Glass Artist Susan Gott Wins 2015 Carolyn F. Heller Grant Award, Plans Installation of Art/Glass Terrazzo Benches Along Tampa’s Green ARTery
Three Benches Planned for a Trio of Seminole Heights Area Parks Along the Hillsborough River.
Tampa, FL, March 12, 2015 --(PR.com)-- Carolyn Heller Art (carolynhellerart.com), a popular artist in the Florida visual arts community, in conjunction with the Arts Council of Hillsborough County, today announced that local glass artist, Susan Gott, has been named the 2015 recipient of the Carolyn F. Heller Grant award. Gott is the fourth artist to win the grant as well as the first female and the first to have known the artist, Carolyn Heller.
“Carolyn was a fan of mine,” said Gott, who owns Phoenix Glass Studio Inc. in Seminole Heights. “She came to my studio during open houses and bought some of my work. (Winning this grant) means that much more to me having known her.”
Gott said the grant money will be used as a springboard to a project that she will begin in earnest this summer but that could take as much as a year to bring to fruition. She wants to install three art/glass terrazzo benches along the Green ARTery perimeter trail, which follows the Hillsborough River and aims to connect 22 neighborhoods along 22-miles from 40th Street to downtown Tampa. The plan is to place one bench each in River Boulevard Park, Ignacio Haya Linear Park and Rivercrest Park.
Gott envisions cyclists and pedestrians will use these sculptured benches to relax, rejuvenate and ponder.
“Most people involved with the Green ARTery don’t have that much experience with public art,” said Gott. “I’ve always wanted to make terrazzo and glass benches.”
Gott will work closely with Steward-Mellon, a Tampa terrazzo flooring and public art company that has pledged time and materials to fabricate the benches.
“It’s exciting that our mother’s legacy is able to touch another Tampa artist whom she knew, particularly for a public art installation” says Fran Heller, Carolyn Heller’s daughter who founded Carolynhellerart.com in her mother’s honor. “She would be one of the first to utilize these benches for their intended purposes.”
Some of Gott’s local public art can be seen in cast glass panels along a landscape trellis system on Zack Street, a chandelier in the Spring Hill Community Center in the Sulphur Springs neighborhood of Tampa and in the waiting room of All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.
Gott was the highest scoring visual artist as determined by a panel of judges convened by the Arts Council of Hillsborough County. The panel judged applicants based on impact of the artist or proposed project on the community, evidence of the artist's commitment to personal artistic development, the potential for the proposed project to contribute to the artist's personal growth, a realistic and well-defined budget and the quality of the artist's work samples.
Carolyn F. Heller Grant Winners:
2015 – Susan Gott
2014 – Michael Covello
2013 – Michael Parker
2012 – Arnolkis Turro
About The Carolyn F. Heller Grant
The Carolyn F. Heller Grant, an award supported by a fund initially created by donations to Hillsborough Arts, is presented annually to the top-scoring artist in the Council’s Individual Artist Grant Program. The program funds accomplished artists or those with promising potential, providing support for specific projects that would further advance the artists’ professional growth. Carolyn’s daughter, Fran Heller has recently pledged that the award will become a permanent gift to the Hillsborough Arts Council. Carolyn F. Heller was a Florida artist who created works of bold shape and vivid color. She was influenced by abstract expressionism early in her 60-year career, yet her style evolved to embrace an unambiguous and playful vitality that mirrored her personality. She started drawing and painting in the 1950s at Newcomb College in New Orleans. Beginning with printmaking, wood-cuts and acrylics on canvas, she expanded into mixed-media on fabric, furniture and other everyday items. In every context, her work was sensual and full of energy. Passionate about public art, she was a long-serving member of the Arts Council of Hillsborough County. She also helped establish the county’s Public Art Committee, which selects and purchases artwork for public display. Visit www.carolynhellerart.com for opportunities to view and purchase works from Heller’s private collection. See more of her work at www.facebook.com/carolynhellerart.
About Susan Gott
Susan Gott is an award-winning artist who has owned and operated her Phoenix Studio just north of Tampa since 1991. Gott earned her Bachelor of Science in art education from Radford University in Virginia in 1981 and her Master of Fine Arts in glass from Kent State University in Ohio in 1992. See her works at http://gottglass.com/.
