Like many artists, creating art has been a driving force since I was a child. As an adult, I explored a number of creative options, including being an entrepreneurial soft-sculpture artist with my own company to being a professional journalist. Now, I’m a mixed-media artist, and transform trash into art through the magic of paper mache. Using a variety of recyclable elements such as soda cans, newspaper, plastic and cardboard, my works include a range of fanciful creations —— from large-scale lobsters and insects, to whimsical mermaids, birds, butterflies and even flying pigs —- all made with paper mache and a myriad of cast-off embellishments.
Publicly, I’ve exhibited my work since 2019, starting with an emerging artists show at Carrollwood Cultural Center in North Tampa. In the fall of 2020, I had my first one-woman art show entitled “Ms. Mantis and the Garden of Whimsy,” a collection of large-scale paper mache insects, at Carrollwood.
Since then, I’ve continued to show my work and have been grateful and fortunate to be accepted into numerous art exhibits in the Tampa Bay area. I have also won a number of awards, including Best 3-D in the “Fishing for Diamonds” show at Herrig Center for the Arts in 2020; first place in the “Mother Earth” show at Carrollwood in 2020; special merit and honorable mention awards for shows at the Art Center Sarasota and Beach Art Center in Indian Rocks Beach. Recently, I garnered a second place award for my piece, “Wings of Change,” in the “Always a Bridesmaid” exhibit at Carrollwood. This year, my work, a giant, paper mache praying mantis was accepted into the “Art of the Garden” exhibit at Florida CraftArt in St. Pete. I’ve also exhibited at Center Place Fine Arts and Creative Junk Therapy in Brandon.
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Melissa Miller Nece, CPSA, CPX, MAA is regarded as one of the foremost colored pencil artists in the country. Her enthusiasm and humor have made her a favorite speaker for arts groups, and she has inspired many others to try colored pencils through her classes and workshops. She has taught colored pencil, drawing, and oil and acrylic painting at the Dunedin Fine Art Center since 1990, and many workshops in Florida and as far away as South Carolina, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wisconsin.
My life careers were in teaching and industrial management. In 1996, wanting to satisfy my creative juices, I decided to try my hand working as a full-time artist. Art & art-related projects have always been a big part of my everyday existence for as long as I can remember. Encouraged by a mentor and friend, I have never looked back.
Sawyer Ramsey has been working with the KidsArt program at the Center for many years. For Sawyer, her job has never been about creating little artists. It has been about teaching her young students to think, problem solve, and develop a passion for creating and learning. Sawyer recently retired from her full time position as an art instructor in the Manatee County Schools and now works with them as a substitute teacher in the arts.
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