{"id":137289,"date":"2026-01-30T05:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T05:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/137289\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T05:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T05:33:08","slug":"second-act-tampa-artist-mary-helen-horne-discovers-printmaking-while-planning-her-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/137289\/","title":{"rendered":"Second-act Tampa artist Mary-Helen Horne discovers printmaking while planning her retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AMary-Helen Horne at Dave Decker Photography in Ybor City, Florida on Jan. 12, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n

In 2021, Mary-Helen Horne<\/a> retired from her corporate job and moved into a new studio at Kress Contemporary<\/a> in Ybor City, where she became a full-time artist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I became a serious artist when I moved into the Kress and I started to meet more of the community,\u201d Horne told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. \u201cI started feeling like I had a specific direction with my work, and I honestly don\u2019t think I could\u2019ve been where I am today had it not been for the place, the people and the guidance that I\u2019ve gotten here at the Kress.\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll find Horne in her studio surrounded by prints on most Third Thursdays, Kress Contemporary\u2019s biggest day of the month. The open-house-style event invites visitors to explore most, if not all, of the studios and galleries in the Kress building. Horne is also a regular participant in the Ybor Arts Tour, a biannual walking tour of Ybor City galleries; the next one happens Thursday, Feb.19.<\/p>\n

Horne, who describes her work as \u201ca celebration of the fragile diversity of our natural world,\u201d pays special attention to trees, using a bunch of different blocks interactively to construct large, hand-carved linoleum relief prints.<\/p>\n

\"AOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Credit: c\/o Mary-Helen Horne<\/p>\n

\u201c[Trees] symbolize to me all that nature is,\u201d Horne said in a 2025 studio visit. \u201cThey symbolize our relationship with nature. They operate in communities, we\u2019re finding\u2026they give us the very air we breathe and they don\u2019t ask anything in return. So to me, they\u2019re worthy of our attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2025, Horne folded several of her prints into leaves for a large 3D tree she constructed from PVC, recycled hangers and metal wire. Still debuted last spring at \u201cFresh Squeezed 9.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Horne, who remembers hearing about Fresh Squeezed during her first printmaking class, being selected as a Fresh Squeezed artist in 2025 was a rite of passage\u2014a symbol of making it as an artist in Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gave me this sense that I\u2019ve arrived,\u201d Horne told CL.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Florida CraftArt accepted Horne into their Emerging Artist Program along with another Kress artist, Lisa Ramudo. The six-month program includes business mentoring, a professional photo session, an artist statement workshop, an opportunity to sell work at Florida CraftArt, and inclusion in the Emerging Artist Exhibition. An easier-to-install version of Still made it into this show, in January 2026, along with several new works.<\/p>\n

Horne hopes to create more sculptural work like Still in 2026. You can see her work, along with Patrick Carew\u2019s, in Tempus Projects\u2019 \u201cFrom All Sides of the Page At Once: a group exhibition of traditional (and not so traditional) printmaking,\u201d through March 19.<\/p>\n

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This article appears in Jan. 29 \u2013 Feb. 04<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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