Orange
Park Gallery in the news.
ORANGE PARK GALLERY IN NORTH DOWNTOWN
By Gary Shepard
North Franklin
district art gallery owner Greg Phillips says he has three big
passions: family, tennis, and art. His wife and 10-year-old daughter
top that list, of course. Meanwhile, an achy elbow has limited
Phillips’ tennis time lately.
That leaves art, and
Phillips’ commitment is realized at 1215 N. Franklin St.,
where Phillips opened Orange Park Gallery International LLC in October.
The 1,500-square-foot storefront is in the Arlington, a restored
1910-era building that has downstairs office condos and second-floor
residential units.
Phillips’
motto is “A world of fine art,” and the store has artists from around
the globe. The gallery exudes physicality and theatricality, from
“complex figurative works to those which skew to the extremes of
meditative minimalism,” Orange Park’s website notes.
Phillips
says he learns about artists’ relationships with galleries before he
looks at portfolios. “I always want to establish a good working
relationship with artists before I carry their art,” he says. Orange
Park artists include:
Basil
Watson – Jamaican-born and an Atlanta resident, some of Watson’s
sculptures present women in dazzling, exaggerated movements and poses,
each with “strong, heroic and sensual qualities, whether in quiet
repose or in extreme action,” his bio notes.
Larissa
Makeeva – Russian-born Makeeva is a left-brain, right-brain Renaissance
woman, an Atlanta-based dancer and painter who holds master’s degrees
in applied mathematics and computer science. Her striking red and
black, oil-on-canvas paintings are of ballet and tango dancers.
Israel Delmonte – Born in
Havana and now a Jamaica resident, Delmonte’s work has been exhibited
from Spain to Poland to the Caribbean over the past 22 years. Surreal
linocuts and pencil drawings of string puppets are among Delmonte’s
works at Orange Park.
Other works displayed
are by Indonesian-born Fauzie As’Ad, a resident of Liechtenstein;
Ndasuunje Shikongeni, born in Namibia, residing in Germany; and three
other artists with ties to Jamaica.
Born in Jamaica
himself, Phillips’ arrived in New York with his family when he was 16.
He attended Hunter College and Pace University, where he earned master’s
degrees in telecommunications/computer science. Phillips worked in
telecom engineering in New York, retired young (he’s 50), moved to
Atlanta, and ran a gallery there for some 18 months.
He discovered Tampa while
commuting from Atlanta to consult for Verizon. Phillips organized art
shows in Florida hotels and other sites, then “I decided Tampa might be a
good place to move my gallery,” he says.
North
Franklin StreetHe
opened Orange Park
on October 13 and soon was involved in the local community. Phillips
and others hope to organize a March charity event including a walk
through the urban core and open houses in the North Franklin Street
district.
Orange
Park Gallery’s ground-floor neighbors include a law firm, a real estate
office, an interior design studio, and other businesses. The gallery is
across Franklin Street from Fly Bar & Restaurant, and a
short walk north , Cafe Hey
recently opened at 1540 N.
Franklin Street.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Orange Park
Gallery International LLC
The
Arlington Building
1215
North Franklin Street
Tampa,
FL 33602
813-333-6299
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Getting
'A Vibe Going'
Skip directly to the full story.
Published: Feb 6, 2008
DOWNTOWN - Gregory Phillips recently drove to
Fort Myers
to pick up a few pieces of art from Michael Beauchemin, an artist who
grew up
in the Tampa Bay area.
That's what Phillips, a native of Jamaica, likes best about his job
as director
of Orange Park Gallery International. He meets creative people;
"different
cultures, different ideas," he said.
The gallery, 1215 N. Franklin St., opened in October in the
Arlington, a
1920s hotel remodeled into offices and condominiums. Orange Park
occupies a
long, narrow space with a skylight and track lighting to highlight the
vivid
paintings, drawings and sculptures.
Though he's a newcomer to the neighborhood, Phillips is busy
organizing a
May event for everyone on Franklin. He plans a fashion show, art walk
and food
fest, and is awaiting city permitting.
From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, he's hosting a Bob Marley-themed show as
part of
Black History Month. The featured sculpture sits in his window - a
bronze of
Marley by Basil Watson.
Phillips stopped at Fly Bar & Restaurant across the street to ask
owner
Leslie Shirah whether her band would play some Marley tunes.
"We need to get a vibe going," he said.
Cooperation among neighbors is how Phillips, 49, sees his venture in
the
urban scene. Phillips, who lives in Odessa with his wife and daughter,
has
spent much of his adult life in New York City. He moved to Tampa from
Atlanta
in December 2004 as a telecom consultant.
He has long collected art, though when he tried his hand at painting,
"I was not of that caliber as my classmates."
The No. 1 thing he loves about his new location: parking and more
parking.
