Brush to canvas: News from the art community

A new exhibit at the St. Petersburg Museum of History spotlights public art, and the role it plays – and continues to play – in the life of the city.

Visual Voices – Public Art in the Sunshine City will be on view at the museum through January 2026.

Pinellas Park artist Derek Donnelly touches up a portrait of aviation pioneer Tony Jannus at the St. Petersburg Museum of History. Photo by Tracy Kennard.

Long before the SHINE Mural Festival got the world’s attention, artists were using St. Petersburg as a canvas, to make statements and share expressive ideas.

One of the first was George Snow Hill, who received funds from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Public Works Administration to create inspirational murals throughout the city and the county.

Hill, a Michigan-born artist who relocated to St. Petersburg in 1933 with his wife, etcher and printmaker Polly Knipp Hill, created work for the city’s U.S. Coast Guard station, the Garden Cafeteria, the Gulfport Casino, the Clearwater Municipal Auditorium and Tampa’s Peter O. Knight Airport.

Hill was commissioned to paint two murals, depicting typical city scenes, for St. Pete’s brand-new City Hall when it opened in 1940.

One of these, Fishing on the Pier, hangs in the City Hall staircase to this day. Its controversial mate, however, was cut from its frame in 1966 in an historic act of civil disobedience.

Read the story of George Snow Hill’s Picknicking at Pass-a-Grille at this link.

The Hills’ vast archive was donated to the Museum of History in 2021; that gigantic “get” was the inspiration for the Beautiful Beginnings exhibit from earlier this year (tracing the earliest artists, and art schools, in St. Pete) which in turn led to Visual Voices.

“Everybody has the concept that in the ‘80s and ‘90s we become this huge arts mecca in the southeast,” museum director Rui Farias told the Catalyst last March. “When I do our little trolley tours, I ask who’s lived here fewer than five years. And most people raise their hand. People who live here now think that this whole art scene is fairly new. But it’s really not.”

Visual Voices includes paintings, sculptures and installations, of works from painter Mark Dixon Dodd to steel sculptor Mark Aeling, from “the sculpted gardens of Snell Isle” to the dreamlike geometric designs of Ya La’Ford.

For museum hours, admission prices and other details, visit the website.

“The Legend of Ondine,” a mural by St. Petersburg artist Cecilia Lueza.

Looking ahead

We Built This City: Women Artists of SHINE and The Shooters We Know: Curated by BASK, two exhibitions celebrating public art, debut Oct. 11 at the Morean Arts Center. We Built This City is a celebration of the annual SHINE Mural Festival, with works by Alyssa Marie, Artist Jones, Elizabeth Barenis, Quinn Cale, Ashley Cantero, Jenipher Chandley, Dreamweaver, Amy Ilic-Volpe, Carrie Jadus, Nneka Jones, Cristi Lopez, Cecilia Lueza, Syd Bloom, Sara Salem, Nicole Salgar and Sarah Sheppard.

BASK (aka Ales Hostomsky) assembled The Shooters We Know from works by “street art” photographers Sal Rodriguez, Jeremy Deputat, Greg Bryon, Joey Clay, Tobin Green, Giancarlo Giusti, Amy Martz, Chloe Reyes and Joe Walles.

Opening Oct. 11 at the James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art, Ben Steele: A POP of Art! Includes 10 paintings by the Utah-based contemporary artist. They’re from Tom and Mary James’ personal collection and will be presented in the hall adjacent to the Earth and Humanity Foundation Wildlife Gallery. And the James Museum is offering free admission Oct. 13, which is Indigenous People Day.

Coming to the Imagine Museum Oct. 17-19: Frames of Legacy: The Artifacts Behind Animation & Storytelling, a collection of artifacts, archival documents, and original film props from the Orlando Museum Walt’s Secret Closet. It’s in celebration of the 102nd anniversary of the Walt Disney Company and the 75th anniversary of C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. The event will include family activities including shield and crown making, costume parades (children in costume receive free admission), and interactive storytelling games. Check it out at this link.

And how about this?

For its second annual walk-through play called Weird in St. Pete (Oct. 2-19), American Stage has chosen a slightly different venue … the Duncan McClellan Gallery, in the Warehouse Arts District. The theater’s artistic director Helen R. Murray wrote the show, which presents historical characters from the city’s past, telling their tales to the non-stationary audience. Tickets are now on sale here.

Artists and galleries: Please add the Catalyst to your email lists: bill@stpetecatalyst.com. Thanks!