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Festival Award Winners

Gasparilla Festival of the Arts 2024

To view this year’s award-winning art, download the 2024 Awards presentation here. (PPT 13.2MB)

Top Level Awards

Raymond James Financial Best of Show Award
Kelly Rysavy
Painting
By Invitation Only

Board of Directors Award
Gloria McRoberts
Fiber
Dancing at Dawn

GFA Founders Award
Joe Engel
Mixed Media
Stand

City of Tampa Award
Xavier Nuez
Photography
Dequindre Couch, Detroit

Roddy Brownlee Reed Award of Artistic Excellence
Clifton Henri
Photography
KING-DOM

The Lightning Foundation Award
Nicholas Barnes
Wood
Flower Garden

Emerging Artists Award
Joe Hobbs
Glass
Illustrated Amphora with Hands

Awards of Merit

5 Studios Award of Merit
Helen Gotlib
Printmaking
Sunrise at Pettit Lake

Anne Marie Campbell and Sam Giunta Award of Merit
Kristen Dahms
Mixed Media
Flight of Beauty

api(+) Award of Merit
Ummarid Eitharong
Mixed Media
The Absence of Logic

ARTicles Art Gallery Award of Merit
Ashley Sauder Miller
Mixed Media
No. 592

Bank of Tampa Award of Merit
Ken Orton
Painting
Tall Towers

Bay Securities Award of Merit
Chelsi Smith
Mixed Media
The Rose Moon

Brick Media Award of Merit
LJ Eidolon
Digital
Daydreamer

CRMPlus Consulting Award of Merit 
Angela Kullman
Photography
The Messengers

Doubletake Studios Award of Merit
Luis Enrique Gutiérrez
Ceramic
Gravity

GFA Volunteers Award of Merit
Bashar & Roula Jarjour
Ceramic
Convergence

Grooms Benefits Award of Merit
Amanda Outcalt
Mixed Media
Lifted Up By Love

Harbinger Sign Award of Merit
Susan Gott
Glass
Calendar Wheel

Henk and Arie Award of Merit
Athlone Clarke
Mixed Media
Don’t Lose Faith

Honest1 Auto Care Award of Merit
Trent Manning
Sculpture
Moth, Man or Myth

Jack and Marcia Cohen Award of Merit
Pam Fox
Jewelry
Blooming Ring Pedestal

Jennifer Malin and Marc Dahl Award of Merit
Nathan Miller
Painting
Kingdom of the Savana Warrior

Kelly M. Klein Memorial Award of Merit 
Shana Bertetto
Jewelry
Radiating Life Flower Mandala

Marilyn C. Fitzgerald Award of Merit
Lynn Hardesty
Jewelry
Rising Phoenix

Oxford Commons Award of Merit
Andrew Libecki
Glass
Moon Shadow

Page Family Award of Merit
Bobby Goldsmith
Drawing
Capulin Barn

Priority One Financial Services Award of Merit
Mark Sudduth
Glass
Winding Road

Sky Lake Design Studio Award of Merit
Matthew Hatala
Wood
Leaves

Susan Ferrentino Award of Merit
John Kellum
Ceramic
Twisted Vase

Tampa Bay Rays & Rowdies Award of Merit 
Andy Koupal
Glass
Industrial Impression in Amber & Turquoise

Tampa Bay Times Award of Merit
Deana Goldsmith
Drawing
Stay Sharp

Tara Knauss-Wilga Award of Merit
Leeann Kroetsch
Fiber
Opulence

The Barrymore Hotel Award of Merit
Michelle McDowell Smith
Mixed Media
Through Beautiful Darkness

Trinity Surfaces Award of Merit
Janvier Ngamije
Fiber
Untitled

WUSF Award of Merit
Dustin Headrick
Mixed Media
Southland Summer

Yoga Loft Award of Merit
Princess Smith
Painting
Bossy

Vinik Family Foundation Young Artists Expo Award Winners

Natalie Galan
Drawing
Gibbs High School

Theodore Le
Painting
H.B. Plant High School

Cora Ross
Photography
Lakewood High School

View the Work of all GFA54 Festival Artists Here
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The Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts is one of the top outdoor, juried fine arts shows in the United States, showcasing a wide variety of art mediums and price points. We invite you to discover why this festival has been a must-see event for art lovers for more than 50 years.