"There are lots everywhere, so that will never be a problem," he
said.
For information, call (813) 333-6299 or go to www.orangeparkgallery.com.
Janis D. Froelich
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
North Franklin
district art gallery owner Greg Phillips says he has three big
passions: family, tennis, and art. His wife and 10-year-old daughter
top that list, of course. Meanwhile, an achy elbow has limited
Phillips’ tennis time lately.
That leaves art, and Phillips’ commitment is realized at 1215 N. Franklin St., where Phillips opened Orange Park Gallery International LLC in October. The 1,500-square-foot storefront is in the Arlington, a restored 1910-era building that has downstairs office condos and second-floor residential units.
Phillips’
motto is “A world of fine art,” and the store has artists from around
the globe. The gallery exudes physicality and theatricality, from
“complex figurative works to those which skew to the extremes of
meditative minimalism,” Orange Park’s website notes.
Phillips says he learns about artists’ relationships with galleries before he looks at portfolios. “I always want to establish a good working relationship with artists before I carry their art,” he says. Orange Park artists include:
Basil Watson – Jamaican-born and an Atlanta resident, some of Watson’s sculptures present women in dazzling, exaggerated movements and poses, each with “strong, heroic and sensual qualities, whether in quiet repose or in extreme action,” his bio notes.
Larissa Makeeva – Russian-born Makeeva is a left-brain, right-brain Renaissance woman, an Atlanta-based dancer and painter who holds master’s degrees in applied mathematics and computer science. Her striking red and black, oil-on-canvas paintings are of ballet and tango dancers.
Israel Delmonte – Born in Havana and now a Jamaica resident, Delmonte’s work has been exhibited from Spain to Poland to the Caribbean over the past 22 years. Surreal linocuts and pencil drawings of string puppets are among Delmonte’s works at Orange Park.
Other works displayed
are by Indonesian-born Fauzie As’Ad, a resident of Liechtenstein;
Ndasuunje Shikongeni, born in Namibia, residing in Germany; and three
other artists with ties to Jamaica.
Born in Jamaica
himself, Phillips’ arrived in New York with his family when he was 16.
He attended Hunter College and Pace University, where he earned master’s
degrees in telecommunications/computer science. Phillips worked in
telecom engineering in New York, retired young (he’s 50), moved to
Atlanta, and ran a gallery there for some 18 months.
He discovered Tampa while commuting from Atlanta to consult for Verizon. Phillips organized art shows in Florida hotels and other sites, then “I decided Tampa might be a good place to move my gallery,” he says.
North
Franklin StreetHe
opened Orange Park
on October 13 and soon was involved in the local community. Phillips
and others hope to organize a March charity event including a walk
through the urban core and open houses in the North Franklin Street
district.
Orange
Park Gallery’s ground-floor neighbors include a law firm, a real estate
office, an interior design studio, and other businesses. The gallery is
across Franklin Street from Fly Bar & Restaurant, and a
short walk north , Cafe Hey
recently opened at 1540 N.
Franklin Street.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Orange Park
Gallery International LLC
The Arlington Building
1215 North Franklin StreetTampa, FL 33602
813-333-6299
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Getting 'A Vibe Going'
Skip directly to the full story.
Published: Feb 6, 2008
DOWNTOWN - Gregory Phillips recently drove to Fort Myers to pick up a few pieces of art from Michael Beauchemin, an artist who grew up in the Tampa Bay area.
That's what Phillips, a native of Jamaica, likes best about his job as director of Orange Park Gallery International. He meets creative people; "different cultures, different ideas," he said.
The gallery, 1215 N. Franklin St., opened in October in the Arlington, a 1920s hotel remodeled into offices and condominiums. Orange Park occupies a long, narrow space with a skylight and track lighting to highlight the vivid paintings, drawings and sculptures.
Though he's a newcomer to the neighborhood, Phillips is busy organizing a May event for everyone on Franklin. He plans a fashion show, art walk and food fest, and is awaiting city permitting.
From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, he's hosting a Bob Marley-themed show as part of Black History Month. The featured sculpture sits in his window - a bronze of Marley by Basil Watson.
Phillips stopped at Fly Bar & Restaurant across the street to ask owner Leslie Shirah whether her band would play some Marley tunes.
"We need to get a vibe going," he said.
Cooperation among neighbors is how Phillips, 49, sees his venture in the urban scene. Phillips, who lives in Odessa with his wife and daughter, has spent much of his adult life in New York City. He moved to Tampa from Atlanta in December 2004 as a telecom consultant.
He has long collected art, though when he tried his hand at painting, "I was not of that caliber as my classmates."
The No. 1 thing he loves about his new location: parking and more parking.
"There are lots everywhere, so that will never be a problem," he said.