Media Contact
Eric Vician, Carolyn Heller Art
(813) 215.2140
ericvician@yahoo.com
“Carolyn was a fan of mine,” said Gott, who owns Phoenix Glass Studio Inc. in Seminole Heights. “She came to my studio during open houses and bought some of my work. (Winning this grant) means that much more to me having known her.”
Gott said the grant money will be used as a springboard to a project that she will begin in earnest this summer but that could take as much as a year to bring to fruition. She wants to install three art/glass terrazzo benches along the Green ARTery perimeter trail, which follows the Hillsborough River and aims to connect 22 neighborhoods along 22-miles from 40th Street to downtown Tampa. The plan is to place one bench each in River Boulevard Park, Ignacio Haya Linear Park and Rivercrest Park.
Gott envisions cyclists and pedestrians will use these sculptured benches to relax, rejuvenate and ponder.
“Most people involved with the Green ARTery don’t have that much experience with public art,” said Gott. “I’ve always wanted to make terrazzo and glass benches.”
Gott will work closely with Steward-Mellon, a Tampa terrazzo flooring and public art company that has pledged time and materials to fabricate the benches.
“It’s exciting that our mother’s legacy is able to touch another Tampa artist whom she knew, particularly for a public art installation” says Fran Heller, Carolyn Heller’s daughter who founded Carolynhellerart.com in her mother’s honor. “She would be one of the first to utilize these benches for their intended purposes.”
Some of Gott’s local public art can be seen in cast glass panels along a landscape trellis system on Zack Street, a chandelier in the Spring Hill Community Center in the Sulphur Springs neighborhood of Tampa and in the waiting room of All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.
Gott was the highest scoring visual artist as determined by a panel of judges convened by the Arts Council of Hillsborough County. The panel judged applicants based on impact of the artist or proposed project on the community, evidence of the artist's commitment to personal artistic development, the potential for the proposed project to contribute to the artist's personal growth, a realistic and well-defined budget and the quality of the artist's work samples.
Carolyn F. Heller Grant Winners:
2015 – Susan Gott
2014 – Michael Covello
2013 – Michael Parker
2012 – Arnolkis Turro
About The Carolyn F. Heller Grant
The Carolyn F. Heller Grant, an award supported by a fund initially created by donations to Hillsborough Arts, is presented annually to the top-scoring artist in the Council’s Individual Artist Grant Program. The program funds accomplished artists or those with promising potential, providing support for specific projects that would further advance the artists’ professional growth. Carolyn’s daughter, Fran Heller has recently pledged that the award will become a permanent gift to the Hillsborough Arts Council. Carolyn F. Heller was a Florida artist who created works of bold shape and vivid color. She was influenced by abstract expressionism early in her 60-year career, yet her style evolved to embrace an unambiguous and playful vitality that mirrored her personality. She started drawing and painting in the 1950s at Newcomb College in New Orleans. Beginning with printmaking, wood-cuts and acrylics on canvas, she expanded into mixed-media on fabric, furniture and other everyday items. In every context, her work was sensual and full of energy. Passionate about public art, she was a long-serving member of the Arts Council of Hillsborough County. She also helped establish the county’s Public Art Committee, which selects and purchases artwork for public display. Visit www.carolynhellerart.com for opportunities to view and purchase works from Heller’s private collection. See more of her work at www.facebook.com/carolynhellerart.
About Susan Gott
Susan Gott is an award-winning artist who has owned and operated her Phoenix Studio just north of Tampa since 1991. Gott earned her Bachelor of Science in art education from Radford University in Virginia in 1981 and her Master of Fine Arts in glass from Kent State University in Ohio in 1992. See her works at http://gottglass.com/.
Media Contact
Eric Vician, Carolyn Heller Art
(813) 215.2140
ericvician@yahoo.com
Contact
Carolyn F. Heller Art
Eric Vician
(813) 215-2140
carolynhellerart.com
Eric Vician
(813) 215-2140
carolynhellerart.com
Contact
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