By Paul Bonnette
Keeping a legacy alive is important. Just ask artist and owner of Gallery of Art 850 Kim Griffin White. Whether it is designing for President Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center or keeping the memory of local artist Mary Ola Miller alive, Kim Griffin White takes her opportunities very seriously. Griffin-White has called Panama City home for over two decades and has a goal of making sure Bay County is full of beauty and art.
For Kim Griffin White, her love of all things art started at a young age.
“I’ve always drawn and wanted to make things prettier. I was always attracted to color and had a knack for drawing. I am a fine artist, but I am a graphic artist as well. I was in graphic arts before people knew what it was. Before computers and even copy machines, everything was done by hand, and I got interested in that in high school. My girlfriends and I wanted to take a class together and the only one that was available was yearbook. I absolutely loved the problem solving of it and the gathering of information to stream it down to just what’s needed to go into the page.”
After High School, Kim went into designing in Atlanta and her work drew the attention of President Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center.
“When I lived in Atlanta, I worked for a company where The Carter Center was a client. I had decided that I didn’t want to work somewhere and that I wanted to freelance, so I quit my job and went to visit my mother in Florida. When I got home, I had a message on my answering machine and it was The Carter Center wanting me to do a personal Christmas card for President Carter. That was my very first freelance job, a personal Christmas card for President Carter.”
This would not be the last time, Griffin-White would work on projects for The Carter Center. According to Griffin-White, out of the numerous projects she worked on for The Carter Center, one is close to her heart.
“So, I did that job and I did many other projects with The Carter Center, some of them they are still using now. The most important one and the project closest to President Carter’s heart toward the last end of his life was the eradication of Guinea Worm.”
President Jimmy Carter isn’t the only legacy that Kim Griffin White is working to preserve. After moving to Panama City, Griffin-White became an advocate for the art community and took over the role of Director of the Panama City Center for the Arts. After leaving the Center for the Arts, Griffin-White would take the opportunity to keep the memory and legacy of local art icon and gallery owner, Mary Ola Miller vibrant and alive in Downtown Panama City.
In 1966 Mary Ola Miller opened the Gallery of Art with the goal of bringing artists, residents and locals together. Today, Griffin-White has taken over the gallery from the Miller family and updated it to be a hub of activity for the art community. According to Griffin-White, the Gallery of Art 850 has been a hit with the community from the beginning.
“After Hurricane Michael, the Gallery of Art at the time was “Artist’s Cove,” Maxwell Miller was very helpful to me when I was at the Center for the Arts. After his death, his daughter Starlett Miller Massey wanted the building to remain an art gallery so she called me and wanted me to take over the gallery. She just out of the blue, called me and asked me to take this on. It took me about 10 days to say yes, but then I decided we could do it. I always take on opportunities. We started April 1 of 2022 and it has been going great guns. We have learned our own way and got the train rolling.”
For Kim Griffin-White, continuing legacies such as Mary Ola Miller’s is an important opportunity to continue bringing art to Bay County. The Gallery of Art 850 is located 36 West Beach Drive and has plenty of exciting upcoming exhibits and events planned including “Art to the Max”. It is also a venue for the upcoming Redfish Film Festival in April. For more information visit maryolamillergalleryofart.com.