For information, call (813) 333-6299 or go to www.orangeparkgallery.com.
Janis D. Froelich
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++New Kid on the Block
"Evocatively Abstract" Through Jan. 11. Orange Park Gallery International, 1215 N. Franklin St., Tampa, 813-333-6299, orangeparkgallery.com.
On downtown Tampa's formerly desolate North Franklin Street, the signs of a city's nascent renaissance are on display. There's Fly Bar and Restaurant, the new "it" spot for young professionals, and Café Hey, a tiny coffee shop tucked into Oceanic Supermarket's complex just north of I-275. Add a cluster of businesses -- from a law firm to a group of interior designers -- and a few dozen condos, and you've got potential for a funky, tree-lined neighborhood. Now enter Orange Park Gallery International. Since late October, the art gallery has brought an extra touch of culture to the restored historic Arlington building, a cornerstone development in the area. With easy-to-like, not-too-provocative artworks -- including figurative paintings and sculptures, abstract paintings, prints and drawings -- Orange Park will likely appeal to many in the local gallery-going crowd (if my crystal ball is right). And the gallery's presence doesn't exactly hurt the neighbors, either. After all, why not head up to North Franklin if you can hit happy hour at Fly and an art opening?
If ever a private gallery owner understood the power of partnerships with other local businesses, it's Orange Park's Greg Phillips. A former project manager for Verizon, Phillips marries charming diplomacy with a git-r-done work ethic. Within days of opening, he mounted a small show in support of Arte 2007, the city's Bay-area-wide festival of Latin American arts and culture; future aspirations include a multidisciplinary event with a local fashion designer.
Phillips hit the ground running because he's done the gallery thing before. As a teenager, he attended high school in Jamaica with the son of painter Barrington Watson, Basil. Early exposure to the elder Watson's realistic portraits, nudes and tableaus of Caribbean life turned Phillips into an art lover for life. After a telecom career in New York (where he moved with his parents and siblings at age 16), he took an early retirement to Atlanta with his wife and daughter and started a small gallery named Orange Park after Watson's estate near Kingston. He featured Basil Watson -- now a successful figurative sculptor -- as his first artist.
The Atlanta gallery was small and off the street, but still managed to be modest success, Phillips says. About a year later, Verizon came calling and brought him down to Sarasota as a consultant. On a side trip to Tampa, Phillips fell in love with the Bay area and convinced his family to make the move; opening the downtown Tampa incarnation of Orange Park followed soon after.
From his Jamaican heritage and his desire to fill a unique niche as a business owner, Phillips drew the concept of a gallery specializing in international art. The current exhibition,
Evocatively Abstract, features large-scale paintings by Larissa Makeeva, a Russia-born artist who lives in Atlanta; her vivid abstractions link back to the Romantic tradition of locating the sublime in nature. Recent exhibits have showcased surreal linocuts by Cuban artist Israel DelMonte and metaphysical paintings by Fauzie As'Ad, who is Indonesian but lives in Liechtenstein. As well as a cornucopia of nationalities, the gallery presents a wide range of styles, reflecting Phillips' own diverse tastes. Some artists offer thought-provoking messages; others are all about the passion of uninhibited strokes of color.
Though Orange Park takes pride in its global flavor, Phillips would like to add some local flavor with a few Bay area artists (especially those with international connections). He's also considering a show featuring local university students. Whatever its next venture, Orange Park Gallery International is a welcome addition to the Bay area's art community.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
New Gallery Offers Easy-On-The-Eye Original Works
Published: December 12, 2007
DOWNTOWN - There's a new gallery in a section of North Franklin Street where a cautious rebirth is taking place.
Housed in the historic Arlington building, 1215 N. Franklin St., near The Fly Bar and Restaurant, Orange Park Gallery International aims to offer easy-on-the-eye original works by artists worldwide.
Owner Greg Phillips moved here from Atlanta, where he had a gallery of the same name. His new cavernous and well-lit space comfortably accommodates the large-scale art he favors. It opened in October with an exhibit of paintings and sculptures by several internationally acclaimed artists, including Russian-born Larissa Makeeva.
An exhibit of Makeeva's paintings, called "Evocatively Abstract," runs through Jan. 5 at the gallery. The title describes the thrust of her work: fluid brush strokes and dramatic bursts of color capture and translate mood.
Also featured at the gallery will be Fauzie As'Ad, an Indonesian artist whose work has been displayed in Europe and Africa.
Makeeva will attend the free opening reception for her show at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Call the gallery at (813) 333-6299 for information.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Post-Thanksgiving Social at Orange Park Gallery
Art SqueezeNovember 21st, 2007 · No Comments
If you haven’t been up to North Franklin Street in downtown Tampa recently, I think you’d be surprised—a small restaurant-office-residential resurgence is taking place on a couple of blocks up at the northern end of downtown. There’s Fly Bar, which has delicious small plates, good draught beers, and the requisite attractive staff (not to be too shameless in my plug, but I’m addicted) AND Café Hey, a coffee shop with sinful brownies and affordable lunch eats.
