A Free, Family-Friendly Event Featuring Music, Art, and Cultural Experiences.
Tampa, FL — The Tampa Museum of Art invites the community to commemorate Juneteenth with a vibrant day of art, music, culture, and connection during its fourth annual Juneteenth Cultural Celebration, happening Saturday, June 14. Admission is free.
Presented by Santander US, this joyful celebration of freedom and resilience offers a dynamic lineup of activities for all ages. Guests will enjoy drop-in art-making stations, live performances, guided tours, and more, all set against the backdrop of the Museum’s galleries and terrace.
Highlights of the day include:
Galleries open from 10 am to 5 pm with free admission.
Art-making activities from 11 am to 4 pm, inspired by current exhibitions
Welcome remarks and reading of the Emancipation Proclamation at noon
Live DJ set by DJ Spaceship to energize the celebration
Guided gallery tours focusing on artwork by Black and African American artists
Jazz & blues performance on the terrace from 1–2 pm
Curator-led tour of Under the Spell of the Palm Tree at 2 pm
Interactive drum circle and dance workshop from 2:30–3:45 pm
Food trucks on Gasparilla Plaza, including Mr. B’s Southern Cuisine and the Tampa Snow Shaved Ice. The first 300 guests at Tampa Show Shaved Ice will receive a free snow cone.
Vendor showcase with local artists and artisans, an excellent spot to pick up a give for Father’s Day.
“This celebration is a reflection of the Museum’s commitment to honoring our nation’s history and providing a welcoming space for the entire community,” said Michael Tomor, Ph.D., Penny and Jeff Vinik Executive Director of the Tampa Museum of Art.
Visitors are encouraged to reserve their free tickets in advance at TampaMuseum.org/Juneteenth and consider making a donation or signing up to volunteer.
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.
A look at the art and ideas shaping the Tampa Museum of Art. The Summer 2025 issue of our seasonal magazine features select stories, thoughtful articles and interviews with artists, curators, and supporters.
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
Bust of Young Woman (Maenad) Terracotta sculpture; Aquae Salviae, Latium (?), Italy; Archaic period, ca. 525-475 ʙᴄᴇ TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART, GIFT OF AARON AND KARIE BENNETT, 2024.477 Photography by Branko van Oppen
Hercle, Defender God Bronze figurine; Etruria, Italy; Hellenistic period, ca. 3rd cent. ʙᴄᴇ TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART, BEQUEST FROM THE ESTATE OF DR. RICHARD E. AND MRS. MARY B. PERRY, 2022.009 Photography by Philip LaDeau
The Etruscans are a fascinating ancient Italian people about whom much remains a mystery. They inhabited an area of central Italy – present-day Tuscany and beyond – immediately north of Latium where the city Rome later rose to power. Emerging from the Iron Age “Villanovan” culture (ca. 900-700 ʙᴄᴇ), the Etruscans reached their zenith in the second quarter of the first millennium ʙᴄᴇ. Over the centuries, Etruscan art and culture retained its distinct identity. Yet, they were variously influenced by Celtic and Central European, Roman and Greek, Punic and Phoenician civilizations. The Etruscans were gradually subsumed by Rome over the course of a long process of acculturation (ca. 5th-1st cent. ʙᴄᴇ).
The permanent antiquities collection of the Tampa Museum of Art holds some 70 Etruscan objects covering a period of about 750 years (ca. 9th-1st cent. ʙᴄᴇ). This ensemble, the largest public collection of its kinds in the southeastern United States, has never been displayed together before. Comprising jewelry and cosmetics, bronze statuettes and metalware, terracotta figurines and earthenware, including cinerary urns, these objects illustrate aspects of everyday life and death, pottery production, myth and religion. The presentation of the Etruscan Collection is part of a series of long-term exhibitions highlighting the Museum’s permanent collection.
What little is known about the ancient Etruscans inhabiting central Italy and beyond is largely due to their interactions with the Romans. No historical accounts of their own have come down to us. Their language can be deciphered and is partially understood, but its origin remains uncertain. Etruscan is considered a Paleo-European Language, predating and thus unrelated to Indo-European languages such as Greek and Latin. The Iron Age “Villanovan” culture (ca. 900-700 ʙᴄᴇ), first discovered in the north Italian town of Villanova near Bologna, is now considered the earliest appearance of a distinct Etruscan culture. The Etruscan city-states in central Italy reached their pinnacle in the Archaic and Classical periods (ca. 700-350 ʙᴄᴇ), after which the Etruscans were gradually acculturated by the growing power of Rome.
Etruscan states maintained contact and were variously influenced by surrounding civilizations in central and southern Europe as well as northern Africa, particularly Greece and Rome, Carthage and Egypt. Gaining their wealth through international copper and iron trade, independent city states joined into an Etruscan federation. The Etruscan nobility participated in an elite culture of exchange, involving lavish banquets and gift-giving, connecting Etruria to south Italy and the Greek world. The elite’s wealth was displayed in rich jewelry; their military power was reflected in impressive armor. Etruscan art and artifacts include bronze and terracotta statues, architecture and ornaments, metalware and glossy black-slip ceramics. Their culture is best known today from surviving tombs and sanctuaries. Tombs held human-form coffins or ash urns, conveying a prominent position of noblewomen. Elaborate frescoes adorned tomb walls, depicting mythology, banquets, and daily life, emphasizing the Etruscans’ belief in the afterlife and the importance of commemorating the departed. Etruscan pantheon gradually incorporated elements of Greek, Roman, and other influences. Priests played a significant role in interpreting the will of the gods through divination.
Figurative Ash Box (Cinerary Urn) Terracotta vessel; Clusium, Etruria, Italy; Hellenistic period, ca. 200-150 ʙᴄᴇ TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART, GIFT OF ROBERT AND JANETTE MOODY, 1986.285.a-b Photography by Philip LaDeau
Portrait of a Youth Terracotta sculpture; Etruria, Italy; Hellenistic period, ca. 250-150 ʙᴄᴇ ON LOAN FROM A SARASOTA PRIVATE COLLECTION (2023-12-12.3) Photography courtesy of the owner
Welcome to “Get Inspired”. A series of interviews with our Studio Class instructors.
For this month, we’ll be talking to Ginny Brennan. They’re one of our many talented Ceramics teachers here at the Tampa Museum of art—including an upcoming Ceramics Jewelry class this May!
If you’re looking to get inspiration from a local artist, read on!
Photo Ginny Brennan
TMA: Hi Ginny! Thanks for taking some time to chat with us today. Since you’re one of our ceramics teachers, what got you into ceramics?
Ginny: My first brush with ceramics was in college. I had recently switched my major to studio art and took my first ceramics class. I loved it and decided to focus on that for my time at USF. A lot of my professors were very inspiring; Jenn Miller and John Byrd to name a few. I’ve also found a lot of artists who are huge inspirations to me online as well. Gabs Conway, Amy Palatnick, Violaine Toth, and William Cobbing are a few that come to mind, but there are so many more.
Pottery by Ginny Brennan
TMA: You also have a long history with the Tampa Museum. What initially drew you to working here with us?
Ginny: I initially was drawn to the museum because of the exhibitions on display, specifically the infinity room by Yayoi Kusama titled Love is Calling. That was my first visit and since then I was wondering how to get started in a museum career. I started volunteering, moved to a part-time position at the front desk, then full time as an assistant manager. I moved to the education department as a full time programs assistant and recently left that position to pursue teaching full time. I’m so happy with that decision. Teaching has been a joy so far. I can’t wait to plan and execute more classes!
Photo Ginny Brennan
TMA: Can you tell us a little more about the classes you’ve taught and are planning to teach here?
Ginny: I’m currently teaching a general ceramics course that provides an overview of the medium and a couple different techniques like throwing, slab building, coil building and more. I’m planning a jewelry course for the summer, and a short holiday ornament course for later this year.
TMA: Those all sound super exciting! But I can imagine planning all those classes isn’t an easy task. What would you say is the toughest part of working with Ceramics?
Ginny: I think the hardest part is losing a piece you’ve worked really hard on. Ceramics can be up to luck sometimes, especially when it comes to firing pieces in the kiln. This can be a good lesson though! It really teaches you to let go and not become too attached to your work.
Pottery by Ginny Brennan
TMA: With that in mind, what’s the most rewarding part of working with ceramics?
Ginny: There are so many rewarding parts! Honing your skills, exchanging ideas with students and instructors, sharing the excitement of a finished work after a firing with other potters, learning new ways of doing the same action, and most of all, being able to use the work you make! I love function, so making my own planters, bowls, mugs, etc. is a wonderful way to be more appreciative of the objects I use every day.
TMA: Our last question is what advice do you have for someone who has just started or is interested in Ceramics?
Ginny: Make, make, make. Make as much as you can and don’t worry about it being perfect. When you first start, things will never be as good as you want them to be but don’t be discouraged. Keep creating and your skills will catch up.
TMA: Ginny, thank you so much for talking with us today, and for any students out there interested in ceramics, consider taking a wonderful class with our wonderful teacher Ginny Brennan!
“Romeo, Romeo—or Juliet, Juliet—wherefore art thou?”
Tampa, FL – At the 19th annual Pride & Passion, love takes center stage in all its dazzling forms. The Tampa Museum of Art invites the community to Pride & Passion: Timeless Tragedy, a night of forbidden elegance and Shakespearean splendor, on Saturday, May 31, 2025.
