Florida Artists Group

Rebecca's Bio:

Rebecca Skelton has been a Florida Arists Group member since about 2002.
Ms. Skelton works in sculpture, drawing and painting. Her figurative sculpture has evolved into bowl or cup forms she calls “vessels,” which symbolize the feminine form. The sculptures are copper and brass embellished with beads and found objects. Her drawings are of the human form drawn directly from life. The images are often layered on handmade paper. In her paintings, the visible world is not her point of departure; it is her point of return. She begins a painting as an experiment with a particular set of colors. Some of her paintings remain nonobjective while others resolve into recognizable form.

Ms. Skelton has worked as an adjunct professor of art for University of Tampa, St. Petersburg College, USF St. Petersburg, HCC Ybor, and Eckerd College where she has taught various levels of painting, drawing, and design. Over the past 20 years, she also has taught a diverse set of students such as developmentally disabled adults, children, teenagers, and senior citizens through classes at The Morean Arts Center, Creative Clay, Youth Arts Corps, and the Dali Museum.

Her education includes a BFA and MFA from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama where she pursued the study of painting, drawing, and printmaking. She has continued her studies in various areas of art, including jewelry classes in order to refine her sculpture techniques and she has participated in The New York Studio School’s Drawing Marathon in 2000 and 2004

Artist Statement:

The making and viewing of art is transformative. It is a spiritual experience even more than an intellectual one. I begin my artwork as an experiment with a particular set of colors or elements. The goal is to see what sort of expression I can get from the various combinations and the handling of the colors and material itself. The basic result is that much of my work has been nonobjective although it contained suggested forms. I consider the goal of abstraction to be the most difficult and the pinnacle of the use of art as an visual language. Although much of my art contains figurative elements, I will always consider myself primarily an abstract artist.
From the first searching mark placed on a surface and each component fabricated, the art begins to define itself more and more narrowly until there is no more to discuss. The image knows only itself as it struggles to emerge. Each is like a willful child growing into an independent image. Any element behaves only as its particular state of being allows it to behave. And each piece of art demands its own format. For this reason, my work is varied. Each new piece cries to be its own event.

Rebecca Skelton Exhibitions:

Solo Shows:

2006             Transformative Marks, Don Vista Cultural Arts Center, St. Pete Beach, July
2005             Rondo, Morean Arts Center, St. Petersburg, FL, July
2005             Healing Feeling, Unity Church, St. Petersburg, FL, Fall
2000             Muse Gallery, Clearwater, FL, Fall
2000             Tampa Chamber of Commerce, Tampa, FL, ArtsImpact Series,
2001              St. Pete Little Theatre, St. Petersburg, FL
1999              St. Pete Little Theatre, St. Petersburg, FL
1998              St. Pete Little Theatre, St. Petersburg, FL

Invitational Exhibitions:

2014              Trust Birth, Softwater Studio, St. Petersburg, FL
2013              Figures, Two-Artist Show, Articles Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL
2013              11th Annual Invited Artist Exhibit, Lewis House, ASPEC, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL
2012              Creature Comforts, Morean Arts Center, St. Petersburg, FL
2012              Thursday Night Live, Elliot Gallery, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL
2012              2nd Annual Salon, Biggin Gallery, Auburn University, AL
2012              PAVA Members’ Show Leepa-Rattner Museum, Tarpon Springs, FL
2012              Florida Artist Group, Beach Art Center, Indian Rocks Beach, FL
2012              Dark Drawings, 2-Artist show, Eckerd College, Palm Harbor, FL
2011              Social Disruption, C. Emerson Fine Art, St. Petersburg, FL
2011              Return to Sender, TEMPUS PROJECTS, Tampa, FL
2011              Cuban Sandwich Show, HCC Gallery Ybor, Tampa, FL
2011             "Artists Choose Artists," Artful Living, St. Petersburg, FL
2011              Sketchbook project, Art House Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2011              Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime,
                       C. Emerson Fine Art, St. Petersburg, FL
2010             Artx5, Daytona Beach Art League Gallery, Daytona Beach, FL
2010             Gallery 515, Tampa, FL
2009             Figurative Works, Eckerd College, Elliot Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL
2009             Central Art Show, Studio@620, St. Petersburg, FL, Spring
2009             Alternatives to Violence, Studio@620, St. Petersburg, FL, Spring
2008             Circle of the Grey Flamingo, 5 art Gallery, Tampa FL, Summer
2005             Figures And Portraits, Alla Prima Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL, Summer
2005             Form Within Space, three artist invitational, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA,
2005-2011   Las Damas, venues vary, Tampa, FL, March
2004             Doorways & Passages, Tampa City Center, Tampa, FL, Spring/Summer
2003             The Human Condition, The Florida Holocaust Museum, Summer
2003             Two Artist Invitational, Lake Wales Art Center, Lake Wales, FL, Fall           
2003              Spring Invitational, Galleries at Salt Creek, St. Petersburg, FL
2002-2003  A Body of Work, traveling figurative artwork show, Morean Arts Center;  Eckerd
2002-2003 College Gallery; Galleries at Salt Creek, St. Petersburg, FL,
2002            Artlink Project at The Florida Holocaust Museum and at
                      Florida Craftsmen Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL, Summer
2001             The Really Big Show, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL, May
1999-2001   Summer Spice, Studio Gallery on Azeele, Tampa, FL, Summer
1999            The Doll Show, Mahaffy Lobby, St. Petersburg, FL, March
1998            3 Artist Show, American Stage Theater, St. Petersburg, FL, Spring           
1997             3 Artist Show, Morean Arts Center, St. Petersburg, FL, Spring

