BY GWEN HAYES
Sentinel Editor

Michelle Shelley-Moseley is the new face at the Tampa Museum of Art in downtown Tampa. She’s the Museum Educator in the Programming Department.

That title entails developing exhibition-related educational materials for the public, teachers, students and the everyday audience. This position also includes working with various community groups on art projects and museum visits, as well as scheduling museum tours for groups.

Mrs. Shelley-Moseley has only been at the Tampa Museum of Art since September 2011, but she is where she wants to be – surrounded by various works of art.
One of the reasons she enjoys what she’s doing is because it comes easy. She’s an artist and talking art is what she does.

Mrs. Shelley-Moseley came to Tampa at the perfect time – a few months before the opening of the Romare Bearden: Southern Recollections exhibition in January at the museum. Ironically, she came to Tampa from St. Louis, Missouri, where she spent a year as a Romare Bearden Graduate Minority Fellow. She found herself well-prepared to talk about the artist and his works in Tampa.

Mrs. Shelley-Moseley received undergraduate and master’s degrees in art education from the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, OK.

While here in Tampa she hopes to someday have her work on display. Her art is centered around the African-American experience. She does various forms of art – from oil paintings to mixed media and collages.

Professionally, she is a member of the Florida Art Education Association, National Art Education Association and the American Association of Museums. Mrs. Moseley is the Children’s Activity Committee Chairperson for the 2012 Gasparilla Festival of the Arts.