TAMPA, FL (June 1, 2021) -- Following the first installation of Skyway 20/21: A Contemporary Collaboration which opened on May 22nd at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, the on June 3rd, Tampa Museum of art opens the second and largest of the four-part collaboration among the Tampa Bay Area’s museums.
Skyway 20/21: A Contemporary Collaboration is a regional art partnership among the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the Tampa Museum of Art, and the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum that celebrates the talent and diversity of contemporary artists working in the Tampa Bay region. Following the success of Skyway in 2017, this second iteration, Skyway 20/21, builds on the exceptional institutional alliance and cultural partnership to spotlight local artists and contemporary art practices. Due to the devastating and challenging circumstances of the global health pandemic COVID-19, Skyway 20/21 was postponed from its original date of summer 2020 to allow the artists and their work to be fully celebrated.
After the unavoidable delay, Joanna Robotham, the Tampa Museum of Art’s Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, expressed that “we are ready to hoist our Skyway banners and welcome the public to this remarkable presentation of regional art. It has been a privilege working with the curators at our neighboring museums on this important exhibition. The world needs artists. We need art to thrive.”
Skyway 20/21 features 49 artists and art collectives working in Hillsborough, Manatee, Pinellas, and Sarasota counties. Following an open call for submissions, the artists were selected by the museum curators and guest juror Claire Tancons, an independent curator and scholar whose practice takes a global focus on the conditions of cultural production. In her curatorial essay included in the fully illustrated catalog accompanying the exhibition, Tancons offers her vision of this unique curatorial and cultural partnership, “In order to get closer to Tampa Bay as a natural and cultural ecosystem, I would like to present and test the idea of the museum as mangrove and of the exhibition as rhizome. By considering time and history, we might gain a little distance from and, at the same time, apprehend more wholesomely the strictures of space.
Both aerial and subterranean, terrestrial and aquatic, rhizomes need not choose one environment over another as they simultaneously absorb the diurnal and nocturnal atmospheres offered above and below the horizon of visual perception. A rhizomatic exhibition likewise embraces proximate and contrary elements, like-minded and opposite ideas, circumventing conceptual divergences and cutting across stylistic preferences to form a creative ecosystem, inclusive of the widest variety of artistic species.”
Skyway 20/21: A Contemporary Collaboration is presented concurrently across the four venues. For more information, visit: http://www.skywaytampabay.com/
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL
May 22–Aug. 22, 2021
Artists exhibited: Robert Aiosa, Dolores Coe, Keith Crowley, Becky Flanders, Dakota Gearhart, Bassmi Ibrahim, Morgan Janssen, Ezra Johnson, Karl Kelly, Savannah Magnolia, Jon Notwick, Lynne Railsback, Gabriel Ramos, Matthew Wicks, and Janelle Young
Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL
June 3–Oct. 10, 2021
Artists exhibited: Jaime Aelavanthara & Amanda Sieradzki, Kim Anderson, Wendy Babcox, Janet Folsom, Samson Huang, Cassia Kite, Jason Lazarus, Jenn Miller, Sarah O’Donoghue, Herion Park, Anat Pollack, Libbi Ponce, Selina Román, John Sims, Mike Solomon, Jill Taffet, and Kirk Ke Wang
USF Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, FL
June 14–Sept. 1, 2021
Artists Exhibited: Rosemarie Chiarlone, Danny Dobrow, Babette Herschberger, Akiko Kotani, Cynthia Mason, Ry McCullough, Casey McDonough, and Kodi Thompson
The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL
June 20–Sept. 26, 2021
Artists exhibited: Carrie Boucher, Ya Levy La’ford, Kalup Linzy, Noelle Mason, OK! Transmit, Eric Ondina, Heather Rosenbach, and Jake Troyli
The full-color Skyway 20/21 exhibition catalog with curatorial essays and information about the participating artists is generously supported by Brown & Brown Insurance, and The Stanton Storer Embrace the Arts Foundation. Skyway 20/21 is made possible with funding from the City of St. Petersburg, Office of Cultural Affairs; Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs; the Gobioff Foundation; Gulf Coast Community Foundation; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Foundation; Dr. Allen Root; Arthur F. and Ulla R. Searing Ringling Endowment; Tampa Museum of Art Foundation; and the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum Lee and Victor Leavengood Endowment. Additional support provided by Sarasota County Tourist Development Council and media partners Herald-Tribune Media Group, Tampa Bay Times, and WUSF.
