Featured image: Charles Morrison of the Morean Center for Clay chats with Margaret Murray from Creative Pinellas at Open Studio. Photo by Luci Westphal.

St. Petersburg has a thriving art scene, with crowds flocking to shows and galleries every second saturday for Art Walk. But when do the artists get to go? 

In March, artist Luci Westphal started her latest initiative – a special night before the art walks where various art groups open their studios to other creatives. 

“There is a huge benefit to have one evening a month where we can have a focused visit to a building with other artists’ studios,” says Luci.… Read More

At the Good Folk Fest, from left: Member Artist JJ Hitch (NASCAR wrap design), CEO Kim Dohrman, Board Member Hal Freedman (co-sponsor of the NASCAR show truck), NASCAR’s first self-identified autistic driver Armani Williams, Willi Rudowsky (co-sponsor of the NASCAR show truck), and Development Coordinator Shane Hoffman.

In 1998, I applied for a job as a studio assistant/teacher at a new arts organization called Creative Clay. I met two women, the founders of the organization, named Grace-Anne Alfiero and Danielle Sangita, who described a bit about working with special needs adults. Though I had an idea of what this meant, it was a revolutionary experience when I first met the group of clients that I would be working with. … Read More

It’s Saturday night. Dozens of things are vying for your attention, your leisure time, and your money. But you want to cut through the noise – get beyond the influencers and the biggest advertising budgets – to find the most up-to-date offerings that align with you: your vibes, your companions, and your budget. Where can you access all this for an arts and culture scene as dense as St. Pete’s?

The Warehouse Arts District Association (WADA), led by Executive Director Markus Gottschlich, is launching a vanguard technological solution: an interactive map and unified events calendar. This free-to-use, community-oriented guide is accessible and always live – aimed to help residents and visitors alike explore places they may not know about.     … Read More

Pictured: Curator Jenipher Chandley, artist Aaron Corbitt, artist John Taormina at the exhibit’s opening party.

There are over 30 galleries that participate each month in St. Petersburg’s long-established Second Saturday Art Walk, spanning seven arts districts and representing all disciplines. But not representing all artists. 

New and up-and-coming artists, artists who don’t fit neatly into a category, artists who just want to create and aren’t interested in the hustle… where can they find a place to exhibit? Beyond the dozens of galleries and museums in St. Pete, art finds a home in countless nontraditional spaces like bars and breweries, coffee shops, and restaurants.… Read More

Around the turn of the 20th century, miners began using canaries to warn them of toxic gas buildup in the mines. Canaries, and birds in general, take in oxygen on both the inhale and the exhale – so if there is poison in the air, they are getting a double-dose of it with every breath. This susceptibility to unseen but imminent death made canaries in the coal mines a ubiquitous industry practice that lasted nearly 100 years. So ubiquitous, in fact, canary in the coal mine” remains a common English-language idiom for an early warning of danger. Depending on the severity of the situation, a canary might stop singing or fall unconscious… but a dead canary?… Read More

If it’s hot outside, then it’s time for Cool Art at the Coliseum! This summer staple, held July 19 and 20 this year, is a wonderful time for artists, patrons, and enthusiasts to come together – in air-conditioned splendor – for one of the oldest indoor art shows in the ‘Burg.

Cool Art first started in 1988, when some artists had gathered after enduring a rainy, poor-performing outdoor art show. As they commiserated, the idea of an artist-run indoor art show emerged. The first was held in Fox Hall at Eckerd College, then moved to the University of South Florida Campus Activity Center. It found a more permanent home at the Coliseum in 2005.  … Read More

The fourth annual St. Petersburg Press Literary Event, held May 13 at The Palladium’s Side Door venue, celebrated the literary scene with the theme, “The State of the Word.” And the state of the word was good.

St. Petersburg Press is the foremost book publisher in the Tampa Bay area. The business was the brainchild of Joe Hamilton with collaborating insight from his coffee klatch buddies Paul Wilborn and Roy Peter Clark. All three are writer-celebrities in the local literary scene and beyond. Hamilton is not only the founder of St. Petersburg Press, but also of St. Pete Catalyst. Wilborn, who is the executive director of the Palladium Theatre, wore his familiar dual hats as master of ceremonies and chief piano player providing entertainment breaks for the event, now a tradition.… Read More

Since its completion in the late 1920s, the Don Vista building has been many different things. It began as a temporary residence for Thomas Rowe, who oversaw the building of the Don CeSar, then became its administrative offices and bank. When the US Army took over the site during WWII, it transformed into offices for doctors. It housed the Fisheries and Wildlife Library. It hosted the St. Pete Beach fire truck in the section that later became a boutique gift shop and gallery. Finally, in 1984, it became the home of the Suntan Art Center. The arts organization resided in the building for over four decades…until the hurricanes of 2024.  … Read More

When artist Janice James died in October 2022, her family found a treasure trove of her gorgeous watercolors. Snell Isle resident and Frame Station Gallery owner, Zack Walzer, will tell you, “It was almost like magic that the Janice James Gallery Night happened.

“My son was working in the gallery for summer college volunteer credits and found one of her prints that a client wanted in Denver,” Walzer explains. “I had framed prints of hers hanging on the gallery walls, so I was familiar with a lot of her watercolor paintings and prints.

“One thing led to another,” he recalls, “and the family asked if I would sell [some of] the collection they had.… Read More

“When there’s a hurricane coming, everything just kind of stops. You put all your focus and energy into securing your home and facing that possibility that everything could be lost. When you have to face that possibility, it’s a mental damper on the creative flow.” 

Last fall, artist and Old Northeast resident Elizabeth Barenis, a prolific and popular abstract painter, was in the midst of a very good year. On September 24, her successful solo exhibit at the Morean Arts Center, “Tropical Splendor,” came to a close. The same day, a system of thunderstorms in the tropics formed into a named storm that, within 48 hours, would prove historically catastrophic: Helene.… Read More