SEPTEMBER 9 & 10 '22
Allison Wickey
Allison Wickey resides on 30A in Santa Rosa Beach, FL. She has been painting coastal scenery on 30A since 2007 and in 2011 she received South Walton Artist of the Year and in 2012 received BEST GALLERY on the Emerald Coast. Allison has been a supportive member of the local arts community and serves as a Board Member on the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County.
Chandler Williams
This image is based around the idea of showing the beauty of mother nature while the dress materials are subtly showing the man-made plastics/trash that are destroying our environment.
I chose to work with an innovative designer, Candi Gordon. Candi is a SCAD graduate whose focus is sustainability in the fashion industry.
I'm connected with all my pieces, however, this piece in particular, I connect with on an emotional level. It frustrates me that the environment has no voice and humans just take everything as if we are entitled to it.
Lately, I have asked myself how I can give back? I don't think I can unless I become a voice. This is why I've chosen to form Aloha Aina Environmental Advocacy Group. Learn more about Aloha Aina Environmental Advocacy Group here: https://www.modusphotography.com/aloha-aina1
Without voice, voiceless.
Limited Series 11 of 103
40x80
Panchromatic Black and White Paper Aluminum Mounted & Protected in High Gloss Acrylic
Not for sale.
Chris Coleman
Chris is an originally born Georgia boy with music in his blood, and paint on his mind. He has traveled the world professionally with his guitar, and now spends most of his time creating his signature works. Chris says, “Using mostly my hands, I create minimalist images that reflect my love of history and the Old West. When I had my first studio, I painted three figures together, and a story unfolded. The warring soldier, the pioneering cowboy, and the native who was here first,” he acknowledges the multi-faceted troubled history of our country. “I put them together in postures of unity and I called it ‘The Alliance’.” Now Chris is expanding his images to include subject matter he finds intriguing. He paints and creates music in his current home studio and has an online gallery.
David Allen King
“Early retirement did not suit me well. In fact, it nearly killed me.”
Dave King painted his way through a computer science degree at a small college in Birmingham, AL. After graduating, he moved to NYC and eventually became the Technology Director for a multi-billion dollar hedge fund, then moved into Management Consulting.
After retiring to Florida in 2018, Dave had a near-death experience that sparked a renewed sense of purpose; to fulfill his core passion by investing time & energy back into the arts.
“I’m inspired by 3 critical art movements: The Abstract Expressionists of the 1950’s, the Graffiti Artists of the 1980’s, and the present day Creative Entrepreneurs of Walton County.”
The commonality of each movement is that they’re the underdogs of their time. Under-rated, under-valued, and largely overlooked.
“I’m intrigued by the fact that we have this huge swath of world-class artists living amongst us. South Walton has so much natural beauty, and the artists and creatives that live here are the soul.”
SELECTIONS marks the first time Dave King has exhibited original work in over 20 years. Rooted in mixed media, found object, and precious metals, each work possesses an element of social commentary that encourages conversation.
Dheron Winfield
According to one of the largest studies of mental health among the U.S. military, the rate of major depression among soldiers was five times as high as civilians, and the rate of PTSD was nearly 15 times higher. As a U.S. Army Special Forces Operator who severed 15 years in the military I was very much included in both of these sobering stats. In fact It was during an extremely difficult combat deployment to Afghanistan in 2020 that I used photography as an creative outlet and an essential coping mechanism. Although this is a key chapter in my life, it’s not what defines my whole story. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. The neighborhood was Bedford-Stuyvanst to be exact, whose motto was engrained in me from early age “Do or Die Bed-Stuy”. I attended Fort Hamilton HS, which at the time was the largest High School in NYC with an approximate enrollment of 5000 students. It was in this cultural melting pot that I discovered and experienced various cultures, mainly due to the various ethnicities of the friends I would make there. Although up to this point I hadn’t experienced much outside of the city I was always fascinated by the stories of friends and classmates who had family ties to exotic places such as Greece, Lebanon, and Panama…just to name a very few. Although I did’t know how at the time, I knew I wanted to travel and visit these foreign lands.
