Create
Brush to canvas: Mainsail fest and more visual arts news
Vinoy Park is ground zero for this weekend’s 50th annual Mainsail Art Festival, in which more than 250 fine art and craft exhibitors show and sell their work, and compete for a total of $60,000 in juried cash awards.
What does that mean for us, the art-appreciating public? Assuming the weather gods play fair, it should be a warm, dry springtime Saturday and Sunday for walking along on the bayfront. At least that’s the plan. Admission is free, and festival hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Trolleys equipped with a wheelchair lift will be providing a free shuttle to the festival site; here’s the map of trolley stops.
There’s live music, food and drink and more – check the website for all the details.
A ceramic nef by New Mexico artist Scott Rutherford.
All Morean, all the time
The Morean Center for Clay opens Scott Rutherford: Boaty McBoatface Modern Nefs and Face Jugs with an artist reception April 12. Nefs, the New Mexico-based artist explains, are classic ship sculptures created by medieval-era silversmiths; used for royal banquets, the sculptures doubled as condiment and spice holders.
“I create high fire functional stoneware pottery that is an aesthetic blend of Japanese tea ceramics and American folk craft pottery,” Rutherford writes on his website. He cheekily named this exhibit Boaty McBoatface, after the moniker (chosen via public poll) of a scientific submersible vessel in the United Kingdom.
Boaty McBoatface Modern Nefs and Face Jugs will run through April 25.
At the Morean Arts Center, April 12 will bring receptions for the all-Florida artist exhibit Fresh Squeezed: Emerging Artists in Florida. Part one of the 9th annual exhibition has been on view since mid-March at the Chihuly Collection Special Exhibition; the second part bows April 12 at the Arts Center proper. All details are here.
Coming April 26 to the Morean Glass Studio: Night Blow, a ticketed event that combines glass blowing with performance art. Hot stuff, to be sure. With lights and music and all the molten glass that’s fit to blow. Read more, and find tickets, at this link.
And more visual art
Works by Gulfport Plein Air Painters founding member Joyce Burkholder are part of the exhibit opening with a reception Friday at DRV Gallery.
Now on view in Florida CraftArt’s Special Exhibition gallery: Spaces Between, an international exhibition in collaboration with the Surface Design Association. It brings together local, national and international artists who works push the boundaries of fiber-based art. It’s there through May 17.
A show by the Gulfport Plein Air Painters debuts Friday at DRV Gallery in Gulfport. A reception with the artists is 5:30-8:30 p.m.
April 10-13 brings the annual Art in Bloom exhibit to the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg. It’s a collection of floral designs inspired by works in the MFA collections, by professional florists, garden club members, ikebana practitioners and floral enthusiasts, including members of The Margaret Acheson Stuart Society (named for the founder of the museum). Find all details here.
The Petersburg Arts Alliance’s monthly Second Saturday Art Walk takes place 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, April 12. Many galleries schedule their new exhibit openings around this date – check the Arts Alliance website for April details.
The Dali Museum’s The Subversive Eye: Surrealist and Experimental Photography exhibition takes an additional step in the experimental world April 29 with an event pairing the photos with sound. Utilizing the genre of Musique Concrète, alongside acoustic instruments and spoken word will be keyboardist Jennifer Theuer Růžička, vocalist Fred Johnson and bassist Tim Conwell. Find tickets here.
On April 28, the James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art will unveil the results of artist Ya La’Ford’s Westward Mural Project with a 2-4 p.m. reception. La’Ford, whose exhibition Survey the West: A Cross Continental Reflection is up through May, invited community members to paint something small on a large mural in the Adult Classroom, which she them embellished with her trademark geometrics.
In collaboration with Pinellas County and the Lealman Community Redevelopment Area (CRA), Creative Pinellas has chosen 11 artists to paint traffic signal control boxes across the county. Part of the Graffiti Abatement Art Program, it’s also an effort to beautify community spaces, deter vandalism and celebrate locally-created work.
The artists, whose work will be applied to the signal boxes via vinyl wraps, are jujimo, Taylor Crossland, Kim Michelle Coakley, ChromaCreature, John Gascot MAGNETIC SPACE BUBBLE, Michael James O’Connell, Zoe Perez, Adela Salas, Tania Torres and Chris Van Vooren.
Please add us to your mailing list – send all press releases and event info to bill@stpetecatalyst.com.
You can also submit your events to the Catalyst calendar, by clicking here.
