By Nailea Mejias
TAMPA – Donna never expected to be an artist after graduating from college with a business degree. It has now been her career for over 25 years.
It was after college that Donna realized she wanted to go into a more creative direction. With the rise in the use of personal computers, she was able to learn graphic design and paint on the side.
Donna Morrison, now the vice-president of Tampa Regional Artists, became a full-time painter who dabbles in a lot of different mediums but prefers watercolor. She says it’s important for her to focus on one style. When she started teaching workshops, it made her “be that much better at sharing information.”
She teaches at the Old Hyde Park Art Center alongside her coworker, Kathy Durdin, the president of the Tampa Regional Artists. The center offers workshops every month.
“It is an avenue for growth, connection, friendship and healing,” she said. “A great opportunity for anybody to start from ground zero and get their toe into the art community.”
The art center is in a 1,100-square-foot, 136-year-old building. Kathy said she wanted more.
“Part of the concern of the Tampa art scene is that there are no large venues to exhibit art,” she said.
When visiting the small community of Bradenton, Kathy realized that they had a venue where she could bring nationally and internationally known artists to the public, something Tampa lacks.
Donna took it a step further. She said that the art outlets currently available in Tampa, like the Straz Center and the Tampa Museum of Art, are not accessible to the general public and offer “very little learning opportunity” and “very little hands-on opportunities”.
Donna said a bigger art center could benefit the community and local businesses, but that “it takes vision on the part of the city.” The city has the arts under its parks and recreation department, with no separate division for the arts. “Their vision is parks, not art, and it’s hard to get them to see the vision,” she said.
So they have been in constant communication with the city about creating an art center that is accessible to the entire community. She wanted it to be usable for every age and serve as a rentable space for special events.
“How nice would it be to have a 10,000 square foot art center up the street? So here’s hoping,” Donna said.
Jordyn Reavis, a local aspiring artist, has been drawing and painting since she was 7 years old and would love to find a place to showcase and promote her work.
“I’ve always wanted to go to the art center but it would be so cool to have a bigger space to work in. It’ll just be more opportunities available for us,” Reavis said.
artists to showcase their work. Image by Nailea Mejias.
Although both Donna and Kathy said they hope for a larger art center in downtown Tampa, they began working on a fundraiser to preserve their current home, the Old Hyde Park Art Center.
In a letter addressed to “friend of the arts,” they provided a historical background of the center. They explained how it “has been lovingly maintained and utilized as a community resource by generations of students and artists.” The letter outlined the “urgent challenge” the center faces and announced the launch of a $400,000 campaign to “restore and preserve the community gem for decades to come.” The goal of the fundraiser was to address the building’s deterioration while keeping its character. The letter also detailed how people can help, starting with donating to support the renovations.
“Art is not a nice-to-have. Art is very important. It’s important to a human’s wellbeing, it’s important for emotional, physical and mental wellbeing. It is important for a vibrant community,” Kathy said, speaking on the importance of art. “To say that you don’t need art is silly.”