LGBTQ Resource Center of the Gulfport Library

ArtOut: Five years ago, ArtOut began as a small exhibit for local artists in June at the Gulfport Public Library. In 2022, it grew into an international juried exhibition, featuring 53 works by 35 artists from 8 countries in an on-site and virtual display. See those works and more at: Lgbtq Resource Center | Artout | Gulfport (artoutfestival.wixsite.com)

ReadOut: Each February since 2018, ReadOut has showcased authors and publishers, as well as providing skill-building workshops and community events, for all lovers of lesbian literature. In 2020, ReadOut was the last on-site event held at the Gulfport Library, with 23 authors and 145 attendees at a sold-out festival. COVID required creating a never-before-attempted virtual event for 2021. More than 950 registrants from 22 countries proved the need for community is not bound by geography; the festival grew even larger in 2022.

BranchOut: In 2020, the Resource Center started an annual scholarship program to support the continuing education of an LGBTQ student who “lives, works or goes to school” in Pinellas County. The board has committed to expanding the program from one to three scholarships of $2,000 each, recognizing an Emerging Scholar, a Continuing Scholar and a Returning Scholar. We are seeking sponsors for these scholarships, which will be awarded for the first time during LGBTQ History Month (October) in 2023.

SpeakOut: For 2022-23, Florida Humanities has awarded a $10,000 grant to support a series of hybrid dialogues on Intersections of LGBTQ Identity and Aging, Art, Law, Literature and Faith. Sessions on Law and Art were held in April and June, respectively. LGBTQ Identity and Faith is the December 8 topic: St. Petersburg, FL Speakout Events | Eventbrite

ShoutOut: is the Resource Center’s quarterly newsletter, with updates about these and other events, plus interviews and highlights of new books acquired for the LGBTQ collection.

Skyway 20:21 On View at the MFA

“Skyway 20/21: A Contemporary Collaboration” is on view May 22 - August 22, 2021 

“Skyway 20/21” celebrates the diversity of artistic talent in the Tampa Bay Area. This exhibition is also an exercise in collaboration as it is shared among four institutions: Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Tampa Museum of Art, and University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum. 

"Skyway 20/21" at the MFA is made possible by Gobioff Foundation, Stanton Storer Embrace the Arts Foundation, Brown & Brown Insurance of Florida, City of St. Petersburg, State of Florida, Division of Cultural Affairs; and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture

"Skyway 20/21" Artist Check-ins: Ezra Johnson

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, "Skyway 2020" has been pushed back to become "Skyway 2021." Skyway is a collaborative exhibition among the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art , the Tampa Museum of Art, and the USF Contemporary Art Museum that features the work of selected artists from the five counties. We are checking in with some of the participating artists who will exhibit at the MFA to see how they’re doing during this time of social distancing, and learning more about their studio practices. First up is Ezra Johnson, who will take us to his studio situated along along the Hillsborough River, in the “Tampa jungle.” We’ll learn about his unique, multi-step still life painting practice that takes inspiration from the detritus the artist pulls from the river. A deft colorist long fascinated by branding iconography and the history of the Pop art movement, Johnson’s paintings give a poetic quality to the cycle of mass consumption. 

Now based in Tampa, Johnson was born in 1975 in Wenatchee, Washington. He received an MFA from Hunter College in New York in 2006 and a BFA from California College of the Arts in San Francisco in 2000. Johnson has exhibited at prestigious institutions including the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Nerman Museum of Art, Overland Park, KS; and the Site Santa Fe Biennial. Johnson is represented by Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami and Freight + Volume Gallery in New York.

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"Skyway 20/21" Artist Check-ins: Dolores Coe

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, "Skyway 2020" has been pushed back to become "Skyway 2021." Skyway is a collaborative exhibition among the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art , the Tampa Museum of Art, and the USF Contemporary Art Museum that features the work of selected artists from the five counties. We are checking in with some of the participating artists who will exhibit at the MFA to see how they’re doing during this time of social distancing, and learning more about their studio practices. 

Our second Skyway Artist Check-In is with painter Dolores Coe, who has kindly invited us into her studio along the Little Manatee River in Ruskin, Florida. Coe depicts “invented spaces” that bridge representation and gestural abstraction, wielding a variety of vividly bright hues. When discussing her practice, Coe likens her use of color to a “charge,” driving the dynamic forms in her complex compositions. During this Check-In, Coe also discusses the important role that the arts play and will continue to during and after this difficult period of social distancing, serving as a “vehicle for collective memory and creative imagination.”

Coe earner her MFA in Painting and and MA in Counseling form the University of South Florida. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries including the North Miami Museum, Tampa Museum of Art, and USF Contemporary Art Museum. She was awarded a resident exchange fellowship at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, and grants received include the Florida Individual Artist Fellowship in Painting and the Arts Council of Hillsborough County, Individual Award. Coe’s paintings are in a number of public, private, and corporate collections throughout the region, including IBM, General Telephone, Tampa General Hospital, State of Florida, and the University of South Florida. She was Faculty and Program Director at Ringling College of Art & Design from 1991 until 2005 and Curator of Art in Health, USF Contemporary Art Museum, from 2016 until 2019. She lives and maintains her studio on the Little Manatee River in Ruskin, Florida. 

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Drago's Day at the MFA

Drago, a certified therapy dog, stopped by for an afternoon of cuddles with the MFA staff. Drago and his furry friends are part of a new program, "Sit, Stay, Heal," which brings therapy dog teams to the museum's Membership Garden to offer stress and anxiety relief for our members and visitors on the fourth Thursday of every month. As a thank you, frontline health care workers receive free admission! Open to all visitors, with admission. 

For more info, click here.

In this special bonus episode of the ARTS AXIS FLORIDA Podcast, host Briana Jackson speaks with Margaret Murry, the curator of public programs for the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg. Margaret discusses the museum’s newest initiative, “Picture of Health,” one which aims to improve community members' and front-line workers' mental health through the arts. This approach encourages them to reflect and discuss their struggles while indulging in the beauty of artistic creations.