationship to Cuba. The section Sensory Landscapes of Memory and Desire delineates the more hedonistic and whimsical imagery that percolates through Cuban contemporary art. These works exude eroticism, playfulness, intimate longings, and explorations into the depths of memory.
The Musings of Narcissus: Through the Looking Glass and What the Artist Found There, the fifth thematic section, examines a range of self-referential works of art and offers a glimpse into the process and philosophy of Cuban artists exploring self-representation and the body. Lastly, The Spirit of the Real, the Reality of the Spirit presents work born of the artists’ spiritual experiences. In most of the works in this section, mythological and symbolic elements from African-Cuban religions underlie or are at the foreground of both the narrative and the visual structure of the artworks.
Under the Spell of the Palm Tree: The Rice Collection of Cuban Art features the work of:
Abel Barroso Adrián Fernandez Alberto Lago Alex Hernández Alexi Torres Alfredo Sosabravo Ángel Ramírez & Jacqueline Maggi Antonio Vidal Belkis Ayón Carlos Enríquez Carlos Garaicoa Cundo Bermúdez Duo Ponjuán (René Francisco & Eduardo Ponjuán)
Emilio Sánchez Enrique Riverón Ernesto Javier Fernández Ernesto Leal Esterio Segura Frank Mujica Glenda León Inti Hernández Iván Capote Jesús Hernández-Güero Jorge Lavoy José Alberto Figueroa José Ángel Toirac José Ángel Vincench
José Bedia José Rosabal Juan Roberto Diago Querol Kádir López Lázaro Saavedra Liset Castillo Mabel Poblet Manuel Mendive Marco Castillo Mario Carreño Pedro de Oraá Pedro Pablo Oliva Rafael Soriano
René Francisco Rodríguez Rene Portocarrero Reynier Leyva Novo (Chino Novo) Ricardo Miguel Hernández Roberto Diago Roberto Fabelo Salvador Corratgé Sandra Ramos Tania Bruguera Tomás Sánchez Waldo Díaz-Balart Wifredo Lam
Mario Carreño (Cuban, 1913 – 1999) The Farm, 1945 Oil on canvas Framed: 40 x 46 x 3 inches The Rice Collection
Roberto Diago (Cuban, 1920 – 1955) Presente en tu vida (Present in Your Life), 2011 Mixed media on canvas Framed: 51 x 39 ¼ x 2 inches The Rice Collection
Gaetano Pedo (Italian, active c. 1880s), Herm of Pericles, c. 1880s. Albumen print. 10 1/16 × 7 5/16 inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Knight Zewadski, 1989.109.182
Athena Promachos Ceramic vessel (ps-Panathenaic amphora; attr. to near Eucharides Painter); Attica, Greece; late Archaic period, c. 490–480 ʙᴄᴇ. On Loan from a Sarasota Private Collection, IL.2024.008.001
The U.S. democratic constitution was in large part inspired by the popular government of Classical Athens, as well as the Roman Republic and the French Enlightenment. During the 2024 Presidential Elections, the Tampa Museum of Art will highlight the ancient Greek city-state Athens, as the birthplace of democracy. There, between the 6th and 4th centuries bce, male citizens gained power in a form of government based on the rule of law.
The exhibition is based on the Museum’s extensive collection of 19th century photography, paired with a dozen antiquities from the permanent collection as well as some significant loans. Ancient Athens: Birthplace of Democracy illustrates archaeological site such as the Acropolis, the arts and culture of Classical Athens such as sculpture and ceramic vases, theater and athletics, as well as the gods and goddesses worshipped in the city. The exhibition allows visitors to contemplate the ideals of the society that gave birth to democracy.
From the sixth through the fifth century bce, political reforms broke the power of the nobility (aristokratia) and eventually gave way to popular government (dēmokratia) in ancient Athens. Organized into an independent city-state (polis) that included the countryside of Attica, Athens became the bastion of freedom and democracy, and the beacon of Classical civilization at the height of Greek art and culture. Only one of the hundreds of city-states across the Greek world that witnessed the rise of popular government, Athens may rightfully be considered the birthplace of democracy not only because it is the most famous and best-documented case but also because it was the state with the largest population at the time in which democracy reached its most radical form.
