North Tampa Arts League's     Featured Member  -Gainor Roberts The North Tampa Arts League is proud to announce that Gainor Roberts of Zephyrhills is the Artist of the Month for September. Her art will be hanging in the New Tampa Regional Library from September 1st to Sept 30th. Gainor was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she fell in love with art at a very early age and was drawn to it like a moth to light. She likes to tell the story about getting in trouble for skipping school in Germantown to go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art where what she saw was far more interesting than what she learned at school. She graduated from Germantown Friends School and moved to the picturesque town of Mystic, Connecticut. As a teen, she began to study art and painting from the renowned portrait painter, Robert . She continued attending classes with Brackman in the summers while going to Elmira College during the school year. After receiving her BA degree in English Literature, she studied for a year at the Art Students ‘ League in New York City. Gainor has pursued a myriad of careers from graphic artist and printer, to owner of an art gallery, to Second Mate with her husband, George Cranston, on a 31 foot sloop which was her home for 7 years. She spent a period of time as Staff Graphic Artist and Production Manager for the Publication Department at Mystic Seaport, where she enjoyed the challenges of designing the official posters for the Mystic Seaport, as well as producing many books, publications, and brochures used as souvenirs to attract tourists to this historical site. All the while, she painted evenings and weekends and participated in local art shows. After she had her first solo show, she resigned from her job and painted full time. She returned once more to study at the National Academy of Design and at Lyme Academy of Fine arts. While there, she was able to study with some of the most gifted artists in America. During this time she studied sculpture and fell in love with clay. Gainor is intrigued by a wide variety of media from oils to the very traditional egg tempura of the Renaissance period. Her body of work includes oil, watercolor, pastel, egg tempera paintings, and monotype prints. In 2001, Gainor and George moved to Zephyrhills, Florida where they built their retirement home. Not about to retire from art, this artist has been busy establishing a career here in the Tampa Bay area. Gainor has been teaching, lecturing and giving workshops throughout Tampa Bay and participating in the areas numerous art shows and exhibitions. She was invited to do a solo show at The Horizon Line Gallery in Temple Terrace and had a 50 Year Retrospective at the same gallery in 2005. Gainor is a member of TESA, North Tampa Arts League, Florida Plein Air Painters and Art Pros. Artists Statement: My biggest thrill as an artist is to evoke emotion from my audience. I love the drama of light raking across a vase, a face , a nude back, the folds of cloth, or the peel of an orange. When I paint, I want to stop time on the canvas and set before you a fleeting second that that becomes timeless. Although my paintings range across several genre, they all start in the same place. That moment when the flicker of light in a shadowed eye makes a portrait come alive in a unique way or how a banana peel lies folded back upon itself, never to be that way again, or the clouds piling up on each other on a summer’s day radiating a full spectrum of color through the prism of the atmosphere. I am in love with color!

North Tampa Arts League's Artist of the Month For August Featured Member  -Mary Ellen Curran Bitner The North Tampa Arts League is proud to announce That Mary Ellen Bitner has been chosen to be the August Artist of the Month. Her paintings will be featured at the New Tampa Regional Library during the month of August. Born in Quincy, Mass., Mary Ellen, was raised and educated in Westchester County, New York.  After graduating from The Ursuline School and The College of New Rochelle, she married her U.S. Military Academy Cadet fiancé’ new Lt. Richard Bitner and began her career as an Air Force pilot’s wife and elementary school teacher.  Much of her time was spent raising her two children and teaching school until she retired several years ago.   Although she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature, she always had a very strong attraction to creative pursuits.  Since childhood, she possessed a strong desire to create beautiful things.  Painting on her own, as a self-taught artist for many years, she gained some recognition.  When she moved to New Tampa in 1989 and started exhibiting her work in galleries in the Tampa Bay Area, as well as Key West. Her 3D Coral Reefs are hanging in homes nationally, and internationally, as far away as the Red Sea and Kuwait.  With retirement from the classroom, and more free time, she went back to college and studied Drawing, Painting, and Design at Hillsborough Community College -Ybor and USF.   Mary Ellen’s work is influenced by her favorite artists, DaVinci, Cezanne, Chagall,  O’Keeffe, Kahlo, Joan Mitchell and Jay DeFeo. With her many years dancing the ballet, she has become  very conscious of line, form, color, music, and drama which she  expresses in her paintings.    Being comfortable painting different genres in a variety of media, she has received recognition for her large abstract floral.  Flowers are a favorite subject for her because she grew up surrounded by flowers in gardens grown by her mother, Florence Curran, a master gardener.  The artist dedicates her flowers to the loving memory of her mother, whose name happens to mean flower. Mary Ellen and Dick Bitner have two grown children and one grandchild, Kristen and Cole Hernandez, Tampa Palms Residents, and R. Hunter Bitner, an attorney practicing in Portland, Oregon. Artist Statement: I am passionate about creating paintings that are relevant to the meaning and experience of being alive in this magnificently beautiful world. Trying always to celebrate the beauty of life and all of creation, I endeavor to create art that lifts the spirit and mind to higher realms and raises our consciousness to recognize that beauty and life are meant to be treasured.   View Mary Ellen's GalleryWebsite Email:  mebitner@verizon.net

North Tampa Arts League's Artist of the Month For July Featured Member - Beverly BarrisThe North Tampa Arts League is proud to announce that Beverly Barris of Lutz is the Artist of the Month for the Month of July. A sample of Beverly’s work will be featured at the New Tampa Regional Library on Cross Creek Blvd. during the month of July. Drop by the Library to see the work of this very talented artist. A native of New York, Beverly was born into a an artistic, creative family that had a passion for the arts. This nurturing atmosphere prompted her to display her artistic talents at a very early age. She won awards for her art both in Junior High and High School, as well as in large competitions, such as The Greenwich Village Art Show and the Pen and Brush Society of New York. Beverly pursued her creative path to the Parsons School of Design, The School of Visual Arts, and The Art Students League. Moving on with her goals, she continued her education and received her BFA degree at William Paterson College. Beverly attributes her mentor, Vincent Capraro, the teacher of the actor, Anthony Quinn and other celebrities, with giving the invaluable knowledge and secrets of old master painting which has made a significant addition to her artistic vision. Our Artist of the Month’s 35 year professional art career has encompassed a very diversified spectrum in the art profession. She has great deal of experience in commercial art. Her career was spent with many well known companies in a variety of positions from Art Director for Conde Nast Magazines to designer and inventor of a varied assortment of products from house wares to dolls. Illustrating greeting cards and children’s books were among her accomplishments as she searched to feed her creative need. All the while, Beverly followed her true course of creating fine art in painting and sculpting. Five years ago, she felt a strong desire to express the deep passion she holds for her connection with her spiritual center. She moved to Tampa and has devoted her full attention to painting and sculpting. Beverly started her business and paints portraits, commissions, murals and faux finishes to support her artistic drive. Her company, Beverly’s Design Studio, has become a thriving business locally. Artist’s statement:My purpose is to touch and connect with the human soul through my art. By surrendering to the process, I feel a rapport with my spiritual source and I become one with my work. At this point, I know the truth is being expressed from my heart and soul. Art creates itself through me and powerful visions unfold which are expressed in paint and form. View Beverly's Gallery

North Tampa Arts League's Artist of the Month For June Featured Member - John Henne John was born in Philadelphia, PA and grew up in Venice, Florida in an artistically talented family where his drawing ability was observed at a very young age. John's love for drawing has never diminished and he still draws and paints everyday to keep his skills in fine tune. Upon graduation from Venice High School, he went to work for GTE. Finding that he needed more education, he left work and enrolled in the College of Arts and Science at Florida State University. After graduation, he once more picked up his career with GTE and worked for that corporation until 1996. John felt the beat of his artistic drum and left the corporate world to pursue new direction in his life. After traveling throughout Europe and visiting most of the major art museums there, he went back to school and took art courses at HCC and USF. John has focused on art ever since; drawing and painting every day in his North Tampa Studio. John’s art business is named Personalized Fine Arts and he accepts commissions for portraits, home portraits, and fine art paintings that coordinate with the clients taste and environment . He can do this with ease as he is comfortable painting in most genre. His latest work has taken a new very experimental journey into Abstraction. John is very active in the art community. He is Chairman of the North Tampa Arts League, a board member of the Arts Council of Hillsborough County, and chairman of the Artist Advisory Committee. John has a lovely wife, Ellen Henne, and two grown daughter, Kimberly and Caroline. View John's Gallery E-mail: jhenne1@tampabay.rr.com

North Tampa Arts League Artist of the Month For May Featured Member - Maritza Kalantar The New Tampa Regional Library is graciously hosting The North Tampa Arts League’s Artist of the Month program starting the first of May. Each month one of the league’s artists will be featured in their own small show at the New Tampa Library. The Artist chosen for May is Maritza Kalantar. Maritza was born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic and immigrated with her family to Patterson, New Jersey at the age of seven. Every summer, Maritza and her five siblings would summer on the beaches of The Dominican Republic. From a very early age she was inspired by the color and beauty of that tropical Caribbean island. From those summer experiences, she developed an eye and passion for art and the beauty of tropical scenery. After completing school in New Jersey, she began work as an accountant. She moved to Florida eight years ago and now lives in Arbor Greene with her husband, Ali, and her son, Michael. Maritza also has a stepson and daughter, Ned and Shireen, who are living in California but who are such an important part of her life. When Maritza moved to Florida she missed her Mother and her twin. She turned to oil painting to fill that void in her life. She began studying under William Greet and has been painting her beautiful , colorful tropical scenes with great enjoyment and success. Since her first days as a painter, she found that creating colorful, happy art takes her away from her boredom and loneliness for her family . It helps her to remember the happy times she spent each summer during her childhood enjoying the beauty of The Dominican Republic.     Return to Current Artist of the Month

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