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PO Box 10591
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Website by Sky Lake Design, LLC.

Website photography by Marc Dahl of 5 Studios, Will Staples, Jimena Lopez & Tara Knauss-Wilga.

© 2024 Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, Inc. (GFA) values inclusion and access for all participants and will provide reasonable accommodations in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Florida law to any person with a disability who needs an accommodation in order to attend a GFA event. To ensure that your request for accommodation can be considered, please submit your request at least ten (10) business days in advance of the scheduled event. Please email the organization’s Vice President to make a reasonable accommodation request.
Email: VicePresident@gasparillaarts.com
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Ajeva

Ajeva is a funk/rock band from St. Petersburg, FL. The band started in 2013 and features Reed Skahill (vocals), Taylor Gilchrist (bass), Mike Nivens (guitar), and Lyndon Thacker (keys). They’ve carved out a sound of their own with epic melodies and distinctive vocals that pair perfectly with their deep grooves. Each Ajeva show is a one of a kind experience with the band taking their songs to different places and new heights every night.

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Light the Wire

Light the Wire makes heartfelt, indie-folk rock that with powerful vocal harmonies, thoughtful lyrics, and powered by driving bass and drums.  The quintet is based out of Tampa, FL, and released its self-produced, debut EP – “Someday Is Coming” on all streaming platforms on November 1, 2023.

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Giorgi

Rock musician that refuses to find a niche

GA & FL

FFO: Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World

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Mwiza

Biggest influences are church, his mother, Coheed & Cambria, Acceptance, James Morrison, Bombay Bicycle Club, Disturbed, Arctic Monkeys, Young The Giant, Chevelle, Rusko, Chief and Matt Corby. Most of the music he listens to has a darker sound to it so he in turn makes darker, melodic music.

  • IAMMWIZA
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Datagram

Datagram has been the moniker of shapeshifting Tampa musician Scott Olson for the better part of the last decade.

In that time, the sound and styles of this project have shifted and morphed, painting with shades of glitch, downtempo, techno, and all that lurks in between.

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Shevonne and the Force

A multi-hyphenate, genre-bending artist, Shevonne Philidor is a singer-songwriter, producer, and actress who epitomizes her dynamic background in music and performing arts. A military brat born in Philadelphia, PA, she experienced living in multiple cities – including a stint in Italy – before landing in Tampa, Fl, where she nurtured her musical ability throughout her childhood. She’s a scion of a musical family stemming from her half-Haitian descent and taught herself to play the guitar at an early age, inspired by the likes of Prince, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill, Bob Marley, and M83. In 2003, she made her first TV debut on America’s Most Talented Kids, and in 2010, she made an appearance on America’s Got Talent Wild Card. A recipient of the prestigious NFAA scholarship, she also made American Idol’s top 40 twice in 2016 and 2019, the same year she performed at Austin City Limits with five-time Grammy award-winning artist Gary Clark jr. In 2021, she performed alongside CeeLo Green at a Superbowl party for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and was tapped to sing for ABC’s Juneteenth celebration with T.I. and Domani. Working with Grand Hustle Records, she’s a Luna Guitar-endorsed artist who was also selected to perform in Just Blaze’s SXSW showcase in 2022. A theatre kid at heart, she’s flexed her acting skills on a national tour for Todrick Hall’s musical, Oz The Musical, and she was also recently casted in Life’s Rewards, an upcoming Amazon Prime TV show.

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Kristopher James

Though he’s lived in the Sunshine State, for most of his life, Kristopher’s talent for melody and song (now) extend far past the state’s line. Like his influencers Otis Redding, Amos Lee, and Roberta Flack, Kristopher’s voice is clear, controlled, and full of all-the-feels.  As with all artists, Kristopher’s sound has ebbed and flowed, evolving yet remaining instantly recognizable. With the growth he’s experienced as an artist, Kristopher felt it was time to capture his songs, in their fully-imagined sound!

