Brush to canvas: Arts veto town hall at Palladium tonight

Tonight’s the night for Funding the Arts: A Call to Action, a panel discussion and town hall sponsored by the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance, at the Palladium Theater.

As with the recent event at the Warehouse Arts District Association campus, tonight’s gathering is in reaction to Florida governor Ron DeSantis’ blanket veto of arts funding in the 2024-25 state budget.

The public is invited to attend (it starts at 6:30 p.m., in the Side Door Cabaret). Kimberly Jackson, executive director of the St. Petersburg College Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions, will moderate.

The panel: Terry Marks, Arts Alliance CEO; Margaret Murray, Creative Pinellas CEO; Jennifer Jones, president and CEO of the Florida Cultural Alliance; St. Petersburg glass artist Duncan McClellan.

RSVPs are recommended, here.

Marks, in an Arts Alliance email this week, encouraged the public to attend the St. Petersburg City Council meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday, to show support for a proposed increase (to one percent) in the city’s annual allotment for the arts.

St. Petersburg Arts Alliance website.

This weekend

Artist of the Month at Gulfport’s Brenda McMahon Gallery is painter Leslie Bestulic, whose show The Divine Feminine debuts Friday (Aug. 2) with a 6-9 p.m. reception.

Bestulic, who’s worked with figure and landscape in charcoal, pastel and block printing, is now concentrating on painting in acrylics.

Says the artist: “The divine feminine represents a spiritual energy that’s believed to exist within us all, and embracing it is about finding strength in our own softness and challenging society’s idea of what it means to be empowered.”

“Florida Famous” by Paul Leroy Gehres.

Making its debut Friday at FloridaRAMA (the former Fairgrounds St. Pete) is Florida Famous, an exhibition by local pop artist Paul Leroy Gehres, exploring Florida’s pop culture through manipulated images of well-known media people. “Instead of putting gold leaf on my art, I add celebrity because that is what is valued today,” Gehres explains. Friday’s reception is from 6 to 8 p.m. Scheduled for Aug. 9 is an Artist Talk with Maggie Duffy of the Tampa Bay Times. The Florida Famous works will be on view through Aug. 30.

Imagine Peace, a lenticular work by artist Louis Markoya, debuts with a reception Friday (Aug. 2) at the Imagine Museum. Markoya, a former protégé of Salvador Dali, will be at the 5 to 6 p.m. event, and unveil the piece at 6:15. Admission is $5.

Second Saturday ArtWalk

Aug. 10 delivers the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance’s monthly Second Saturday ArtWalk. On that day, more than 40 art galleries and studios will be open and expecting visitors from 5 to 9 p.m.

Lots of these galleries take the opportunity to open new exhibits on ArtWalk day, for guaranteed exposure to the hundreds who enjoy walking the walk, talking the talk, and maybe, just maybe, buying something framed to take home.

Opening at the Art Lofts of St. Petersburg Aug. 10 is Pointed View, a show of black and white photography by former Clearwater Sun and St. Petersburg Times shooter Joseph Walles.

As a response to the DeSantis veto, the two main Warehouse Arts District Association ArtsXchange galleries, Tully-Levine and the Burka Member Lounge, will not participate in the Aug. 10 ArtWalk.

And still more

This screech owl was a guest at the inaugural Menagerie at the Museum event, in 2023. Photo by Amy Kagan.

Also coming to the Imagine Museum is An Evening of Heroes vs. Villains, part of the ongoing Graphics World exhibition. It’s an evening of Q&A and panel discussions with famed comic book creators Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner and Craig Weeden, along with exhibition artists Blake Emory, Josh Rodriguez, Andrew Drilon and Stephen Klein. Friday, Aug, 9, 5-8 p.m. Tickets are $15.

Historian and author Leslie Kemp Poole speaks at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at Wild Space Gallery at the Factory St Pete. In her book Tracing Florida Journeys, Poole talks about well-known explorers and travelers, from de Soto to Audubon to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, who came to the peninsula and wrote about their experiences. She looks at their words and the paths they took from today’s perspective.

Back to the James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art Aug. 17, for the second consecutive year, is the family event Menagerie at the Museum, with appearances by local animal rescue and conservation partners (yes – live animals!), plus artmaking and other kid-friendly activities. Tickets, $5, are available here.

Opening Aug. 24 at The James Museum is Icons & Symbols of the Borderland: Art from the US-Mexico Crossroads, explorations of the unique cultural symbols of the U.S.-Mexico border region by members of the JUNTOS Art Association (est. 1985, El Paso, Texas), whose art is deeply informed by both their Latin American heritage and everyday life near the border.

The Fulton Chamber Players will perform Aug. 27 at the Dali Museum.

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