Adrienne Eliades will host the Pattern Making on Clay workshop at the Dunedin Fine Art Center. Adrienne is a studio potter and educator who has studied, taught, and exhibited nationally and internationally.

This workshop is an excellent opportunity to learn from a phenomenal potter and instructor who was named a 2018 Emerging Artist by Ceramics Monthly, and it is for both handbuilders and wheel throwers.

This hands-on workshop introduces pattern decoration techniques and how to embrace vibrant color in clay work. The goal of this workshop is to expand your surface decoration repertoire.

Ages 17 and up. This course is open to all skill levels. Hand-builders and wheel throwers are welcome.

Ezra Johnson is a painter based in Tampa, Florida. Born in 1975 in Wenatchee, Washington. He received an MFA from Hunter College in New York in 2006 and a BFA from California College of the Arts in San Francisco in 2000. Johnson’s painting practice often expands into animation and sculpture. Interested in experimenting with color, form, and surface, his work takes a playful, energetic approach to serious subject matter.

Johnson has exhibited at many prestigious museums, such as the Nerman Museum of Art in Kansas, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Site Santa Fe Biennial, the ICA in Philadelphia, and gallery exhibitions, nationally and internationally. Johnson is represented by Freight + Volume Gallery in New York and Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami. Johnson is an Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing at the University of South Florida.

The series welcomes artist Jim Gigurtsis

Title of the Presentation

Ceci n’est pas une pipe – My Watershed Moment

“We will start with a brief history of portraiture and then reflect on my art journey from realism to expressionism. We will discuss my art practice, including some of the tools and techniques I use to paint expressive work. We will briefly touch on what I teach and my involvement with arts in the community. Examples of artwork are included in the presentation.”

Jim Gigurtsis was born in Crete, Greece, and moved to England as a young adult. In 2016, Jim moved to Seminole, Pinellas County, from Europe. Jim Gigurtsis is an award-winning multi-discipline artist. His preferred medium is oil painting, but he also uses video and installation.

His work is internationally known and can be found in private and public collections in the US, UK, Greece, Canada, and Norway. Since 2011, his work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in London and the USA. In 2019, he received an Emerging Artist grant from Creative Pinellas. Jim has won several awards, including Best of Show for Pinellas County in 2022.

Jim was the curator for the exhibition space at the Financial Contact Authority in London and advised on their art strategy. He has taught art classes and workshops at the Morean Arts Center, Treasure Island Art Guild, and London, UK. He does demonstrations of portrait painting and also gives private lessons.

Jim is an avid supporter of the arts in the community. He does this by giving free art lessons to individuals and groups that cannot afford it and by supporting worthwhile non-profit organizations, such as the Suncoast Voices for Children and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay.