ECP Announces Art Escape, A Cul­tur­al Ini­tia­tive Fea­tur­ing Region­al Artists
Work from select Bay and Wal­ton Coun­ty artists to be show­cased in the airport’s concourse

North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (ECP), togeth­er with Life Media Pub­li­ca­tions, announces a new cul­tur­al ini­tia­tive, Art Escape, which show­cas­es con­tem­po­rary work by local artists in the airport’s con­course. The inau­gur­al exhib­it ​“Where am I Going?” opens July 1, with a plan for rotat­ing works to cycle through the space over the next five months. Com­prised of artists from across the region, this project brings togeth­er dynam­ic region­al voic­es with the intent of enhanc­ing the air­port expe­ri­ence for those trav­el­ing to and from the Emer­ald Coast. Wel­com­ing near­ly 1.9 mil­lion pas­sen­gers in 2024, ECP acts as a gate­way to the cul­tur­al attrac­tions of sur­round­ing coun­ties, which, beyond air­port doors, include art gal­leries, world-class live music, doc­u­men­tary film fes­ti­vals, stand-up com­e­dy, and much more.

“Where am I Going?” includes the work of artists Fran­cis­co Adaro, Chris­ton Ander­son, Mark Lit­tle, Chan­dler Williams, Mandy Yourick, and Jamie Zim­chek in medi­ums that range from paint­ing to pho­tog­ra­phy and installation. 

“ECP is a gate­way to both beau­ti­ful beach­es and a region rich in cul­ture. We’re hon­ored to enhance the pas­sen­ger expe­ri­ence by shar­ing a lit­tle of that cul­ture (with a touch of beach) at our facil­i­ty,” stat­ed Park­er McClel­lan, ECP Exec­u­tive Director. 

“We see this as a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to bring the more con­tem­po­rary work of local artists to an uncon­ven­tion­al space,” said Jamie Zim­chek, who helped launch this endeav­or. ​“Though vis­i­tors can get a glimpse of these work­ing artists in gal­leries through­out the region, this show offers them the oppor­tu­ni­ty to present work that’s a lit­tle more exper­i­men­tal and bound­ary push­ing while work­ing around a theme that relates to ideas about per­son­hood, place, and, of course, travel.”

About the Artists

Fran­cis­co Adaro, a Wal­ton Coun­ty – based artist orig­i­nal­ly from Buenos Aires, Argenti­na, blends whim­si­cal charm with refined tech­nique. From a young age, he dreamed of a life in art, study­ing at La Salle and paint­ing murals while sell­ing sketch­es on the streets. A chance encounter with his now wife and Flori­da native Brooke, led him to 30A, where they opened Adaro Art Gallery. His vibrant oil paint­ings fea­ture play­ful, styl­ized fig­ures — both human and ani­mal — cap­tur­ing moments of joy, curios­i­ty, and ten­der­ness. Inspired by his wife, chil­dren, and a live­ly menagerie of res­cue ani­mals, Adaro’s work is a cel­e­bra­tion of life’s mag­ic, infused with humor, warmth, and sto­ry­telling. His unique visu­al lan­guage invites view­ers to see the world through a more joy­ful lens. 

Chris­ton Ander­son is a self-taught Bay Coun­ty artist out of Pana­ma City, Flori­da. Ander­son cul­ti­vates work that bridges the gap between pover­ty and priv­i­lege. Both bold and sub­tle mixed with abstrac­tion and real­ism, Anderson’s work acknowl­edges the dual­i­ty in every sin­gu­lar sub­ject. Christon

Mark Lit­tle is a Wal­ton Coun­ty-based pho­tog­ra­ph­er whose work con­sid­ers the con­nec­tions that bring us togeth­er. Little’s images bring into focus these con­nec­tions, both with one anoth­er and the envi­ron­ments we inhab­it; his pho­tographs cap­ture ener­gy unfold­ing, offer­ing a glimpse of the way it all inter­twines. His work can be found in a vari­ety of nation­al spaces as well as 30A and greater Wal­ton County.

Chan­dler Williamson, a local pho­tog­ra­ph­er, was Wal­ton County’s artist of the year in 2021. His work has allowed him to expe­ri­ence life in many coun­tries and inter­act with many amaz­ing peo­ple along a mul­ti-decade jour­ney. Williams is assist­ed by an expe­ri­enced crew in tune with his work­ing style and has a fine art pho­tog­ra­phy gallery in Gray­ton Beach, Florida.

Mandy Yourick is an artist and edu­ca­tor whose work includes draw­ing, col­lage, and instal­la­tion. Her work engages with broad­er themes of cre­ative place­mak­ing and ecol­o­gy, often reflect­ing on how we inhab­it pub­lic and pri­vate spaces. She stud­ies struc­tures and shel­ters, as well as indi­vid­ual and col­lec­tive agency as they relate to envi­ron­ments and change. Mandy earned her MFA in Visu­al Arts from Ver­mont Col­lege of Fine Arts and has com­plet­ed artist res­i­den­cies in Gijipo, South Korea, Madi­son, Wis­con­sin, and Skope­los, Greece. Her sculp­ture, Home­town, is part of the col­lec­tion at the Under­wa­ter Muse­um of Art in Gray­ton Beach, FL.

Jamie Zim­chek is a mul­ti-dis­ci­pli­nary artist with a back­ground in paint­ing and pho­tog­ra­phy. Zimchek’s work revolves around an explo­ration of pop­u­lar nar­ra­tives pro­mul­gat­ed by pow­er sys­tems in pri­vate and pub­lic domains. She is par­tic­u­lar­ly inter­est­ed in the ways these sys­tems use cal­cu­lat­ed sto­ry­lines and absurd social con­structs to shore up deeply entrenched self-inter­ests. She has an MA in Mediter­ranean Stud­ies from King’s Col­lege Lon­don and an MFA in Visu­al Art from Ver­mont Col­lege of Fine Arts. Zim­chek is co-founder of the III Artist Fund and an instruc­tor in the art depart­ment at Gulf Coast State College.

About North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Air­port

North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (ECP) is locat­ed less than 30 min­utes from Pana­ma City Beach, Pana­ma City and the beach­es of South Wal­ton. Today, with ser­vice from Amer­i­can Air­lines, Delta Air Lines, South­west Air­lines, and Unit­ed Air­lines, ECP pro­vides dai­ly flights to world­wide des­ti­na­tions, includ­ing dai­ly and sea­son­al non­stop flights to Atlanta (ATL), Austin (AUS), Bal­ti­more (BWI), Char­lotte (CLT), Chica­go (MDW/ORD), Dal­las (DAL/DFW), Den­ver (DEN), Hous­ton (HOU/IAH), Indi­anapo­lis (IND), Kansas City (MCI), Nashville (BNA), New York City (LGA), Philadel­phia (PHL), St. Louis (STL) and Wash­ing­ton DC (DCA). ECP pro­vides North­west Flori­da com­mu­ni­ties with first-class facil­i­ties and was strate­gi­cal­ly devel­oped for major eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties. ECP is the gate­way to vis­i­tors seek­ing North­west Florida’s famous beach­es.