Of those works, 12 received awards from this year’s judge, Amanda Thompson, the assistant director for the Council on Culture & Arts (COCA), based in Tallahassee. Thompson holds a K-12 Florida Art Teacher Certification and is a practicing artist herself, working in glass, ceramics and a variety of other media.
“I’m honored to serve as judge for this year’s show, and I’m inspired by what these artists have created,” Thompson said. “Each artist is sharing something truly unique, and that’s one of the reasons this show is so moving. Their art has made an impression on me and, for that, I’m grateful.”
The News Herald/USA TODAY NETWORK
PANAMA CITY Local author Michael Lister has gathered some of his friends in singing and literature for a Words & Music event at Floriopolis, the cultural center of historic St. Andrews.
The event will run from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 19, with new book signings by authors Lister, Terry Lewis, Pat Sabiston, Jayson Kretzer and Tony Simmons; a CD debut from Aaron Bearden; and live musical performances by Bearden, Lister and Denise Denaro. The evening is free and open to the public. Floriopolis is at 1131 Beck Ave. in Panama City.
Lister will present his newest novel, Out for Blood, the latest installment in the ongoing John Jordan Mystery series, as well as A Dark Radiant Rain, which launched a new series for him earlier this year. Lister said of the former, It not only has more twists and turns but more gut-wrenching emotion and meaningful stakes than any John Jordan title in a long time maybe ever.
PANAMA CITY The Welcome Wall mural project in downtown Panama City is progressing, with the first of the final four artists already deep into his work. Quite often, people will drop by. They re driving by and see the murals going up, so they ll stop and give us a big thumbs-up and make a lot of positive comments, artist Paul Brent said Monday as he stood in a boom lift and worked on his portion of the project. I ve never heard one negative comment at all for this whole process.
All of the eight artists commissioned to paint portions of the wall are recognized fixtures of the arts community in Bay County, according to Bay Arts Alliance (BAA) half of whom have won the long-running Bay Annual competition hosted at the Panama City Center for the Arts.