During the Presidential Election in the United States in 2024, the birth of democracy in ancient Athens gains additional historical relevance. The legacy of Classical Athens goes back two and a half thousand years. Its art continues to inspire contemporary artists. Greek myths and legends, tragedies and comedies inspire modern literature, cinema and theater. This exhibition aims to examine what the original ideals of democracy, liberty and justice for all, equality before the law and the pursuit of happiness still mean today.
Fratelli Alinari (Italian, est. 1852), Discobolus, c. 1880. Albumen print. 10 × 7 ½ inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. William Knight Zewadski, 1999.078
Dimitris Constantin (Greek, active c. 1858–1870) (attributed to), Acropolis Excavated (Kritios Boy and the Moschophoros), 1866. Albumen silver print from a glass plate. 10 × 8 inches. On Loan from the Collection of William Knight Zewadski, IL.2024.041
Ancient Athens: Birthplace of Democracy is sponsored in part by:
the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs Cultural Endowment Fund, the Frank E. Duckwall Foundation, the Tampa Museum of Art Foundation’s Richard E. Perry Cultural Endowment Fund, the Gus Lemonopoulos Fund of the Tampa Bay Community Foundation, and William Knight Zewadski.
Watch an Art Perspectives Episode: In this episode, Branko van Oppen, the Richard E. Perry Curator of Greek and Roman Art, takes us on a tour of the exhibition Ancient Athens: The Birthplace of Democracy at the Tampa Museum of Art. Explore the fascinating world of Ancient Athens with a variety of ancient artifacts and modern photographs that bring history to life. Showcasing themes of mythology, justice, and politics, the episodes delves into the history of ancient Athens and how it contributed to the foundations of modern democracy.
Watch the Classical Antiquities Lecture:Dr. Jennifer Roberts (City College of New York) returns to ancient Athens, the birthplace of democracy, to trace the political reforms that shifted power from the nobility to the people. The lecture examines who was excluded from Athenian democracy, including women, enslaved people, and immigrants.
Watch the Panel Discussion: Sheramy Bundrick, Scott Perry, Jennifer Roberts and Branko van Oppen continue the examination of ancient democracy and its influences on modern politics. The discussion focuses on the development of popular government in ancient Greece, its impact on the foundation of the United States of America. The panel will engage the audience in a debate about current events and lessons learned from the near and distant past.
Explore a 3D Scan of the Exhibition: A 360° virtual tour through the exhibition of Ancient Athens: The Birthplace of Democracy is provided by the University of South Florida’s Institute for Digital Exploration (USF IDEx), courtesy of Dr. Davide Tanasi. You can experience the works on display in the gallery from the comfort of your own home!
On view September 13, 2024, through September 28, 2025
Venus Statuette Bone figurine; Egypt; Roman Imperial period, ca. 1st–4th cent. ᴄᴇ ON LOAN FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ROBERT STEVEN BIANCHI (2009.005)
Vase with Altars and Fish Ceramic vessel; Egypt; late Antique—Byzantine period, ca. 4th–7th cent. ᴄᴇ ON LOAN FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ROBERT STEVEN BIANCHI (X.400)
The word “Copt” refers to the native population of Egypt, many of whom converted to Christianity in the early centuries of the Roman period. Tradition maintains that the Holy Family sojourned in Egypt and that Saint Mark, the Evangelist, established the first Christian church in Egypt in Alexandria in the first century. The Copts shared a common material culture with their polytheistic neighbors. Imperial edicts established Christianity as the religion of the empire in the late 4th century, which allowed the Coptic community to flourish.
The Art of Coptic Egypt showcases over fifty artifacts from a local private collection dating from early centuries of the Roman Imperial to the Middle Ages, although special attention is given to objects specifically associated with the Coptic church. Today, there is still a thriving, vibrant Coptic community in Egypt and beyond, including in Tampa.
