Courtesy of Pamela Groseclose
Key Points
- The Apopka Art & Foliage Festival named Hannah Allen the fine art spotlight artist and Jessica Griggs the creative craft spotlight artist for 2026.
- Hannah Allen creates colored pencil artwork focusing on realistic animal portraits and donates her work to local conservation and charity events.
- Jessica Griggs paints watercolors inspired by nature's subtle changes and works as principal at a landscape architecture firm.
The Apopka Art & Foliage Festival announced this year’s spotlight artists on Monday, recognizing Hannah Allen and Jessica Griggs.
Allen, this year’s fine art spotlight artist, draws colored pencil artwork and previously won an award of honor at the 2024 festival. Allen started drawing at age 7 and eventually found a mentor in The Art Studio of Lake Mary’s Stella Tagliavore.
“Stella mentored Hannah as she developed a realist style that captured not just the appearance of her subjects — marine life, birds, wildlife, and beloved pets — but their presence: the glint in an eye, the iridescence of a feather, the luminous stillness of an underwater scene,” a press release said. “Hannah’s main focus is to capture every detail to highlight the personality of each animal, especially through the eyes.”
Allen donates her work to the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens and to the annual Ali’s Hope Foundation fundraiser. She has also received awards from the Cocoa Village Spring Fine Art & Craft Fair, the New Smyrna Beach Art Fiesta and the DeLand Outdoor Art Festival.
The festival also named Griggs as this year’s creative craft spotlight artist. She paints watercolors of the natural world and currently works as a principal and director of operations at Dix.Hite + Partners, a landscape architecture firm.
“I love the unexpected in nature: the subtle color changes that many people overlook, and the small seasonal changes that are constantly taking place,” she said in her press release. “I like to take these subtleties, enlarge them to a size that causes people to pause, and engage every viewer in a way that helps them appreciate the little joys in life.”
Griggs credits her memories from her home state of Ohio, plants growing in her backyard, and native plants as key sources of inspiration for her pieces. She also received an award of honor at last year’s festival.
The 64th Annual Apopka Art & Foliage Festival will take place April 25-26 at Kit Land Nelson Park.
