Green Book of Tampa Bay Group Art Exhibit

Green Book of Tampa Bay

Join us for an art exhibition featuring works from Green Book of Tampa Bay artists during Second Saturday Art Walk on Saturday August 14, 2021 from 5:00-9:00 PM. The exhibit will be on display through Second Saturday September 11, 2021 when there will be gallery hours and a closing reception from 5:00-9:00 PM.

The Green Book of Tampa Bay is a Black-owned business directory that serves Pinellas and Hillsborough county. We help people who are concerned with inequity in their community be intentional with how they spend their dollars. Along with promoting Black-owned businesses, the directory promotes Black artists as well as historical and cultural sites.

Participating artists are listed in the Green Book of Tampa Bay and include:

Ebony Adside

Artist and creator Ebony Charity, also known as “Eb”, is an Orlando, FL native and University of Central Florida Alumni. Back in 2018, she noticed manufactured art in retail stores and decided to begin creating original abstract artwork on my own.

Inspired by the literal term, Eb&Floww is a collection of original abstract art pieces on canvas using acrylic paint and liquid mediums. The natural flow of liquefied paint is then tilted in a rhythmical pattern of coming and going, also demonstrating a decline and regrowth.

Elaine Chambliss Dogan

Bringing a message of Love, support of family and education and taking it to the streets, I was born in St. Petersburg, Florida.  With a mission to share inspiring messages through figurative art, I create to support those with a mission of cultivating communities with emphasis on love for our children and family.

After graduating from ITT Technical Institute with an A.S degree and working 10 years in the Civil Engineering field as a Computer Aided Drafting Designer with Bridge Engineers, I transitioned from the technical field to Supply Chain Management with a focus in entrepreneurship. With a passion for graphics, I was inspired to stretch my drafting skills and combine them with painting. In 2012 my first Mural was created on my garage door with messages of love.

My goal is to promote an inspiring message of Hope to those encouraged by the transformational power of Art. I create mainly large-scale paintings created in Oil. I want to build one another up and participate in empowering one another to live a different day, and a different life. The ideas and issues presented in my work is to promote strength, share unity and family togetherness. My love for Art comes from my love for people.  From the garage door, to the canvas, to the street, I progressively express my passion for painting encouraging strength through Cultural Art.

Lauren Gay

Lauren Gay is a travel writer and landscape/ travel phtotographer who is passionate about inspiring and empowering black women to step out of their comfort zones for new experiences in travel and adventure and embracing nature as therapy.

Denzel Johnson-Green

Denzel is a St. Petersburg based photographer and poet who uses his camera to capture expressive portraits in the moment.

Myiah Pink

Soul Lessons is a collection of work created by Artist & Creator Myiah Pink. The message being conveyed through these pieces is the journey of finding inner freedom and breaking free from the shackles of what society has painted us to be. Pink takes you through a journey of awakening through meditation.

Shawn Rainey / Fabstraq

Shawn Rainey the artist known as Fabstraq is an artistic soul who has been creating art since his early childhood. From paintings to poetry, this multifaceted artist delivers inspiration with each of his artistic abilities.

Early in life, Fabstraq, struggled with various forms of trauma which led to painful feelings of isolation and rejection. These feelings took him to the darkest places of his being and increasingly became a detriment to his development. Feeling hopeless and alone, he longed to find an escape and that’s when he was introduced to Art.

Art became the vehicle to transport him from the dark to the light. He quickly learned that in this creative space of making Art, he could experience feeling understood, fulfilled, and truly ALIVE. He had finally found a place where he could feel at home right within the safest places of his own mind. He found the zone where pain ceased to exist. He found his soul’s purpose.

Fabstraq is a Certified Art Therapy Life Coach and has participated in various local charity art shows benefiting organizations such as The National Breast Cancer Foundation Inc. and Chemo Angels. He regularly volunteers at The Glazers Children museum for Member Mornings where he inspires future artists through his art.

Ashley Rivers / Nature of Fire

Ashley Rivers is an Artist, Craftswoman, and Curator primarily focused on creating unique works of art through inspiration from the earth, nature, her identity, and the body. With a background in ceramics and sculpture, her work is centered around finding beauty and acceptance within imperfections, and experimenting and connecting her work to the natural world. Ashley spent the majority of her life growing up in Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida, and being raised by a single parent. She received her Bachelors of Fine Arts, with a concentration in Ceramics/Sculpture, from the University of South Florida in Spring of 2021. She has intentions of progressing her body of work before continuing her education towards a Master in Fine Arts. She is a mixed-raced female artist who gravitates towards issues regarding femininity and the female body. Her work cultivates a range of mixed mediums and figurative imagery, and aims to embrace strength, beauty, and hope.

Roosevelt Skinner / Earth Arts by Roose

My name is Roosevelt Skinner of Earth Arts by Roose, we started in March 2020 in Clearwater Florida. Our focus at Earth Arts is to blend natural art with multiple fabric combinations where the emphasis is women of fashion, culture, and models on the runway. We use the Royal Palm,and other sorts of palm to show our creations.

The concept of Earth Arts by Roose started as a child watching my mother in the garden replanting and repurposing plants, pots and nurturing them. I have a lifetime of art throughout school, working in flower shops, and combining sewing techniques to make our selections.

Rolph Vassor / Vassor Enterprises

Rolph Vassor is a God fearing man, husband, father and artist. He would not title himself a Shoe Customizer, but an Artist.

Rolph started his artistic journey at a wee little age of maybe 6, the days of Bugs Bunny Saturday morning shows in Miami, FL. He started off drawing Bugs Bunny, Conan the Adventurer and Bart Simpson around the 3rd grade on lined notebook paper and pencil. From their, Rolph’s love for art led him into the Art Club in elementary school which led him to magnet program in South Miami elementary school for 4th grade. There under the tutelage his Art Teachers he learned to fine tune his visual art skills professionally through college where he earned his BFA.

After college was rough for a few years as an Artist and father. There were a few hurdles and career moves and questions. Ultimately, Rolph was led back to art and was doing various freelance gigs. With the new found success in freelancing the drive grew more and more to needing art to be full time. Rolph went to part-time Freelance Artist, to part-time Paint-party Instructor while being a Tattoo Artist, to full-time Tattoo Artist, then ending up as full-time Art Teacher and Artist that paints any and everything, and now Business Owner of Vassor Enterprise LLC.