ABOUT TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART
Founded in 1920, the Tampa Museum of Art inspires the Tampa Bay region residents and others around the world by providing engaging exhibitions and innovative educational programs that emphasize ancient, modern, and contemporary art. The Museum houses one of the largest Greek and Roman antiquities collections in the southeastern United States. As one of the region’s largest museums devoted to the art of our time, the Museum’s permanent collection also embraces sculpture, photography, painting, new media, and more.
New online programs add to the year-round studio art classes, lectures, and tours that provide children, teens, and adults with opportunities to discover new perspectives and learn different art-making techniques. Likewise, through unique community partnerships, the Museum offers outreach programs that provide art-therapy-informed interventions and meaningful modes of self-expression to vulnerable segments of the population.
Located in the heart of downtown Tampa, next to the Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park and Tampa’s Riverwalk, the Tampa Museum of Art leads as both a cultural institution and a community museum dedicated to celebrating the diversity of its home city.
Museum hours and information
TMA Hours: Mon-Sun 10am-5pm, Thurs 10am-8pm
Please visit tampamuseum.org or call (813) 274-8130 for more information on admission, current and future exhibitions and programming. Tampa Museum of Art is located at 120 W. Gasparilla Plaza. Tampa, FL 33602.
ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, ST. PETERSBURG
The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) is proud to have within its walls the only comprehensive art collection of its kind on Florida’s west coast, encompassing almost 5,000 years of civilization. Highlights include masterpieces from Monet, O’Keeffe, De Kooning, and others, a sculpture garden, a glass gallery and one of Florida’s most respected photography collections. The museum’s rotating exhibition galleries feature a diverse selection of collaborative exhibitions with partner institutions and exhibitions curated from the museum’s extensive collection. Our community programs celebrate art and engage the diverse cultures and communities we serve.
Museum Hours + Admissions
MFA Hours: Mon Closed, Tues-Wed 10am–5pm, Thurs-Fri 12pm–8pm, Sat-Sun Noon–5pm
To learn more about MFA pricing, current exhibitions and related museum programs, please visit mfastpete.org or call (727) 896-2667 for more information. Senior, military, educator, student and youth admission discounts available.
ABOUT THE JOHN AND MABLE RINGLING MUSEUM OF ART
The Ringling is a preeminent center for the arts, history and learning that is dedicated to bringing the past and contemporary culture to life through extraordinary visitor experiences. From its inception, The Ringling has joined the diverse visual traditions and theatrical spectacle of yesterday with the genre-defying global practitioners of today. A place of exploration, discovery and respite, The Ringling’s campus in Sarasota, Florida—which includes the Museum of Art, Circus Museum, a historic home, an 18th-century theater and bayfront gardens—is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As the State Art Museum of Florida and part of Florida State University, The Ringling fulfills an important educational mission. The Ringling offers formal and informal programs of study serving as a major resource for students, scholars and lifelong learners of every age across the region and country and around the world.
Museum Hours + Admissions
THE RINGLING Hours: Open Daily 10am-5pm, Thurs 10am–8pm
Please visit ringling.org or call (941) 539-5700 for more information on admission, current and future exhibitions and programming. The Ringling is located at 5401 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota, FL 34243
ABOUT USF CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM
The University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum (USFCAM) organizes and presents significant and investigative exhibitions of contemporary art from Florida, the United States and around the world. Serving as a teaching laboratory, USFCAM’s curatorial and socially engaged initiatives and educational programs are designed to present the students, faculty, and community with current issues of contemporary art practice, and to explore the role of the arts in society. USFCAM publishes relevant catalogues, presents critically recognized traveling exhibitions and commissions new projects by national and international artists. USFCAM maintains the university’s art collection, comprising more than 5000 contemporary art works.
Museum Hours + Admissions
USFCAM Hours: Monday-Friday 10am-5pm - Reservations Required
Admission to the Museum is free; however, a USF parking permit ($5.00 daily) or pay-per-space parking is required. Please visit cam.usf.edu or call (813) 974-4133 for parking, directions, or more information on events associated with the exhibitions.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Nina Contreras Womeldurf, Director of Marketing and Communications
Office: (813) 421-6613
Mobile: (727) 776-2430
E-mail: Nina.Womeldurf@TampaMuseum.org
Download the press kit of artists exhibited at the Tampa Museum of Art