With his debut album “Kindness Never Quits”, featuring members of Scary Pockets, Kristopher caught the attention of Relix & Glide Magazine, Spotify Playlist curators and continued praise, such as “vocals are so powerful and as the song progresses, he showcases why he is one of the best singers out there. All that soul in one artist is just unbelievable” from Reignland Magazine.

Continuing through the COVID years, Kristopher partnered with musicians to keep the music and community alive. Along with composer and keys player Mike Hicks of Rascal Flatts, The War & Treaty’s Max Brown on guitar, as well as talented artists Kyshona Armstrong, Jonathan Huber, DeMarco Johnson, Kristopher released 3 acclaimed singles: “Never Had to Find Our Way”, “Feelings” and “I Can Only Love You in a Song”

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Deaf Company

Three piece Rock n Roll band hailing from St. Petersburg, FL.

Deaf Company Instagram Page
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Skyler Golden

Musician from St. Pete Florida and Studio Producer for Zen Recording. Brings an eclectic sound of string instruments for the Yoga Classes at GFA 2024

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SydLive

From Tampa Florida, SydLive was born to write and sing songs that touch the world. As her mother recalls, her climb to stardom began with getting on top of restaurant tables to sing at the age of two.

By the time she was eleven, she acquired her first guitar and began to teach herself to play by learning Beatles songs. Within four years she found her way to the stage singing in a Carpenters tribute band. Since this time, Syd has amassed over a decade of experience as a professional singer/songwriter and recording/performance artist. Within the industry, she names Aretha Franklin as her idol.

  • IG: sydlive
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DURRY

The first sound you hear on Durry’s rambunctious and poignant debut album, Suburban Legend, is an old-school Internet dial-up tone. To songwriter Austin Durry, the sound is instantly familiar but his bandmate and sister, Taryn, hadn’t heard it before. The Burnsville, Minnesota-based duo might identify with different age groups — with seven years between them, Austin is a millennial and Taryn is Gen Z — but by joining forces in Durry, they show just how much the neighboring generations have in common.

Between their serendipitous origin story and a crop of dynamic, hook-heavy alt-pop tracks, Durry are doing something few bands can achieve — and they’re doing it entirely on their own terms. As a band, Taryn and Austin’s journey happened both unexpectedly and fortuitously. At the start of the COVID pandemic, Austin and his wife moved back into his parents’ house, where Taryn was also living at the time. In addition to moving back in with his family, COVID forced Austin to cancel an extensive tour with his previous band, Coyote Kid. Faced with nothing but time, he got back to songwriting, regularly asking Taryn for input — or as the two playfully put it, “Gen Z quality control.”

“I’d say, here’s an early concept, what do you think? Then she’ll steer the ship, and then I’ll evolve it from there,” Austin explains. “Taryn is the sounding board and Gen Z vision of the band, where I’m kinda cranking stuff out.”

As they got going, forming what would turn into Durry, the siblings also outlined DIY ideas for branding and promotion, creating all of their own content and imbuing their visuals with nostalgic golden yellow, large fonts, and tactile images that would later make their way into eye-catching merch.

The immediate result of their musical partnership was the pop-punk/alternative anthem “Who’s Laughing Now,” which leads with wry, tongue-in-cheek lyrics about the futility of young adulthood in 2023: “My mama always said I would regret it if I ever got a tattoo,” Austin chants, adding: “She said I’d never get a job like I ever wanted one with that attitude/ My dad said I had to learn to drive a stick shift, but every van I ever had was an automatic/ My friends said that someday I would make it big, but I’m still living in the basement.”

After posting an unfinished version of “Who’s Laughing Now” on TikTok, it swiftly took off, galvanizing thousands of viewers who shared their coming-of-age frustrations. Clearly, the song’s sentiments — which land somewhere between a shrug and a clenched fist — resonated with millions of listeners, and today the song has garnered more than four million Spotify streams. Meanwhile, Durry have recorded a fully fleshed-out version of “Who’s Laughing Now,” which is set to appear on their riveting, perfectly sardonic debut LP, Suburban Legend.

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