Alyssa Paxson Alyssa Paxson was born in 1984 in Lakeland, and earned her BFA in painting at Florida Southern College in 2007.  She received the Juror's Choice award in her Senior Thesis Exhibition.  Since then, her work has been exhibited at the college's Melvin Art Gallery, Platform Florida, and numerous First Fridays.  She was awarded Best in Show at Platform Florida Art Party #13.  Alyssa currently works as director of the Melvin Art Gallery and administrative assistant to the Department of Art and Art History at Florida Southern while applying to MFA programs for Fall 2010.