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Brush to canvas: News from the art community
Phoenix-born Ed Mell left a lucrative New York career in commercial design to paint the canyons, deserts and big skies of his home turf, the American Southwest.
Mell, who died two years ago at 81, was a modernist who depicted the landscapes as bold, geometric forms. So well-regarded was his vision that a Mell painting (depicting Cathedral Rock in the Sedona area) was chosen for a 2012 U.S. postage stamp honoring Arizona’s 100th anniversary.
How appropriate, then, that St. Petersburg’s James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art is bringing a mini-exhibition of Mell’s work, including oils, pastels and a bronze sculpture, to its Frontier Gallery Sept. 19.
Ed Mell: Legacy in Light will remain through January, 2027.
“This spotlight expands our understanding of Western American Art through Mell’s modernist lens,” James Museum Chief Curator Emily Kapes said in a prepared statement. “He used exaggerated angles and shading in a mesmerizing way to show the moving energy of a thunderstorm or the details of a cactus flower.”
Ellen Harvey’s “The Disappointed Tourist.” Image provided.
Ellen Harvey at USF
Friday brings artist Ellen Harvey to the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum in Tampa, for a conversation and reception. An exhibition of the artist’s works, PICTURE(SQUE), went on view Monday.
According to a museum statement, Harvey’s work “spotlights the artist’s lifelong quest to draw attention to the revolutionary potential of nostalgia, the relationship between art and tourism, the role of art and the artist in our society, and the social and ecological implications of the picturesque.”
The Disappointed Tourist consists of 316 small paintings. From the museum description: The Disappointed Tourist consists of an evolving, participatory response to the question: “Is there a place that you have always wanted to visit or revisit that no longer exists?” Harvey has posed this question on her website since 2019. Suggested answers (they exceed 500 web entries from more than 40 countries) are then turned by the artist into 18 x 24 inch acrylic and oil paintings that resemble antique black and white postcards. These evoke love and nostalgia for disappeared sites ranging from Greece’s original Parthenon to Manhattan’s fabled music venue CBGB.
Friday’s 6 p.m. artist talk and reception is scheduled for Barness Recital Hall, at USF School of Music, 3755 USF Holly Drive, Tampa. The reception follows at the museum itself, 3821 USF Holly Drive.
Creative Pinellas
Isn’t it great to see all the collaborative programming happening at FloridaRAMA? Case in point is AMPED: Turn Up for the Arts, a fundraiser and big ol’ bash for Creative Pinellas, at the walk-through art experience Saturday, Sept. 5.
AMPED is a gallery exhibit with works from artists from Pinellas and Hillsborough; it’ll be at FloridaRAMA through Nov. 1. The party, which starts at 6 p.m., will feature dance music from DJ Austen van der Bleek, live and looped cello by Liz Glushko, and a performance from soprano Jodi Karem.
The Creative Pinellas team recently announced Art Everywhere for November, a monthlong, unified celebration of the arts including live performances, exhibitions, film screenings, special events and more.
St. Petersburg Museum Week (Nov. 1-8) encompasses special programming at the Dali Museum, Florida Holocaust Museum, James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art, Museum of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg, and the soon-to-open Penny Lane Beatles Museum.
Find a complete rundown of all the Art Everywhere experiences here.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15DPxF8kNp9RU88u0b3KHy-60OByrFgwM/view
The initiative is the result of a $350,000 artist grant from Creative Pinellas, as part of the county’s Arts Tourism Funding.
On Friday’s Arts Alive! podcast: Maggie Duffy, managing editor at Creative Pinellas.
Jim Dine, “Two Florida Bathrobes.”
More art news
This weekend, the Imagine Museum continues its ongoing relationship with, and celebration of, comic book art and the world of comics, cosplay, graphic arts and fandom. Comic Universe (today through Sunday) will feature a “Comic Universe Market,” cosplay influencers, interactive activities, workshops, live entertainment (from the Button Smashers band) and food vendors.
Meanwhile, the Graphic Worlds exhibition, which opened July 23, continues at the museum. Get all details on this weekend’s happenings at this link.
On view through Sept. 7 at the Morean Center for Clay: Apricity, an exhibition of whimsical vessels by June Bunch. Sept. 12 brings the Contemporary Woodfire Potters of Georgia exhibition, highlighting (with the work of 11 artists) the state’s longstanding tradition of woodfiring.
On the Wild Space Gallery author series calendar for Sept. 9 is Jono Miller, naturalist, historian and author. He’ll be talking about his book The Palmetto Book: Histories and Mysteries of the Cabbage Palm.
Jim Dine: Swaying in the Florida Night will debut Sept. 8 at Tampa’s USF GraphicStudio. Dine is a multimedia artist whose work encompasses painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, photography, poetry and performance. A reception is planned for Sept. 18.
At Brenda McMahon Gallery in Gulfport, LIV(IN)G Estuary: A Space Between will debut Sept. 4. The exhibit features works by sculptor Ashley Rivers, inspired by the unique characteristics of oyster shells, particularly their deep, layered ridges. Her materials include clay, raw dyes and pigments, natural fibers, metals, wood and handmade papers and twines.
Rivers will attend the Sept. 4 reception (6-9 p.m.).
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