Juried Competitions:

2014          The Juried Art Show, Studio @ 620, 2014
2013          12 Artists, PAVA, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, FL
2011          Upcycled, Morean Arts Center, St. Petersburg, FL, December
2010          Tempus Gallery, Tampa, FL, SHIFT, Fall,
2009          Take Out, Brevard Art Museum, Melbourne, FL, Summer
2009          Drawings, [5]art Gallery, Tampa Florida, Summer
2009          Works on Paper, Studio@620, St. Petersburg, FL, November
2009          in white space, 5 art Gallery, Tampa, FL, Summer
2005-11    Cool Art, St. Petersburg, FL
2004          Motion, Project Creo, The Pier, St. Petersburg, FL, Summer
2004          Transparency, Project Creo, The Pier, St. Petersburg, Florida, March
2004          Transitions, Project Creo, The Pier, St. Petersburg, FL, January
2003           Brave Destiny, Williamsburg Art Center, Brooklyn, New York, Fall
2003-11     Florida Artists Group, Juried membership shows, including: Cornell Museum of Art,
                    Delray Beach, Sanibel Island Arts Center, Leepa-Rattner Museum, Tarpon Springs,
                    Boca Raton Museum of Fine Art, St. Augustine, Lake Wales, Indian Rocks Beach,
                    West Palm Beach, St. Pete Beach, FL
2001           Figurative Works, Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, Florida, Fall
2001           World Festival of Art on Paper, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Fall
2000-02    CraftArt, Tampa, FL
2001           All Florida Juried Fine Art Exhibition, Galleries at Salt Creek,
                    St. Petersburg, FL, Fall
2001           Fairly Lilith, Galleries at Salt Creek, St. Petersburg, FL, Summer
1998           National Open, Artists Unlimited, Tampa, FL, Summer
1997           All Florida Spring Show, Morean Arts Center, St. Petersburg, FL, May
1997           Small Works Show, Sun Tan Arts Center, St. Pete Beach, FL, August
1995           34th Bay Annual, Visual Arts Center, Panama City, FL, September
1993           All Florida Biennial, Polk Museum of Fine Art, Lakeland, FL, Spring
1993           All Florida Show, The Arts Center, St. Petersburg, FL, Spring

Publications/Awards/Collections/Grants:

2013           ArtBook Tampa Bay, digital book
2012           ArtBook Tampa Bay, digital book
2012           Kickstarter funding for Dark Drawings project,
2012           Permanent collection, University of Tampa, Tampa FL
2010          Honorable Mention, Las Damas, Scarfone-Hartley Gallerie
2009          Tampa Review, literary journal, published by University of Tampa
                    Fall 2009/Winter 2010
2005           Best in Show, Florida Artists Group, Boca Raton Museum of Art
2005           Award of Excellence, Morean Arts Center Members Show
2004           Florida Humanities, literary journal, published by Eckerd College
                    St. Petersburg, FL, Spring
2002           A Body of Work; Tampa Bay Artists Interpret the Figure Published by
                     Morean Arts Center, St. Petersburg, FL
2000           Pinellas County Artist Resource Fund Grant, 2000
1998            State of Florida; Permanent Collection, Tallahassee, FL
1977            Auburn University Permanent Collection, Montgomery, AL