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Meet the Selection Jurors for GFA55

The Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts is pleased to introduce our esteemed group of Selection Jurors and our Emerging Artist Juror for the 55th annual Festival.

Main Show Selection Jurors

Leslie Elsasser
Leslie Elsasser

Curator of Education, USF Contemporary Art Museum and
USF Educator
 
Leslie Elsasser serves as Curator of Education at the USF Contemporary Art Museum where she develops and facilitates educational programs and events, and cultivates collaborations, and community partnerships. Leveraging the museum’s collection, she also teaches courses in the USF Honors College centered on the Warhol Foundation Photographic Legacy Project as well as other art and artists related to the museum’s permanent collection. Leslie’s personal mission is to foster contemporary artmaking and bring awareness to the essential role of the arts across cultures and through history.  She has taught studio arts, design and non-western art history courses at the Ringling College of Art and Design, the University of Tampa and the University of South Florida.  Her scholarly work concentrates on Indian Mughal Miniature painting, and she was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to India 2003, artist in residence at Sanskriti 2003 and 2005, and at U Cross in 2012. She holds an MA in Fine Art from the University of South Florida, and an undergraduate degree in Art and Design from the Rhode Island School of Design. Leslie has the privilege of having been the recipient of the Gasparilla Emerging Artist Award in 2002 and has continued to work with the Emerging Artists program.

Ya La'Ford
Ya La'Ford

Artist and Educator
 
Ya La’Ford is a versatile artist, educator, and muralist, working across a wide range of media including paint, sculpture, installation, video, and sound weaving layered meanings to engage with the universal language of art and creating transformative experiences that inspire communal growth. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts from The Art Institute of Boston, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. As a first-generation American of Jamaican heritage, she gracefully navigates between her cultural roots and marginalized communities utilizing the power of art as a medium of connection. Her artwork is held in the esteemed permanent collections of institutions such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Vinik Family Foundation, Nike, Indy500, Grand Prix, the Rays, and the Rowdies, and she was selected to create art for Super Bowl 55 held in Tampa. Her work has also been featured in notable exhibitions at the Tampa Museum of Art, Orlando Museum of Fine Art, and the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, among many others.

Samantha Modder
Samantha Modder

Assistant Professor of Art and Design, University of Tampa

Samantha teaches courses in the History of Graphic Design, Graphic Design I, and Typography. A Nigerian-Sri Lankan artist who works figuratively in pen, collage and digital media to portray Black and female characters, she positions her work within the speculative practice of Black imaginary—a centering of Black dreams and fantasies to create alternate spaces of both comfort and confrontation. She has worked as a graphic designer at a global health nonprofit in Massachusetts and did freelance commissions for (RED), Dartmouth College and other nonprofit and for-profit organizations based in the U.S. and abroad. Modder has been an artist-in-residence at Chautauqua Visual Arts, NY, and the Good Hart Artist Residency, MI. In St Louis, she was a community member of "Murals on Olive Street," a volunteer at a local art studio and a member of the Fairness and Diversity Committee at the Sam Fox School. She presented on panels and held workshops on art and activism as an alumnus at Dartmouth's Center for Social Impact and other online programming. Modder's art has been shown in group shows in Boston, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Albuquerque and other cities. Modder has had three solo exhibitions, most recently in Granite City, IL.
Samantha holds a BA from Dartmouth College (2017), a BE from Dartmouth College (2018), and an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis (2022).

Peter Tush
Peter Tush

Curator and Senior Interpreter, The Dalí Museum
 
Tush earned his undergraduate degree in Art History from New College, Sarasota, and his master’s degree in art history from the University of South Florida. Working at The Dalí Museum for over two decades, Tush is a key interpreter of the Dalí collection and special exhibitions. He develops exhibitions, trains the docents, scripts the audio guides and gallery labels, and works with the education team to develop the student exhibitions. Recently he curated the exhibition, Reimagining Nature: Dalí’s Floral Fantasies. Over the years, Tush has taught classes on Dalí, Surrealism and film, and has presented on a wide range of topics including Dalí and Hollywood, Surrealism and Women, and Dalí’s Ghosts.

Emerging Artist Juror

Lissa Hatcher
Lissa Hatcher

Photographer, Art Director and Editor
 
Lissa Hatcher's award-winning photographs are highly conceptualized and choreographed productions full of fantastic characters in imaginary places. As a photographer, art director, and editor, it is often whispered that her shoots look like tiny movie sets where characters play out scenes like actors. Specializing in surrealistic fairytales, she has received awards from Kodak, Fuji and other industry leaders, with features on Amalie Arena’s Jumbotron, Tampa Theater’s Marquee, American Photo Magazine, Kodak.com, and a variety of other publications and prominent spaces. Primarily self-taught, she became skilled enough at Photoshop to become a sought-after teacher and speaker, eventually circling back to earn her Masters of Photography from the Professional Photographers of America.  
Lissa continues pushing boundaries by combining photography, costume design and paint to create mixed media pieces and writing short stories about her characters which will ultimately be published as a children’s book, also serving on tea covers for her trademarked company Morbid Curiosities. After traveling the globe with her military husband, Lissa, a true Florida native returned home can currently be found making thoughts into things, showing, teaching and mentoring in Tampa and beyond. Lissa is also a previous winner of the GFA Emerging Artist Award.

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.

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.

Giorgi

Rock musician that refuses to find a niche

GA & FL

FFO: Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World

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.

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.

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.

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”

Deaf Company

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

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

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.

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.