Online Art Exhibition Artists Jacksonville

Chocolate Show Artists

Below read about each of the artists that entered artwork into the Chocolate Show and watch the video interviews in which they speak on what inspired their submitted pieces to the exhibit.

Artist Annelies Dykgraaf

Annelies Dykgraaf was born in Nigeria where she lived for 18 years. She has a BFA from Calvin College and studied in France through the Cleveland Institute of Art. Annelies moved from Michigan to Florida in 2001.
In 2008, Annelies was awarded an Art Ventures grant from the Community Foundation in Jacksonville. She is a founding member of Jacksonville Cultural Development Corporation (2004)(f/k/a JCAAA) and The Art Center Cooperative Inc. (2005). She served on the Board of the Beaches Fine Arts Series for 12 years and is currently the President of the Jacksonville Artists Guild.
Her art is mainly in relief work; carving into a block of wood or linoleum depicting people, symbols, textile patterns and motifs of West African culture/myths.

Here piece for the Chocolate Show is "Chocolate Latte". Annelies is a founding and current member of TAC and a Honorary Board Member. You can see more of her work on our site by visiting her artist page CLICK HERE

Artist Cookie Davis

See both "Mr. Gooddog" and "Chocolate Kisses" by Cookie Davis

COOKIE DAVIS is a native of Jacksonville and has been involved in the art community since the early 1970s both as an exhibiting artist and as a volunteer chairperson and board member of a number of cultural organizations and events. Ms. Davis’ sculptures and paintings are stories without words. She says of her work, “Over the years I have filled many sketch books with ideas and themes for sculptures. Beginning in early 2016, I began to translate some of these ideas into paintings...Story People on Canvas.” Cookie has work in permanent collections both nationally and internationally and is proud to have been the first recipient in 2014 of the Robert Arleigh White Award for Art Advocacy presented by the Cultural Council of Jacksonville.

Artist Wyatt Eddy

Wyatt Eddy is both a multimedia and mixed media artist living in Ponte Vedra, Florida. Although he is new to us, we expect to see much more from him in the future.

Wyatt has entered 2 pieces in this show, "Chocolate Strawberry" and "Chocolate Cherry".

Artist Corey Moortgat

Corey has 3 amazing pieces in the show: "Death by Chocolate", "Cakewalk" and "Sometimes Even Chocolate Doesn't Help".

Corey Moortgat is an acrylic artist from Jacksonville, Florida. She’s explored a variety of media throughout her life—paint, pencil, collage, photography—just to name a few. She graduated college with a BFA in Painting in 1994, then went on to earn her Master’s degree in Art Therapy in 1996.

She’s worked as an art therapist, an art teacher, a custom framer, an art store manager, and currently manages a paint and sip studio while teaching acrylic painting classes.

In her spare time, she’s taught mixed media classes, written articles for magazines, and even owned her own artistic rubber stamp line for a bit! In 2007, she published a book called The Art of Personal Imagery about using personal and meaningful imagery in your artwork.

Artist Ron Episcopo

Look for Ron's piece titled "Our Day at Hershey Park" in this exhibit.

Although I never went to art school, I constantly had the urge to create. Corporate America didn't take my creativity away, new relationships didn't take it away - and I was learning not to take creativity away from myself. In 2005, I began to study basic photography, I took art classes, I engaged the art communities where I lived - and I fell in love with something other than my husband. After over 48 years of art suppression, I decided it was time to define myself. I decided it was time to art. I've been creating my pieces ever since and have sold numerous small projects and 10 large, mixed media pieces. My art, to my delight, continues to win awards at shows and exhibits. I am proud of what my art has accomplished and I am so excited to push it further, I have 48 years of art to make up for and I am ready to move forward.
I am defining myself, I am an artist.

Artist Leila Griffith

To say that Leila has worn many hats and traveled extensively is no exaggeration.
Her work now mostly reflects her love of flora, fauna and nature and her world travels - whether detailing memories of Paris flower shops, farmers’ markets in Chile, wood storks by a neighborhood stream, canine companions, parks outside of London or small Italian villages, she is inspired by color and all things living.

See Leila's "Cacao Garden" in our Chocolate Show.

Artist Ed Malesky

Don't miss Ed's sculpture "Chocolate Drops" in our
Chocolate Show.

Ed is a Board Member of TAC and the Immediate Past President.
Ed has always been interested in woodworking and developed his skills to focus on woodturning as art.
He feels that creating his art always starts with a beautiful form. Turning wood into these forms is a truly tactile and very enjoyable experience, complicated by the fact that wood is an organic material that moves and distorts as it dries or contains hidden defects. Sometimes he can use these features and sometimes he needs to plan ahead to get the form he wants.
A beautiful form can be enough, especially when he has used a spectacular piece of wood. However, his real goal is to draw an emotional response from the viewer, so often this initial form is just the canvas for his work. He loves adding color and texture to his pieces using dyes, paints, pyrography and other processes that allows the viewer to see something beyond just a piece of wood.

Artist Lisa Lofton

Lisa has one piece displayed at the Chocolate Show called "Choco-Lick".

Lisa began drawing and painting with her mother while she was still in the single digits of her existence. She studied Architecture at the University of Florida but ended up working in computer technologies for the better part of her life, 12 years of which was spent as a graphic designer and marketing manager for a European Linen retailer.

In late 2018 she decided to leave the conventional workforce behind and pursue her desire to create. Lisa is a 2-D Artist who works primarily with acrylic on canvas and also uses a variety of mixed media. Her current works depict Jacksonville and Florida as a whole. Her paintings are influenced by the architecture, people, landscape, and industry of her city and state. Lisa’s dramatic illustrative style invites an emotional connection to a time and place.

She is the current President of the Art Center, Co-operative.

Artist Laurence Walden

Laurence Walden has 4 pieces in this show: "Chocolate Mocha Cafe", "Chocolate Love at First Bite", "Chocolate Desserts" and "Chocolate Mocha mask".

The incredible artist, Laurence Walden, (Known as Blinky by all who love him), is an incredible, multi-talented gentleman who is a native of Chicago. Now residing in Jacksonville, Florida, Walden is a self-taught visual artist as well as an accomplished jazz vocalist, playwright and historian.
He has received worldwide accolades for his innovative art. One of Walden's visual art rendering specialties is creating decorative masks out of fine dining silverware and other precious objects. He also creates abstract paintings, mixed media colleges, murals and portraits. He also designs and creates wearable art accessories including clutch purses, steampunk hats, t-shirts and jewelry.

Artist Peggy Harrell Jennings

Peggy Harrell Jennings is a visual artist/writer from Jacksonville, Florida who works primarily in oils and acrylics. She has taught art in Clay and Duval County public and private schools, the Jacksonville Art Museum (now MOCA), MOSH and numerous other venues and exhibited locally with JAG and Orange Park Art Guild. She has been an exhibiting member of Jacksonville Watercolor Society, Jacksonville Weaver’s Guild, Crown Craftsmen and National Art Education Association.

Recently she was accepted into the MOSH Essence of Jacksonville exhibit at MOSH where she earned a Best in Show award for her assemblage “My Jacksonville in Bits and Pieces.”