As Center Place Celebrates Her Career, Artist Is Passing On Her Passion

After 50 years of exhibiting her work, artist Minnette Webster is hanging up the display easel and focusing more on her work as a teacher.

A half-century of Webster’s art is being showcased and revisited with “50 Years, 50 Pieces,” a retrospective art show focused on the development of the Valrico artist over the years.

The work will be on display through August at the in Brandon.

“This will be my last show,” said Webster on Aug. 14, at her show’s reception. “For 50 years, I have had fun and experimented with my art and when you own a Volkswagon convertible there’s not many more art shows in you.”

After a successful career and hundreds of shows, Webster wants to help others discover their own abilities.

She’s already teaching art at a South County women’s prison. She also teaches adults at the Brandon Family YMCA and will teach home-schooled youngsters at Center Place.

“I like helping people create their own work and learn an appreciation for art,” Webster said.

For 40 years Tampa artist Fran Hancock has shared a wall with Webster at art shows. While many artists will stay in one medium, like sculpture or oil painting, for their entire careers, Webster’s work spans a variety of mediums, something Hancock admires.

“She’s done it all,” Hancock said. "Minnette is a very creative and imaginative person."

She’s also quite a character.

“She has battled health issues over the years but it never holds her back,” Hancock added. "She will call me from the hospital and say, ‘Guess where I am?’ and laugh. She’s just a fun, happy person. Nothing can keep her down.”

Former neighbor Julie Wright said Webster’s passion for art is matched by her altruism.

“She was always giving back to the community by volunteering or working on different committees,” Wright said. "I know she’s been teaching in a women’s prison for years. She’s just always such an outgoing and giving person."

Four pieces of Webster’s artwork hang in Nina Bernstein’s Tampa home. A friend of the artist for 46 years, Bernstein has watched Webster’s work grow over the years.

“Like Picasso, she has had her different phases,” Bernstein said. "It’s wonderful to have a show like this where you can watch the progression of her art over the years.”

Webster’s also “a great teacher,” Bernstein added. "She has worked in so many different mediums. It’s all so different. You never know what to expect with her work. She just makes the class fun.”