Our Guest Artist
Yvonne DePugh
April 2026
Yvonne DePugh moved to St. Petersburg in the 1950’s with her family. She has been recognized over the years for her expertise in the real estate development and management fields. Her work is included in numerous corporate and private collections, and in Florida Home & Design.
Her youth by the Gulf found her skiing wildly under Corey Causeway headed to the sunset. The things coughed up by the Gulf in swirling sand makes one believe they were proprototypes for some of her lavish pieces. “I walked for hours just looking at the designs in the sand,” she said. Like many famed immersionists, she started painting late in life. With no formal training, the gift of her works hover near expressionistic abstract and have received wide recognition. Patrons appreciate her magical use of color or sometimes the lack thereof. DePugh throws herself physically into the canvas sometimes loud and other times with a whisper. Starting with no end, she simply moves through the raw emotions she feels at the moment. There is a look to her pieces that some call organic expressionism. She once said, “I don’t try to see things in my paintings, I just feel them.” One curator said, “lead by an unseen muse, her works are powerful...a joy...a piece of the artist frozen
Allison Rogers
March 2026
I am a contemporary abstract painter driven by an exploration of color, gesture, and the language of mark-making. My work begins without a fixed outcome; instead, it evolves through an intuitive dialogue between movement and material. Each painting becomes a record of decisions, impulses, revisions, and discoveries.
Color serves as both structure and emotion in my practice. I am drawn to the tension between harmony and disruption—how a saturated field can hold stillness, and how a single contrasting mark can shift the entire atmosphere of a composition. I treat color not just as a visual element, but as a force that shapes space, rhythm, and energy.
Mark-making is central to my process. Layered strokes, scraped surfaces, gestural lines, and quiet passages create a visual vocabulary that reflects both control and spontaneity. I am interested in the physicality of paint—how it moves, resists, and accumulates—and how these traces preserve the act of making. The surface becomes a site of memory, where each mark carries evidence of time and touch.
Ultimately, my work invites viewers into an open space of interpretation. Without prescribed narratives, the paintings offer room for personal reflection, emotional resonance, and sensory experience. Through abstraction, I seek to create moments of connection that are felt rather than explained.
Recent accomplishments include two Honorable Mention awards at the Herrig Center for the Arts, and 2nd place in the Dunedin Fine Arts Center’s 2026 portraiture competition, featuring over 200 entries.
Kerry Didday
February 2026 Guest Artist of the Month
“Create something that does not exist!" This mantra drives Kerry Didday, whose art seeks to offer unique perspectives and provoke thought. Working primarily in stylized realism and total non-objective abstraction, each piece evolves organically throughout the creative process. Kerry often notes, "I never fall in love with my paintings until the end," emphasizing the dynamic experimentation inherent in his work.
A graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Art, and Architecture, Kerry began his creative journey as an Art Director for a Fortune 500 company while actively participating in local art shows. After establishing an award-winning national marketing and design firm, where he served as President and Creative Director, Didday remained committed to the fine arts, teaching and painting.
Now a full-time artist based in Florida, Didday teaches acrylic painting and conducts workshops, continually enriching their craft through ongoing studies with the Dazzle Art Group and esteemed artists such as Carol Frye, Skip Lawrence, Alex Powers, Katherine Chang Liu, Mary Alice Brackman, and Jean Pederson.
Cheryl Montanari
December 2025 and January 2026
As a contemporary landscape artist, I enjoy painting places where I have traveled, places in my own local St. Petersburg area, and of course flowers! My style leans towards modern Impressionism with a vibrant use of color.
Most of my paintings are on large canvases, but I also have prints available of some of my favorites. Additionally, I have a small line of gift-able block art. I hope you find something that brings you joy.
