ICONIC: Portrait Edition 2023
ICON Bios
Eugenie Bondurant
St. Petersburg, FL
Eugenie Bondurant’s long and slightly eccentric career has taken her from the runways of New York and Paris to featured roles in film and television, including her breakout role as the feminine and feline cult icon “Tigris” in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2. Eugenie’s uniqueness was instrumental in booking The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It with Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga and Fear of Rain alongside Harry Connick Jr. and Madison Iseman. Bondurant received high praise for her role as ‘Dani McConnell’ with The Artful Critic saying “Eugenie Bondurant might make the most impression” and The Guardian stating “Bondurant’s creepy performance is the highlight of the film.”
Tall and angular, with knife-blade cheekbones, Bondurant, a fifth-generation resident of NOLA, was “discovered” after a bout with cancer left her looking especially exotic and androgynous. Soon she became a working model in the U.S. and Europe. A modeling trip to Los Angeles led to an acting career that’s included a string of bizarre characters in TV and film – including Fight Club (with Ed Norton), and Saturday Night Live (with Madonna and Mike Myers). She tossed around comedian Gene Wilder while playing Alice Cooper’s favorite Dominatrix on the TV series Something Wilder. And on HBO’s Arliss, she played a transvestite who lured a strait-laced athlete into a night of sin. In the indie feature, Donald and Dot Clock, her character bonded with a house-full of rodents.
A well-known On-Camera and Meisner Acting Coach, Bondurant, loves teaching acting at Station 12 Studio in St Petersburg and the prestigious Patel Conservatory in Tampa, Fl. Along with acting, she has a BA in Finance.
Chief Anthony Holloway
St. Petersburg, FL
Anthony Holloway began his law enforcement career with the Clearwater Police Department in 1985. Upon his retirement in 2007, he was selected as the Chief of Police for the City of Somerville, Massachusetts. In February 2010, he rejoined the Clearwater Police Department as Chief of Police. In August 2014, he was selected and serves as Chief of Police for the St. Petersburg Police Department.
Chief Holloway has taught law enforcement to national and international governmental, military, educational, and community organizations. He currently serves as Chair of the Florida Police Chiefs Association Subcommittee on Accountability and Societal Change. Co-Chair of the Law Enforcement Committee on Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association and Co-Chair of the Governance Board of the Executive Committee of Law Enforcement Information Exchange (LInX). In addition to serving as a trustee emeritus with Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services, Chief Holloway also sits on the Board of Trustees of St. Anthony’s Hospital. In May of 2018, Chief Holloway was named a Distinguished Fellow at the Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) at MacDill Air Force Base for his contributions to a branch of learning associated with national security and special operations. In June of 2021, Chief Holloway was named the 2020 Outstanding Chief Executive of the Year by the Florida Police Chiefs Association in recognition of his exceptional performance and support and advancement of the law enforcement profession. In November 2022, Chief Holloway was appointed Commissioner for the Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation. Chief Holloway is married to Andra Todd Dreyfus of Clearwater, an attorney.
Ward Smith
St. Petersburg, FL
Ward G. Smith is the Producing Artistic Director and part of the brother and sister team that founded St. Pete’s newest small theater, The Off-Central, in the Grand Central District. Starting with USO shows and live theater while in the US ARMY, this actor, director, standup comedian and voice-over artist, has been working steadily for the past 40 years. He’s appeared in over 50 professional stage productions and, as a member SAGAFTRA, he can be seen in streaming episodes of Zoo, Nashville, Let’s Stay Together, Burn Notice, Army Wives, MacGyver, and The Right Stuff. Nationally touring stand-up comedian club dates include: Punchlines, Improvs, Funny Bones, Laff Stops, Comedy Zones, Improvs and Coconuts. Some favorite roles include Rothko in RED, Scott in AMERICAN SON, and Stephano in THE TEMPEST.
Artist Bios
St. Petersburg, FL
@rebeccaskeltonartstudio
Rebecca Skelton earned her B.F.A. and M.F.A. from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. She worked in the advertising industry in Atlanta before moving to St. Petersburg in 1985. Ms. Skelton’s work has been collected, exhibited, and published since 1974. She has taught art classes as an adjunct professor for University of Tampa, St. Petersburg College, USF St. Petersburg, HCC Ybor, and Eckerd College as well as for the Morean Arts Center, Creative Clay, Youth Arts Corps, and the Dali Museum. Her work can be seen in the Morean Arts Center, Florida CraftArt Gallery, Davidson’s Fine Art, and Articles.
