PANAMA CITY, FL – After the excitement of the holiday season, Bay Arts Alliance begins the new year with two brand new exhibitions, The Art of Renewal by Dana Montenieri and a collaborative exhibition featuring 10 local artists, The Work of Our Hands. The public is invited to the opening reception on Saturday, January 10, 2026 from 1-3pm. Patrons can meet the artists and learn about the artwork on display over light refreshments.
Featured in the Main Gallery, The Work of Our Hands is a collaborative effort among 10 Black artists reflecting on the past 100 years of change through painting and drawing — two of the most intimate, human forms of communication.
The Work of Our Hands explores how Black artists use the foundational mediums of painting and drawing as powerful vehicles for communication, self-definition, and storytelling. Focused on the intimate, expressive nature of the hand-drawn line and the painted surface, the exhibition emphasizes the enduring significance of these traditional practices in articulating personal, cultural, and historical narratives.
“In a world that often attempts to silence or distort Black voices, these works reclaim expression through mark-making,” said Willie Morris, one of the featured artists for The Work of Our Hands. “Every stroke, shading, and texture becomes a statement: of who we are, where we come from, and what we carry.”
Danella Montenieri, M.F.A. painting candidate, is a Florida-based artist whose work is shaped by a lifelong connection to creativity and family. Raised in the Florida Panhandle, she grew up surrounded by the rhythms of faith, service, and storytelling. Those early foundations—along with profound personal losses later in life—deepened her belief in art as a form of resilience and emotional restoration. Her experiences with grief and renewal inform both her subject matter and her commitment to community-focused healing.
On display in the Miller Gallery, her thesis exhibition through the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), The Art of Renewal, examines how expressive and experiential therapies can serve not only individuals within clinical environments but entire communities in need of accessible pathways to healing. Through paintings that blend abstraction and realism, she explores themes of endurance, introspection, and hope—translating her therapeutic work into a visual language of restoration.
Patrons can meet the artists on Saturday, January 10, 2026 at the opening reception at the Center for the Arts from 1-3pm that afternoon. The reception is free to attend. Exhibitions on display January 10-31. The Center for the Arts is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am-5pm, open until 7 pm on Fridays.
Bay Arts Alliance
Since 1978, Bay Arts Alliance has served as the local arts agency for Bay County and provides opportunities for cultural enrichment through broad based educational experiences, music and arts programs, exhibitions, and events. Bay Arts Alliance has brought countless national touring performances to the area and provides many cultural opportunities for Bay County schools and non-profit organizations.
Panama City Center for the Arts
Panama City Center for the Arts in downtown Panama City is housed in the beautiful 1925 historic City Hall building. Panama City Center for the Arts is managed by Bay Arts Alliance. In the Center for the Arts, Bay Arts Alliance provides visitors and the local community with creative enrichment through monthly art shows and exhibitions, films, concerts, educational art classes for all ages, and special focus classes for Bay County school trips. The facility and grounds are under the ownership of the City of Panama City.
Danella “Dana” Montenieri
Montenieri holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education and is completing her Master of Fine Arts in Painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Her background as a Rehabilitation Therapist at Florida State Hospital deeply informs her studio practice, where she guided psychiatric patients through art, music, nature, and movement-based therapies. These experiences revealed how creativity can restore dignity, identity, and connection for individuals navigating mental and emotional challenges.
Montenieri is the founder of Sable & Stone, LLC, a ceramics and hobby studio where people gather to create, share stories, and reconnect. This space represents the first step toward her larger vision: the Sable & Stone Community Center, a developing creative-therapy hub designed to serve underserved and rural communities across the Florida Panhandle. Across her work, Montenieri affirms a simple truth: art is both expression and refuge, a place where healing becomes visible. Through every canvas and community endeavor, she strives to create spaces—literal and figurative—where creativity leads to renewed strength, connection, and hope.
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