Brush to canvas: News from the visual art world
All eyes this week are on the Florida CraftArt gallery, 501 Central Ave., where the Tibetan Buddhist monks of the Drepung Gomang Monastery are in residence through Sunday, creating an intricate mandala – a brilliant, colorful design made, by hand, from individual grains of sand. The mandala “represents the enlightened mind and the ideal world.”
Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning “world in harmony.”
It’s part of the monks’ annual American tour – they were in Key West last week, and after a week off they’ll head to West Palm Beach to create another mandala. They’ll be at Florida CraftArt all week, with daily music and other cultural programs highlighting Tibetan traditions (each day begins with a morning prayer).
More than 60 local artists, meanwhile, have created mandala-style artworks, and they’re on view in the gallery.
The monks’ week ends with Sunday’s “dissolution ceremony,” in which the mandala is marched to the bayfront, where a portion of the sand is “respectfully” scattered at water’s edge. The impermanence of all things, you know.
Find the monks’ full schedule and all relevant information at the Florida CraftArt site, here.
ArtWalk time
Saturday brings the January edition of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance’s monthly Second Saturday ArtWalk, in which more than 40 galleries and studios – including Florida CraftArt and its downtown neighbor, the Art Lofts – are open and expecting you from 5 to 9 p.m. (some close their doors earlier – it’s advised that you check that before heading out.
It’s a monthly opportunity to engage with artists and other creative types, and learn about the considerable breadth of talent to be found in this city.
The Arts Alliance’s ArtWalk map for January provides every detail.
Arts news and announcements
Marianne Chapel
Constructing Utopia, a show of selected works by artist Marianne Chapel, opens with a reception Saturday at Soft Water Gallery, in the Warehouse Arts District. Chapel, an instructor of Fine Art at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, and is the proprietor of the community gallery SPAACES.
At Drew Marc Gallery, inside The Factory St. Pete, The Modern Woman opens 6-9 p.m. Saturday with a reception for the four artists whose work is on exhibit: Andrea Dasha Reich, Blair Vaughn-Gruler, Maggie Kruger and Michelle Gordon. The address is 2606 Fairfield Ave., Building 8.
Continuing at the Woodson African American Museum of Florida, Resilience & Revolution: An Immersion of Black Americana exhibits an astonishing array of ephemera and marketing memorabilia from the Jim Crow era. The Woodson, 2240 9th Avenue S., is open 5-8 p.m. during the Second Saturday ArtWalk.
At Gulfport’s DRV Gallery, the second annual Art For a Cause juried show is up through Jan. 20 (11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays). A portion of all proceeds will be distributed to a cause selected by participating artists.
Starting Jan. 28, organizers of the annual SHINE Mural Festival will conduct once-a-month trolley tours of St. Petersburg’s SHINE murals (the festival began 10 years ago, so there’s quite a few of them). Tickets will be $39 pe person for the 2.5-hour narrated tour. For more information, visit the Star Trolley website here.
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