The noun “Copt” and the adjective “Coptic” are etymologically derived from الْقِبْط, al-qibt, an abbreviated Arabic transcription of the Greek Αἴγυπτοs, Aigyptos, that in turn is based on the ancient Egyptian phrase Hut-ka-Ptah, the temple of Ptah, which was used to refer to the city of Memphis as a substitute for Egypt as a whole. (Compare our use of the phrase “the White House” as a substitute for the U.S. government.) Initially, the noun “Copt” was applied to non-Arabic speaking non-Muslims living in Egypt. Eventually, it came to identify the native Egyptians who converted to Christianity since the early centuries of the Roman Imperial Period.
During these early centuries the Copts living in Egypt were part of the Roman Empire. They shared a common material culture with their polytheistic neighbors—those who worship many gods. That culture derived in part from pharaonic Egypt, as well as Greece and Rome. Intimately bound to the first generations of Christianity, Egypt also witness severe persecutions under the Roman Empire. The liturgical calendar of the Coptic Church actually marks its beginning from 284 of the common era—the Anno Martyrum (“Year of the Martyrs”)—the year Emperor Diocletian came to the throne and under whose reign the second wave of persecutions took place.
The provisions of the Edict of Milan promulgated by Emperor Constantine the Great (313 ᴄᴇ) removed the stigma of being a Christian. The Edict of Thessalonica, issued by Emperor Theodosius I (380 ᴄᴇ), established Christianity as the only recognized religion across the Empire. The Coptic community flourished even after the fall of Alexandria to ‛Amr ibn al-‛As (641 ᴄᴇ), which ushered in the Islamic Period, when many traditions of the Copts were allowed to continue. The objects on display in this exhibition are part of the private collection of renowned Egyptologist and Fine Arts Historian Dr. Robert Steven Bianchi.
Pilgrim Flask Depicting St. Menas with two camels Ceramic vessel (ampula); Abu Mina, Egypt; late Antique—Byzantine period, ca. 4th–7th cent. ᴄᴇ ON LOAN FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ROBERT STEVEN BIANCHI (X.700)
Psalm Book With Arabic and Coptic Texts Paper, leather bound book; Egypt; Modern period, ca. 18th–19th cent. ON LOAN FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ROBERT STEVEN BIANCHI (X.7000)
Skyway 2024: A Contemporary Collaboration is a celebration of artistic practices in the Tampa Bay region, as it is a collaboration between five institutions: the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota; the Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design; the Tampa Museum of Art; and the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa. Working together, curators from each institution offer context for the diversity of art being made in Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota counties.
In the summer of 2021, we mounted the triennial exhibition Skyway: A Contemporary Collaboration across four venues, a full year later than its original June 2020 date. Skyway 20/21 offered a reprieve from the new normal of daily uncertainty and the effects of a global pandemic. During those paused months of the pandemic, it felt like life might not ever return to normal. If it did, what would life look like? Could we return to our old selves? What needed to change, and what did we need to do to thrive again, both as individuals and as a community?
In preparation for Skyway 2024, the six-person curatorial team met with artists over Zoom and in person. During my studio visits, we talked about emerging from the cocoon of artistic isolation and how this impacted their work. Artists shared how they made art during an unprecedented period of uncertainty. Our conversations revealed what making art means today and how COVID-19 forced an alteration of their process. Many artists used this time as a period of reevaluation of practice and self. Thinking about the future included a reflection of the past, with a common goal of pushing towards something new. Conceptually, the year 2020 reset the clock, allowing artists to experiment and explore materials, techniques, and ideas with abandon.
The eighteen artists selected for the Tampa Museum of Art’s Skyway 2024 exhibition are showing their work for the first time in our regional triennial. They represent a range of backgrounds-from MFA students and self-taught artists to creative makers with established careers. Notably, the art in this iteration of Skyway is deeply personal and introspective, with work referencing lived experiences and observations of the changed, chaotic, charged world around us. The works allude to heroes and heroines, friends and family, self and the body, and the fragile line between life and death. Viewed together, the art reveals a creative zeitgeist informed by our post-pandemic world.
Check out exclusive interviews with SKYWAY artists on the Tampa Museum of Art YouTube Channel!