Clearwater, FL
@zoepapasart
Zoe Papas lives in Clearwater and holds a BFA in drawing and illustration from the University of Central Florida. She is currently attending the Florence Academy of Art’s inaugural MA program. She is passionate about figure drawing and is continually striving for excellence in her artwork. Zoe was awarded an emerging artist grant from Creative Pinellas for the 2019-2020 grant period, which culminated in an exhibition. Zoe participates in several juried local outdoor art shows each year and has won awards at the Dunedin Art Harvest, the Tarpon Springs Fine Arts Festival, and Mainsail. Additionally, she is a drawing instructor at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center. She teaches based on the atelier approach, a classical method for producing realistic art that was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.
St. Petersburg, FL
@groundedgallery
Hao is from Benxi, China. He graduated from the Dalian Polytechnic University in 2017 with a degree in Fine Art. Now he resides in St. Pete studying English and American culture. He usually works with watercolor, oil, and integrated materials. In China he won many achievements for his artwork and was rated as one of the school’s most outstanding students. Since moving to the US his works have won many awards and are displayed around the country. His creative scope revolves around his life. He hopes his art can raise curiosity and awareness in others. Starting in 2019 he began to focus more on global issues like global warming, wildlife protection and marine debris.
Tampa, FL
@emmasims.art
Emma Sims is a third-generation artist with an unquenchable thirst for the magic of art. From a very early age, Emma began drawing; mostly dogs, horses, and people. This interest in painting a living subject has never faded. Her specialty is portraits in pastel– rendered with a soft focus, illuminated lighting, and attention to detail. She paints commissions throughout the year, with the occasional landscape peppering her portfolio. She continues to refine her skill through extensive training with master painter Ann Manry Kenyon, her primary teacher and grandmother. Emma is a Tampa native who enjoys painting beautiful Florida landscapes en plein air whenever possible. She is represented by Portraits Inc of Birmingham, AL.
Wesley Chapel, FL
@alanmetzgerartist
Alan is a graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He has worked in the art and advertising profession most of his life and his work has been recognized for excellence in art contests and in the Addy awards. He grew up in Pittsburg,h PA, and lived in Shreveport, LA for many years before moving to South Florida in 1984. Alan now devotes all his time to his painting and currently works in acrylics and oil, but his technique and style continues to evolve.
St. Petersburg, FL
@jimkammerud
Jim is an artist and storyteller. He wrote and directed several Disney movies, and has lent his pencil to many others, like The Peanuts Movie and Space Jam (the original and the terrible sequel). He’s raised five kids and married the best girl in the world. Now he’s living in St. Pete and returning to his first love, drawing and painting––but still always telling a story. Jim finds beauty in the human form, in our unique faces, in the connection between people and our environment, and in the joy of being with each other. Jim can be found in many of the local figure drawing groups filling newsprint pads with charcoal drawings. He paints in oils at his studio at the Arts Exchange, where he lives and works in a community of artists with his wife, oil painter Janie Haskins.
St. Petersburg, FL
@zulupainter1
Zulu Painter is a visual artist creating in St. Petersburg. His large-scale paintings and murals evoke positive energy and encourage light inside of the viewer. Utilizing organic and inorganic forms alongside images of people, Zulu paints contemplative picture planes. Zulu has painted murals across the US and abroad. He has worked with American Stage Theater Company, the University of South Florida, Creative Pinellas, Deuces Live and various other civic organizations locally to help bring art to the people.
St. Peterburg, FL
@neverne
Neverne Covington’s drawings, prints, paintings and sculpture explore childhood, language, landscape, memory, and the gothic south. Her work has been exhibited at the Tampa Museum of Art, the Brevard Museum of Art, the State Capitol, the Florida Museum for Women artists in Deland, and various venues throughout Florida, Georgia and Alabama. She recently returned from an artist residency at the VCCA Moulin a Nef in Auvillar, France. Covington was born in Laurelton, New York, grew up in Florida, and attended City & Guilds College in London, England. She graduated from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. She has maintained her studio in downtown St. Pete for three decades.
St. Petersburg, FL
@reidjenkinsart
Reid Jenkins, El Ren Sloe, is a contemporary artist who lives and works out of St Petersburg and was in SHINE St. Petersburg Mural Festival. He holds a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. Reid has shown in numerous exhibitions including “Kinfolk” at the Morean Arts Center (solo), “Re Group Show” at Redefine Gallery, Orlando, “Icons” at Mize Gallery, St. Pete, and was a Creative Pinellas Emerging Artist award recipient. His current work focuses on the display of the range of human emotions and experience.
