2022 Professional Artist Conversation

I am a career nurse, manager and corporate educator turned journalist. In nursing, my particular expertise was in the areas of critical care, pediatrics and post anesthesia care. I have worked for several large medical companies as a sales representative and educator. I won The Daisy Award, a national nursing excellence award, in 2011 and again in 2013. I have been a business owner and entrepreneur in downtown, St Petersburg and a member of the Beach Drive and Downtown Business…… Read More

Jake-ann Jones also works under the name J.A. Jones and J.A. Morton (she, her, hers), is the 2022 Creative Pinellas Artist Laureate, and author of the Black Classic Press release SometimesFarmgirls Become Revolutionaries: Notes on Black Power, Politics, Depression, and the FBI. She works extensively with community organizations through the SOW Fund at Pinellas Community Foundation, is part of the team at PinellasDiasporaArtsProject, writes for The Weekly Challenger Newspaper in St. Petersburg, FL, and lives between Clearwater, FL, and Harlem,…… Read More

Courtney Elvira is a Mexican-American, mezzo-soprano with her hometown roots in Pinellas County, FL. Courtney began her  career as an opera singer, singing for Dayton Opera; Brava! Opera Theater; Opera Ithaca; Des Moines Metro Opera; Opera Saratoga; Kentucky Opera; Opera Ithaca; St. Petersburg Opera; Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Savannah Voice Festival. Her awards and honors include winning the West Tennessee District (2020) and Connecticut District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (2018), and an Encouragement Award from the Iowa…… Read More

Sarah is a freelance teaching artist and choreographer based in St. Petersburg/Tampa, FL. She has been teaching dance to all ages for over 20 years in schools including the Atlanta Ballet, Charlotte Ballet, Open Door Studios, Patel Conservatory and Ponte Vedra Ballet and Dance Company. Most recently Sarah was awarded the 2022 Professional Artist Grant by Creative Pinellas and was a selected choreographer for Sarasota Contemporary Dance Company’s production of Voices 2022. Her dance film, The Dinner Table, was screened…… Read More

Roxanne Fay is an actor, playwright, and director. As playwright, Roxanne was named a 2016 Hawthornden Writers’ Fellow (in residence, Hawthornden Castle, Scotland) and was twice awarded the Creative Pinellas Professional Artist Grant. Her play, Thrice To Mine (created at Hawthornden) premiered in 2019 at Bridge Street Theatre (New York). Roxanne regularly creates new works for the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg. Her first film, Breton And The Muse: A Midnight In Paris, was a focal point of the Dali’s…… Read More

Jason Hackenwerth is a professional artist with an extensive exhibition history spanning more than two decades. He was named a prestigious alum from his undergraduate, as well as graduate, universities of Webster University and Savannah College Of Art And Design…. Read More

Shan Leah’s debut thriller, Thieves, Beasts & Men, was a Finalist for the 2021 American Fiction Awards, a Finalist for the 2021 Shelf Unbound Awards for Best New Fiction and is currently longlisted for the Somerset Prize for Literary and Contemporary Fiction 2021, a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards. She’s also a fine artist and freelance photographer, and her work has been published in numerous books and magazines, including Black & White Magazine, Black+White Photography Magazine, Studio Visit…… Read More

Tamia Iman Kennedy is a multi-hyphenate filmmaker, focusing on acting, writing, producing, curating, and educating. Through her Edutainment Company, Black On The Scene, Kennedy is able to follow her passion, ensuring Black representation in the film, television, and digital realm. The grant will allow Kennedy to launch ‘The Film Club’ for audiences to analyze Black cinema, learn film techniques and influences, and engage in important conversations. By partnering with the Cultured Books Literacy Foundation, Kennedy will target high school students…… Read More

Eileen Marquez recently relocated to the area from Brooklyn, New York. After graduating with a BFA from Florida International University she exhibited her art for over 20 years throughout the New York area and the United States. She was also a docent at the Brooklyn Museum for 10 years where she developed interactive tours of internationally famous artists’ artwork. Eileen is a studio artist and specializes in oil paintings in which she adds elements of collage to her compositions by…… Read More

Rachel Stewart is a sculptor and printmaker concentrating on experimental prints using her relief sculptures as a matrix for her prints. She received a BFA in sculpture from Boston University College of Fine Arts and an MA in Creativity Studies from Union Institute and University. She lives and works in St. Petersburg, Florida, where she teaches and exhibits in galleries and museums throughout the state. Her major exhibitions include a solo show in 2015 at Gallery 221 Hillsborough Community College…… Read More

Frederick Woods (Rootman) is a Florida native who grew up in the small North Florida town of Hampton. From an early age he loved to draw and taught himself by studying the technique of the Old Masters’ paintings. Over time, his own unique approach to art emerged—one that combines many different styles with a modern twist. He considers himself a master storyteller on canvas. Using vibrant colors and bold subjects, Rootman’s art explores the journey of self-discovery, the beauty of…… Read More