The answer for me to experience travel was by joining the military straight out of High School. From interrogator, to analyst, to infantrymen, to Special Forces, my military career taught me various skills and proved some amazing opportunities I would’ve never imagined experiencing growing up. Some of my most cherished experiences was learning Brazilian Portuguese, living in Lisboa Portugal to learn European Portuguese, and living in Costa Rica for Spanish language immersion for. Fun fact, my Interactive Media company ‘VOS MEDIA’ is an acronym standing for ‘Viva O Sonho’ meaning ‘Long Live the Dream’ in Portuguese. Many of my early photographs are taken in these two gorgeous locations, partly to showcase the world outside of NYC to inner city youths like I was and to illustrate the possibilities when one chooses to “Do” and not let one’s dream “Die”, just like it was engrained in me from the start.
-Medically retired from the military in August of 2022 Dheron currently resides in Destin, FL. His 3 year old daughter resides in Niceville, Florida. He is currently enrolled to start classes at Universidad Veritas in San José Costa Rica in January’23 in pursuit of a Bachelor of Fine Art Degree. He apparently is the sole purchaser of ‘High Pulp’ orange juice in the Continental United States of America.
Venmo @Dheron-w
Jim Clark
Identified as a dreamer, a romantic, and a creative genius by many, Jim holds a passion for technology and for helping others any way he can. He’s also been called "crazy", "weird", and even "strange" by those who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting him. If you get the chance, get to know him and make up your own mind.
For over 30 years Jim Clark has been a creative director that is dedicated to seeing his clients succeed. As an agency owner Clark & Company, Jim provides creative services from business and marketing planning, to comprehensive and integrated creative solutions. He works with his clients on everything from strategy, concept and execution of traditional and interactive media to business and marketing strategy consultation. Jim has been honored with many awards: 2016 Jack Philipps Gold Medal (The highest honor bestowed by the AAF 4th District. It is presented in recognition of outstanding contributions to advertising and furthering the industry’s standards, creative excellence and public service). 1995 AAF Silver Medal Award Winner for Outstanding Advertising Achievement and over 100 Addy's (American Advertising Awards). He has served multiple years for American Advertising Federation - 4th District as Historian and was the founding President of the Emerald Coast Advertising Federation in 1992. Jim has served as a AAF ADDY Judge since 1995 judging throughout the United States.
Jim believes that if you’re not having fun at work it’s just work. In 1992 Jim established Ad3 (ad3.org), Ad3 is a community, philosophy, a work ethic, a lifestyle. Live your life to the fullest, playfully and responsibly. It’s what YOU make it.
Venmo - @iamjimclark
CashApp - $iamjimclark
Jonah Allen
Jonah—originally from Atlanta, Georgia, and now a 30A Florida local—has put to
print the emotion that has long drawn visitors and lifelong residents to the Florida Gulf
Coast. An accomplished photographic artist utilizing aerial views, in-water angles, and
vistas from the shore, Jonah finds his art captures the nature all around him in a way
that drives folks to experience nature themselves. According to the Alys Gazette, “His
keen eye for the colors of the coastline has made his name a staple in the beachside
communities of Northwest Florida and his work an essential expression of the feeling
only those who have visited the region truly understand.” While one will find his artwork
perfectly accenting spaces throughout the 30A area, Jonah’s work has also found its
way across the country and throughout the globe, in every place inspiring the viewer
and eliciting the feelings that arise within the heart when one’s toes meet the sand and
the surf.
Allen was born in 1993 in Atlanta, Georgia and currently works in Santa Rosa
Beach, Florida. He received his Minor in Fine Arts with an emphasis in photography and
BBA in Marketing from the University of Georgia in 2016. In the two years, Allen has
exhibited work at the Gardner Colby Gallery in Naples, Florida, and opened his own
gallery in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.
Watch Jonah Allen’s 8 minute Documentary Here:
https://www.jonahallen.com/documentary
Watch Jonah’s installation at the Beach Club at Alys Beach:
https://blog.jonahallen.com/alys-beach-club/
Justin Gaffrey
Justin Gaffrey is a sculptural painter who has positioned himself as a dedicated steward of the arts in his home of Santa Rosa Beach, FL. Creating meaningful objects defined by layers of texture, distinctive color juxtapositions, and self-taught experimentations with mind-changing outcomes. Justin’s loose and expressive style tells a bold narrative that is included in every single paint stroke. That narrative can transform into a landscape, or personal satire; however dark or light, thoughtful, or personally reflective the painting chooses to be.
Justin Gaffrey Jr.
Santa Rosa Beach artist Justin Gaffrey Jr (b.1994) is a multimedia artist whose artwork blurs boundaries between painting and sculpting, with eye-catching assemblages of confessional art. Each piece is layered with pounds of acrylic paint that is as dynamic and unique as the process of making the real life objects he depicts. Justin produces works with seemingly innocent items, but once assembled in a sensual setting, reflect controversial experiences and emotions from his past. Making tangible the unintentional art we produce when no one is watching.