Now enter Orange Park Gallery International, housed in the historic Arlington building across from Fly. With easy-to-like, not-too-provocative artworks—including figurative paintings and sculptures, abstract paintings, prints, and drawings—Orange Park is likely to hold a lot of appeal for a sizable part of the local gallery-going crowd. Just my guess. After all, why not head up to North Franklin if you can hit happy hour at Fly and an art opening?
Orange Park isn’t the edgiest white box you’ve ever been to (assuming you’ve gallery-hopped outside of Tampa), but the work is good. I liked a quartet of surreal linocuts by Cuban artist Israel DelMonte and mostly-abstract paintings (like the one pictured above) by Fauzie As’Ad, who is Indonesian but lives in Lichtenstein. The gallery focuses on international artists, though director Greg Phillips says he’s looking for a few top-tier local artists to represent. A show of local university students is also under consideration.
On Friday, Nov. 23—the day after Thanksgiving—Phillips will host a wine-and-cheese social from 6-10 p.m. The current work on view also includes figurative paintings of ballet and tango dancers by Larissa Makeeva (Russian, lives in Atlanta) and a variety of figurative sculpture by Jamaican artist Basil Watson. If you can, RSVP to info[at]orangeparkgallery[dot]com.
Orange Park Gallery International
1215 North Franklin Street
Tampa, FL 33602
813-333-6299
orangeparkgallery.com
=================================================
By By Sharon Ginn Times Correspondent As owner of the new Orange Park
Gallery downtown, Phillips is indulging in his lifelong passion: art.
The former Verizon employee knows that art is a passion shared by many
in Tampa, and said he hopes to join others in expanding the visibility
of the local art scene. Phillips, who opened his gallery
Saturday at 1215 N Franklin St., said one of the first things he hopes
to accomplish is coordinating special events several times a year. One
of his inspirations is Arte 2007, which will focus on art from Central
and South America and the Caribbean on Nov. 3-17 in and around
downtown. "My plan is to reach out to those other galleries
and say, this is going to work for all of us if we collectively try to
enhance and create these sorts of events," he said. Phillips'
new gallery actually is a business he started in Atlanta.
The 49-year-old worked for Verizon for 18 years - from "the old Bell
days" - in New York and Atlanta before taking early retirement and
opening Orange Park Gallery. About two years ago he
contracted with Verizon to help the company expand its FiOS
fiber-optics Internet network to the Tampa Bay area. He decided Tampa
was "a neat city" that had the added benefit of being "warm all the
time." He and his wife moved down about a year ago and Phillips
operated Orange Park Gallery out of his home, putting on a few shows at
different venues. Eventually he decided the Franklin Street
location in the historic Arlington building was ideal for his needs.
"They're just starting the revitalization of that block," he said,
which is two blocks south of Interstate 275 and across from the Fly
Bar. Orange Park's grand opening party Saturday focused on
Russian artist Larissa Makeeva, whose work Phillips showed in Atlanta,
and established Jamaican artist/sculptor Basil Watson.
Phillips said he will offer a wide variety of art and is aiming for a
quick turnover. He plans new exhibits about every three weeks.
"The focus is not just on local artists, but to offer a full
diversification of art and to make Tampa as accessible to the
international market as New York or anyplace else," Phillips said.
Hours at Orange Park Gallery are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through
Saturday. The gallery's Web site iswww.orangeparkgallery.com. --adapted
St.Petersburg TimesArt was always in techie's heart
Published October 19, 2007
DOWNTOWN - After two decades as a network engineer, Greg
Phillips is
interested in forging an entirely different type of network - one where
success is not so easy to calculate.
Sculpture in the Garden -
December 2006
Orange
Park Gallery International presents a fine art exhibition, wines and
tastings in a country garden setting. Artist's
presented were internationally acclaimed sculptor, Basil Watson of
Jamaica, world renowned master painter , Barrington Watson of Jamaica,
Israel Delmonte of Cuba, Larrissa Makeeva of Russia among others
who are represented by Orange Park Gallery in Tampa, Florida.
Art for
Humanity - November 2006
Orange
Park Gallery International collaborates with the Zonta Club of Tampa, a
professional women's organization, and Great Art and Frame gallery in
West Chase in a fund-raising evening of art to support the fight against
human trafficking in the Tampa Bay area. Among the artist's presented
were internationally acclaimed sculptor, Basil Watson of Jamaica,
Larrissa Makeeva of Russia and Kai Watson of Jamaica, all of whom are
represented by Orange Park Gallery in Tampa, Florida. 