Every year, the Zodiac Membership Committee invites 12 local emerging artists to exhibit at the Museum during one a special evening. The Zodiacs are an all-volunteer group that supports the mission of The Dalí Museum by building meaningful relationships with members and helping to strengthen the ties between the Museum and the arts community. For more information about the Zodiacs, please contact membership@thedali.org. This year, The Dalí Dozen are:
Jesse Adair, Landscape Photographer
Sponsored by Dalí Museum Zodiac Liaison Aly Fernandez and Zodiac Member Maria Trogolo
Jesse Adair is a Tampa Based professional photographer that has spent the past 15 years capturing images for commercial clients and fine art landscapes all across the United States. Jesse’s images have been printed and sold all across the world in large format prints, magazines, ad campaigns, and billboards. His love for the outdoors and nature drive him to capture images that tell a story about that instant in time that only a photograph can capture. Jesse is currently the marketing content creator at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
Dana Peska, Oil Painter Focusing on Native American Portraits
Sponsored by Dalí Museum Zodiac Liaison Aly Fernandez
Dana Peska was born just outside Chicago, Illinois and from a young age, Dana was driven to create. She expressed herself using any available medium…graphite, charcoal, sewing, or sculpture design. With no formal art training, she relied on the freedom her mother gave her to draw on walls, carve on furniture, and stay up until the early morning hours sewing or drawing. Natural artistic ability runs through her blood (her grandmother was an amateur painter), and in 2018 Dana decided to teach herself to paint. Armed with a small canvas and a set of oils, she quickly realized that this was the medium she was missing in her life. Dana has the desire to take the beauty she sees in the world and reflect it through the truth and honesty of her paintings. She has an amazing ability to capture the natural human dignity of the Native American people, and finds herself most at peace when she is immersed in her work.
Jeffrey A. Romano, Ink on object
Sponsored by Dalí Museum Zodiac Member Brett Holden
Jeffrey A. Romano’s work is centered on the American concept of the importance of the pioneering individual in the liberation of art from tradition. Jeff’s large intensely atmospheric images do not quite fit in any art historical pigeonhole. His smaller scale ink drawings have a playful quality that may recall Jean Arp and Dada. More importantly, they vibrate with integrity and artistic spirit. The collection that will be displayed at The Dali Dozen consists of carbon ink and juniper trees. He harvests fallen trees and hand sands them to a surface that will accept the ink and feature the characteristics of the tree.
Harvey Drouillard, Black & White Photographer
Sponsored by Dalí Museum Zodiac Liaison Aly Fernandez
Harvey Drouillard has been composing photos of famous landmarks and local hot spots around the country for 25 years. His photos are not simply of landmarks, his shoots capture the essence of public nudity as a way to complement the scenery and bring a smile to those that view his photographs. Harvey has turned the challenge of shooting nudes in public into a science, complete with training and choreography, get-a-way cars, and knowledge of local nudity laws. He loves the instant nostalgia black and white photos give public scenes and the attention to detail that each capture entails. Harvey is a St. Petersburg transplant; he fell in love with St Pete, in 2014, during his first visit to Florida; living in area has been a dream come true.
Lawrence Packard, Nautical Artist
Sponsored by Dalí Museum Zodiac Member Frances Recheungel
Lawrence Packard captures the spirit of sailing ships and combines life experiences with 51 years of working with pen and ink to bring back ships that were lost at sea on the chart of the waters where they were last seen.A self-taught artist, Lawrence’s one-of-a-kind drawings are done entirely free hand and start with a simple pencil sketch followed by textures, shadows and thousands of layering pen strokes.
Mary Strawberry, Performance Artist/Burlesque
Sponsored by Dalí Museum Zodiac Member Janna Kennedy Hyten
Mary Strawberry is an internationally known award winning St. Petersburg, FL based theater artist with acts ranging from classic burlesque to sideshow and vaudevillian comedy. Formally trained in clowning, sideshow performance, Czech puppetry, ballet, technical theater, stage design, and more- she’s sure to inspire whether on or off stage.
Michael Baker, Stained Glass and Mosaic Art
Sponsored by Dalí Museum Zodiac Member Jenny Grinder
Michael Baker is a St. Petersburg artist specializing in stained glass and mosaic art. Taking inspiration from European cathedrals and castles, Michael produces stained glass panels in a wide variety of styles. He also fashions kiln-formed glass objects d’art. He produces pieces that use the mystical qualities of light as focused through color and texture to evoke a sense of wonder and whimsy. His use of the Tiffany method allows for intricate glass forms to be incorporated into equally intricate designs. Michael’s eye-catching artwork has graced church windows, art galleries, and private homes.
Daniel DeWindt & Dacota Maphis, Tandem Live Painters
Sponsored by Dalí Museum Zodiac Chair Marie Jones
Daniel DeWindt and Dacota Maphis are two artists from very different life experiences and artistic styles that have coupled up to create intriguing and imaginative paintings. Dacota Maphis is primarily a surreal Digital Artist and Daniel DeWindt is an oil Portrait Painter, they combine their knowledge as they take turns on one canvas and create a finished piece that combines both of their mediums. With no time limits and minimal conversation, they layer paint to produce abstract art that inspires with bold colors and dynamic movement and implements each of their styles. Dacota is from Grenville, NC and Daniel is from Newark, NJ, both are award-winning artists that create art daily and enjoy living in Tampa Bay, Florida.
Rob Webster, Mixed media artists and jewelry designer
Sponsored by Dalí Museum Zodiac Member Tess Chibirka
Rob Webster is a jack of all trades… a mixed media artist and jewelry designer with passion for animal conservation. In 2014, he was running a marine science expedition in the Bahamas and witnessed first had the devastating effects of pollution in our oceans. Since then, his life’s mission has been to save marine animals from entanglement in fishing gear that is abandoned and lost at sea. He is one of the founders of Planet Love Life, Inc., an organization dedicated to spreading awareness of pollution in the Oceans though art, education & hand-crafted jewelry. The focus of Rob Webster’s artwork is the repurposing of salvaged fishing nets and ropes collected during ocean and beach cleanup projects. Each bracelet tells a story and represents the life of a different marine animal.
Nelson Perez Jr., Three Dimensional Painter
Sponsored by Dalí Museum Zodiac Member and Vice-Chair SuzAnna Lyons
Nelson Perez Jr. has gained recognition across the United States with his whimsical, urban, cartoon style pop artistry. His art is a combination of pop, surrealism, contemporary, urban and whimsical influences. The artwork consists of bright, colorful, smile provoking pieces that leave viewers with a sense of joy and optimism. Nelson is a self-taught artist that uses multiple thin layers to create rich bold explosions of color and humor. Many of his paintings are designed to show a true three-dimensional effect when combined with 3D glasses. However, Nelson pulls out all the stops and you don’t need 3D glasses to enjoy his work!
Hilary Adorno, Sailor’s Valentine, Seashell Artiste
Sponsored by Dalí Museum Zodiac Member, Janna Kennedy Hyten
Connecticut native Hilary Adorno worked in the commercial real estate industry for over 25 years and never considered herself artistic. That changed in 2014, when she fell in love with Native American bead weaving and taught herself the various techniques with books and blogs. Wanting to elevate the practice, she combined several methods and incorporated unconventional materials to create one-of-a-kind jewelry using precious metals and semi-precious stones. Hilary will exhibit her Sailor’s Valentine designs, which are intricate shell displays created by gluing tiny shells in symmetrical patterns to a cotton backing; they typically include flowers, hearts and sentimental messages