Lindsay Tobias
Lindsay is a 30A Oil Painter and Muralist, enamored by mosaic skin tones, magnitude, light, and pieces that hold depth or meaning. Her art was recently on the cover of Vie Magazine.
Mark Little
Design + art is something I perceive as fluid, symbiotic, and complimenting. Spaces and how they make me feel are just as important as art is. And since I’ve never really been any good at building anything, photography is the way in which I add to the puzzle.
I wrestle with the phrase, “One day I’ll be gone… and chances are, nobody will even know I existed.” I think about it constantly. I think about it in terms of how I impact those around me or the world in general. I think about how time moves faster than I care for it to move. I think about it in regards to other people and how I’ll know not a single thing about the majority of the people on Earth. Yet, they have lives. They do exist. They were here. I was here.
So, photography gives me that one chance… that one solid chance to capture a real moment. An indisputable event that happened. I’m not concerned about perfect sharpness in an image. I’m not concerned about the perfect lens or being a snobby photo guy. Pictures prove in a manner of speaking, that something did happen. I was really here. And while that doesn’t exactly dispel all the emotions connected to my finite time on Earth, it does in a way make it easier. As long as the image I make speaks to someone, then I am content.
View a video about Mark's series: https://marklittlephotos.com/sowal-house
Soul Love
Photographed on a walk in the woods in Grayton Beach, taken with love and the realization that life is fleeting and beautiful, and like these flowers, life has seasons. And capturing them while in full bloom, was an honor.
“Soul love, soul love, come into my world
It's all for you, everything I do
It's all for you”
Soul Love • by Beady Eye
70x47
$8,000.00
Nicole Paloma
Fabric has been my chosen medium for expression since 2007. I have tried to keep humility, gratitude, and faith by my side as I enter the fashion world. Calling myself a “Fashion Designer” has always been a tad uncomfortable, but embracing all that it is… means that I am also embracing the place that drives me as an artist. Taking life a little less seriously is always a balance when you are the creator and the business model. Every thread of my business begins and ends with me, there is nothing outsourced for production.
As I write this I think “What is a bio, anyway? My achievements?” Well, my most important achievement is motherhood, I have two amazing girls and one little boy that call me Mama. Being a mother is the driving force to all that I am and all that I do. My professional life is stitched together with all the uncertainty that comes with being a creator, an entrepreneur, or both. Unknowingly at the time, my business began the moment I sat down at my machine determined to make a tiny pair of pants for my daughter — on that day, I could have never foreseen the journey ahead. Beginning in the Birmingham and Dallas Markets, I realized mass production was not for me, so I began to dive into the fabulously fast-paced world of women’s clothing. I have been flat-out astounded by the support I have garnered through this explosive journey. Based now along the 30A Coastal Communities, I have been able to touch the lives of women on a National level. With several years at South Walton Fashion Week, I have been able to take on the runway in a way that unleashed my artistic expression in all of it’s uniqueness. I have been featured in Southern Living Magazine, and had my first runway collection published in VIE Magazine in 2013. I am also humbled and honored to be the recipient of the Rising Star Award. To sum it up, I have continued to sew with so much passion and ferocity that fifteen years later I am able to wake up every morning in this beautiful community and go to my studio/store located at The Hub in Watersound, FL. and create. Beyond fashion, I strive to create an atmosphere that is a kind and loving energy, so that women are able to come and feel like their most beautiful selves. We live in a world that tells women to question every part of their beauty. My hope is that when women leave my store, they are inspired to tap into their unique beauty in the most organic and authentic way. I get to play with fabric everyday, and through it, this is how I support my family. What could be better? Interestingly, the vision behind everything I do is about the gratitude through darkness, not the “happily ever after,” because we know that doesn’t exist. I have learned to silence the darkness by remaining focused on the light that guides my work. The light shines that much brighter because of the dark moments. You will see the edge of that balance in my work.
Dress Made Live
Nicole will be creating her piece live at the show.
Purchase on-site.
