The eighth installment of Arts Annual closes Jan. 4, 2026, as Creative Pinellas prepares to vacate its offices at Pinewood Cultural Park in Largo by February 2026.
Creative Pinellas’ signature end-of-year exhibition, Arts Annual 8, is now on view through Jan. 4, 2026, offering the public the last opportunity to experience the depth, diversity, and vitality of Pinellas County’s creative community at the gallery its called home since 2018.
Arts Annual 8 is the eighth and final Arts Annual exhibition to take place at The Gallery at Creative Pinellas in Largo. After being defunded by the county in September, the organization will vacate the county-owned office and gallery spaces by Feb. 1, 2026, making this exhibition both a celebration and a farewell. The exhibition features 119 works of visual art by 73 artists (including three spoken word performances that were presented at Creative Pinellas’ Nov. 21 fundraiser), for a total of 122 works spanning painting, sculpture, ceramics, mixed media, assemblage, film, and a special site-specific installation from the artist BASK.
Creative Pinellas Curatorial Director Allison McCarthy says this year’s Arts Annual was envisioned as a visually striking, museum-caliber exhibition that allows the artwork to take center stage while highlighting relationships between pieces across disciplines and styles. The exhibition is organized into five thematic sections that explore ideas such as scale, pattern, texture, portraiture, and nature, with playful groupings that place unrelated artists side by side to reveal unexpected connections.
“My goal was a show with a major wow-factor — high-caliber artwork that is all from Pinellas, shown in a museum-like setting that really allows the works to sing,” says McCarthy. “Throughout the show guests will see little groupings of works by unrelated artists whose pieces, sometimes in vastly different mediums, rhyme with each other in some way.”
Among the artists featured is painter Miss Crit (Laura Spencer), who has a charcoal drawing, Polypores, and an acrylic painting, Good Luck, in the show. She credits Creative Pinellas as being a “massive part of my story” evolving into a professional artist, from receiving its Emerging Artist Grant in 2019, to producing several local murals through its support, as well as showing her work in previous Creative Pinellas exhibitions.
“Creative Pinellas has always been there for me and our artistic community. It’s an absolute honor and privilege to participate in the final exhibit at the gallery,” says Spencer, whose Good Luck piece in the show was purchased. “I’m forever changed by the power of Creative Pinellas, and hope to continue to grow alongside this prolific organization.”
After 89 years, the story of the Gulf Coast Museum of Art and The Gallery at Creative Pinellas is coming to an end. The Gulf Coast Museum of Art began as the Clearwater Museum in 1936, moved to Belleair about 1949 and along the way became the Florida Gulf Coast Art Center. Then, in 1998, after earning accreditation from the American Association of Museums, it became a museum again, and opened in Pinewood Cultural Park in 1999. It was part of a county initiative to incorporate a cultural presence alongside Heritage Village and the Florida Botanical Gardens. In 2018, Creative Pinellas, reopened the gallery and has since continued to build on the building’s original mission — to showcase the best in regional artistry.
Artist, painter, and muralist Cristi López is showing her work for the first time at The Gallery at Creative Pinellas. “I am ecstatic to be included in their closing exhibition and to now be part of their tremendous legacy of uplifting the arts in Pinellas County…and the opportunity to exhibit alongside some of Tampa Bay’s preeminent artists is a true honor,” says López, who moved from Gainesville to St. Petersburg two years ago. “It affirms that I made a great decision in moving here.”
Well-known sculptor Donald Gialanella describes his five pieces in the show as “pushing nature, biology, and human impact into symbolic, even surreal, forms.” He says he is proud to be a part of this year’s “milestone” exhibition, calling it a snapshot of Pinellas County’s creative identity at this moment in time.
“It’s a historic moment. As the last Arts Annual in this gallery space, the show is a kind of ‘grand finale,’” says Gialanella, who has worked in St. Petersburg as an artist for 10 years. “Visiting now means being part of a collective memory — a chance to honor the past and show support for the future of art in our community.
“[The exhibition] is simply inspiring. Walking through the rooms, seeing so many voices and styles in conversation with one another, you might discover something new, feel challenged, moved, or hopeful.”
In addition to the Arts Annual exhibition, the gallery store has a holiday shop called “GIFTED!” Creative Pinellas Managing Editor Maggie Duffy curated this collection of artworks and handcrafted pieces by local artists, such as prints, bookmarks, housewares, clothing and one-of-a-kind pottery and jewelry. Well-known artists TesOne and Chad Mize both have limited-edition items in the store exclusively created for Creative Pinellas. This Sunday, Dec. 20, from 5-8 pm there will be a special store event with music, food, drinks and a meet and greet with artists whose works are being sold in the store.
Together, the works in the gallery as well as the store, capture the energy and creative spirit that define the region — and underscore the importance of continued support for artists and arts organizations.
“This gallery closing feels like an opportunity for renewal,” says Gialanella. “It’s a chance to reflect on all the creativity, community, and growth that happened in the gallery — and to carry that spirit forward in new ways for the arts in Pinellas County.”
View and purchase all artworks in the Arts Annual exhibition HERE, and for a full list of the artists in the exhibition, CLICK HERE.
Plan Your Visit: The Gallery at Creative Pinellas –
12211 Walsingham Road, Largo, FL
“Arts Annual: From Now to Next” Exhibition and Gifted! Holiday Shop at Gallery Store
Nov. 22, 2025-Jan. 4, 2026 | 10 AM-8 PM
Artists Holiday Meet & Greet Dec. 20, 2025 |5 PM-8 PM
Free admission and parking creativepinellas.org