Each year, Pride & Passion transforms the Museum into a vibrant celebration of LGBTQ+ culture, art, and community. This year, guests will step into a Renaissance-inspired world filled with theatrical performances, themed cocktails, decadent hors d’oeuvres from LGBTQ+-friendly vendors, and a night of revelry that will be remembered.
Co-chairs Nicholas Buchanan and Lindsey Allen invite guests to join in the celebration and support a vital cause. “Pride & Passion is more than a party—it’s an extraordinary chance to honor the vibrant LGBTQ+ community while directly funding programs that make art accessible and healing for all,” says Buchanan.
“The love we celebrate at Pride & Passion is the same love that drives change in our community,” adds Allen. Every ticket and sponsorship contributes to creating safe and inclusive spaces and programs at the Tampa Museum of Art for those who need them most.
Pride & Passion is a signature fundraiser for the Tampa Museum of Art, raising essential funds for its two impactful art and mental health programs:
Art Space: Established in 1994, this program provides hands-on art engagement for youth in foster care, domestic violence shelters, and mental healthcare environments. Through art-making and therapy-informed activities, participants find creative expression and emotional support.
Connections: Designed for teens and adults, Connections offers facilitated gallery discussions for individuals facing challenges such as Alzheimer’s, PTSD, depression, substance use disorder, and neurodiversity. By using art as a tool for reflection and dialogue, the program fosters connection and healing.
Presenting Sponsor TMS of South Tampa returns for another year of generous support, ensuring that Pride & Passion continues to uplift and empower the Tampa Bay community through art.
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
Welcome to “Get Inspired”. A series of interviews with our Studio Class instructors.
For this month, we’ll be talking to Vaishali Mehta. She’s a multi-talented art teacher here at the Tampa Museum of art. Vaishali is currently teaching our “Remix” classes on Mondays and will be teaching a Henna Art Summer Camp.
If you’re looking to get inspiration from a local artist, read on!
Photo Vaishali Mehta
TMA: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Vaishali. For starters, how did you become interested in art?
As a child, you do things that either you are good at, or you are not. At an early age, I discovered I was good in art – drawing and coloring. That was where I gained confidence, and compliments from friends, teachers, and family. That was my inspiration to improve myself and learn technical skills in something I enjoyed doing. It has always been a meditative process for me, and I have always explored the works of different artists to understand their perspectives. It has a powerful ability to tell stories, evoke emotions, and challenge our perceptions. It is fascinating how art acts as a universal language that transcends time and space.
TMA: Who are your inspirations?
Vaishali: A particular artist whose work I am fond of is Amrita Sher-Gil. Her paintings capture the lives and struggles of Indian women with deep emotional insight. She beautifully mixes Western and Indian influences, producing a blend of cultural narratives that continue to resonate and provoke thought.
Art by Vaishali Mehta
TMA: Your resume has an impressive roster of qualifications. From Photoshop, to clay, to Henna art. How have you balanced learning all those different art disciplines?
Vaishali: It was the exposure I was provided through my cultural background: henna through weddings, clay through the tuitions I provided my students, and Photoshop through the art degree I earned when I moved to the US. Though I am proficient with different skills, these are the ones I have enjoyed and able to practice on a regular basis.
TMA: And you’ve gotten quite a bit of teaching experience as well. Being a teacher is often a difficult career, but what would you say is your biggest joy in teaching?
Vaishali: It is the joy and contentment in the eyes of my students, their focus on how they want to express themselves, their effort to get what is on their minds to translate to the medium of their art. Every experience and every work are different, and it has a different meaning, governed by the emotions of the individual when they were creating it. Though the technicalities can be graded, the expression is always free and based on the creator.
Art by Vaishali Mehta
TMA: How did you start teaching here at Tampa Museum of Art?
Vaishali: Visiting the museum, I have always appreciated the works that have been displayed here. There is a great collection that caters to your imagination. I have always been an admirer. When I presented my portfolio and there was an interest reciprocated, it was a perfect match, especially because I would get a chance to instruct students in an environment immersed in art.
TMA: Lastly, is there any advice you’d give to someone who is new to art and skeptical about taking an art class?
Art by Vaishali Mehta
Vaishali: Art is open to interpretation. It is a way for other people to guess what was going on in your mind when you were creating it, it intrigues people about you without you uttering a single word. Even, in the future, when you look at your old work, it will help remind you of the thoughts you were experiencing at that moment. It’s an everlasting way of remembering yourself, an imprint left behind. So why not enjoy exploring that side of you? It is worth a try!
TMA: Thanks so much for having this little chat with us, Vaishali! We look forward to all the classes you’re teaching this season, and many more in the future!
Tampa Museum of Art awards a number of needs based scholarships throughout the year for registration to our Studio Art Programs. Follow the link below to fill out an application form.
