Brush to canvas: News from the visual art world

Spring has sprung, 2024-style. One would think that the warm and not-yet-humid weather would mean record-breaking crowds for the Second Saturday ArtWalk, in which some 40 art galleries and artist studios throw open their doors on the same night and bid you enter.

One would be mistaken.

“It changes month-to-month,” explains Terry Marks, CEO of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance, the monthly ArtWalk’s parent organization. “Around the holidays, we would expect people to be out and purchasing art … but attendance is lower.

“There are certain months in the summer where some of the studios and galleries say ‘oh my God, this was a terrific ArtWalk.’ I also think that whatever else is going on in St. Pete at the same time affects it. So it’s kind of hard to pin down.”

Since ArtWalk’s debut in the late 1990s, the basic premise has remained the same. Everyone’s in a good mood. Sometimes there are snacks and libations. Sometimes there’s live music, or more.

It’s a self-guided tour (5-9 p.m.) through several districts. Most of it is walkable; all of it is drive-able.

Hood-to-neighborhood trolley service was discontinued last year as too cost-prohibitive.

April’s Second Saturday Artwalk happens this Saturday, April 13. The Arts Alliance provides a new map, every month, to guide visitors from one center of creativity to the next.

View or download the April map here.

Marks believes ArtWalk’s greatest community benefit is the constant public patronage, no matter the season. “Without their support, without them going into the gallery, without them buying a piece of art, local artists don’t get supported,” she says.

“And when local artists don’t get supported, that has a direct effect on our city. It has an effect on our economy. It has an effect on our creative environment.”

New this week

Work by Elaine Clarfield Gitalis at Drew Marc Gallery, in The Factory St. Pete.

Wild Space Gallery, inside The Factory St. Pete (Building 7), has events Saturday to celebrate the exhibit The Nature of Healing. At 4:30 p.m. in the Reading Garden, journalist, author and podcaster Florence Williams, author of The Nature Fix, will speak. Her work focuses on the interplay between the environment, health and science. At 5:30, in the gallery, mixed media artist Genevieve Lykes Dimmitt and sculpture artist David Price will talk about their collaborative exhibit.

Through a combination of gold leaf, acrylics, ink and historical documents, artist Glenyse Thompson explores the complexities of the Civil Rights Movement with the exhibition Passionate Courage, opening Saturday at the Morean Arts Center, with a 5-8 p.m. reception.

Thompson will give an Artist Talk at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 18. The Morean Arts Center is at 719 Central Ave.

Just in time for ArtWalk, Drew Marc Gallery (The Factory St. Pete – Building 8) is debuting Technicolor Melodies, a show of Susan von Gries, Renee Mendler, Hunt Slonem, Hans Petersen and Elaine Clarfield Gitalis. The artist reception is Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m.

Opening with a 6-9 p.m. Saturday reception at Soft Water Gallery, on the Warehouse Arts District campus, is Topos – paintings by Dana Hargrove and Laine Nixon, and sculpture by Kathleen and David Bly. The title is a Greek word meaning place or location.

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