$3,200
Christy Milliken
After an extensive healthcare career and raising a family near Birmingham, AL., Christy Milliken transitioned her life to the South Walton communities along the Coast of Florida in 2010 just as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill happened and was a threat to many of the businesses in the area. “I was drawn to the art and architecture along scenic Hwy 30a, but what I admired more during that season was the way the community supported one another. We are a small town with the exception of about 2.5 million tourists each year, but that year as tourism diminished, unity among the locals thrived.” In 2011, Christy became the Managing Partner at Justin Gaffrey Studio & Gallery, where she helped organize and transition many milestone moments in the art community both locally and on an international level. Christy has served on the AAF Board, FPRA Board, South Walton Events Board, and continues to serve helping many of the events in the area such as; Digital Graffiti and 30A Songwriter’s Festival. As life evolved from the gallery partnership, she began a boutique marketing business that helps collaborate with many events throughout the United States — large scale events such as film festivals, music festivals, visual art exhibitions, and other project based work with individual artists in Florida, Alabama, Nashville, Charleston, New York, New Orleans, Atlanta, and California. “My most fascinating project was working with Lynn Novick, Dan White, and the Ken Burns (Florentine Films) team with Artist/Photographer, Alan Messer. The PBS film, Country Music released in 2019, that same year I landed in the hospital with a life threatening staph infection in my spine. It took a lot out of me, but it also helped me refocus and reinvent once again. I felt as though the life I knew was gone and just when I began to feel hope, the pandemic hit and shut down the world. This hit the event community hard and me even harder, after living through my own sort of pandemic just the year before. The strangest part of the pandemic for me was that ironically I just didn’t feel as alone… we were all going through the same thing in separate environments, but together in spirit. I worked with film festivals early in the pandemic to help transition them into an online viewing event, Annapolis Film Festival was the first film festival to pull it off in record time. I also continued to stay connected to event based creatives by helping Geoffrey Platt with his weekly Ahead of the Curve community of innovators and creators, while also launching an art collaboration with iconic Surfboard Shaper, Tim Bessell and Fine Art Photographer, Mark Little. The best part of the pandemic was spending quality time with my daughter as she began the next phase of life after graduating Auburn University. Now that events are back in full swing, connecting again with the creatives in the South Walton community is a lifeline for me. Dave King approached me about working with him to create something special to highlight the talent that surrounds our coastal communities, and of course I said yes!”
The Artists chosen for the inaugural SELECTIONS, A Gallery Experience at SOWAL House on September 9th and 10th, include an eclectic variety of artists who are the vision and backbone of our community. The unique aspect of this event is that once the two days end, the artwork will still exist on a 360 Degree Virtual Gallery, creating an interactive media experience and a way for clients to view the work, learn about the artists, and purchase the work. “I am most excited about this aspect, because it is a vision I had about 10 years ago. Along with VOS Media, we have made this all happen within a little over a month. The first launch will allow us to adjust and continue to develop what can be accomplished through this way of viewing, accessing, experiencing, purchasing, space planning, and even rehanging art.” The Artists were asked to create something that they were not usually known for but were inspired by. This Virtual Gallery is a way of giving both the artists and the art collector an unusual gallery experience. Featured Artists include: Allison Wickey, Aria Gaffrey, Chandler Williams, Chris Coleman, David Allen King, Dheron Winfield, Jim Clark, Jonah Allen, Justin Gaffrey, Justin Gaffrey, Jr., Lindsay Tobias, Mark Little, Nicole Paloma, Tommy Crow.
Fresh Impression
Fresh Impression Letterpress Studio, established in 2009, is a letterpress printing and design studio located in Panama City Beach, Florida. The posters were designed, letterpress printed, and donated by Chris Tipton for the event.
The artwork was created on an Apple iPad using Procreate, and it features a vintage, semi-psychedelic inspiration using a stipple method for shading.
The posters are printed as 4 spot colors with an additional fifth pass using a 3 color split fountain and are printed on an archival quality, cotton content, 18pt white cover stock featuring a large felt tooth.
The Full Circle (Stars to paintbrush to man rising from puddle of paint.)
"From art we are made, and so we rise to create more and admire it."
Sphere (the golden, levitating sphere)
"The transcendent man finding joy in the collective art of our community."
Abstract Aberration (the abstract art on the east wall)
"From primitive to refined. The transcendence of design is a result of deviation over time."
Smiley Sticker and Walking Notes
"Nirvana, Kurt, despite the moody music had a very goofy and playful side. I believe marrying these two characteristics together in their music is what made them unique, relatable, and enjoyable. The Walking Notes represents Kurt’s playful side as the music from the string quartet rings out into the gallery halls."
Watch a short video of the process: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CiVW_B-gRWw/
