It’s a wrap! A fine SHINE and a very crowded arts calendar
The fourth annual SHINE Mural Festival is just about history (“time” is officially called on the muralists – many of whom were already done or near the finish line a day or two early – this Sunday, Oct. 14).
DAAS works on his mural at 125 19th Street S. Photo: Bill DeYoung.
St. Petersburg’s urban landscape got a bit more colorful this week, expanding on the exemplary mural work of previous years. Everywhere you turn between the Grand Central and Warehouse Arts districts, there’s an enormous painting looking back at you, making you smile, making you think, making you appreciate even more that our city not only cultivates and supports public art, but delivers a safe haven – and primo wall space – for the best of the best to create and be appreciated.
This year, SHINE gave us more than 50 new reasons to love St. Petersburg.
Today (Oct. 12) at the Station House, Reveal: St. Pete Streets is a celebration of the artistry and vision that has made SHINE such a valuable part of the cityscape (co-sponsored by Ichicoro ANE, Station House’s in-house restaurant and bar, it’s also a showcase and showoff for the Station House itself). The space will be open from 5 p.m. until midnight for the free event. Here’s what’s going on: A lecture on the history of street art from Diana Bryson of the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts, an interactive panel with mural artists, an exhibition of their work, live music (and DJs) and a unique, mural-inspired fashion installation.
The Arts Alliance of St. Petersburg has a closing reception for SHINE at the Morean Arts Center from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday. The show includes paintings, drawings and prints available for purchase, as well as site-specific mural installations.
This, of course, dovetails nicely with the group’s Second Saturday Art Walk, which gives the curious and the fascinated to 45 local studios and galleries, to be visited at one’s leisure.
The route, which can be walked (for the sturdy of leg), driven or followed by free trolley service, takes in the Central Arts, EDGE, Grand Central, Warehouse Arts and Waterfront Arts districts.
Investigate the October ArtWalk map here.
Opera Central (2145 1st Ave. S.), ground zero for the St. Petersburg Opera Company, is where you’ll find our area’s version of the Tony Awards – in a manner of speaking. It’s the Theatre Tampa Bay Awards gala and ceremony, starting at 7 p.m. Sunday. The ubiquitous (and hilarious) Matthew McGee hosts, with live musical performances and more.
St. Pete’s American Stage and freeFall, and the across-the-bay professional theaters, Jobsite, Tampa Rep and Stageworks, are well represented, with multiple nominations from the 2017-2018 season. Things begins with a cocktail reception at 6:30, and there’s a party planned for afterwards. Info and tickets here.
The St. Pete Opera itself has more than a dozen nominations, even as the organization gets ready to start the new season, Oct. 19 at the Palladium, with performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
That hot-blooded opera, featuring Argentinean baritone Gustavo Feulien in the title role, is officially part of the Arts Alliance’s 2018 St. Petersburg Festival of the Arts, which brings together, under one umbrella, more than 15 events between Oct. 19 and 28, covering music, theater, visual art, dance and more. Here’s the full festival schedule.
Continuing onstage this weekend: Between Riverside and Crazy, the 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, at American Stage; and The Fantasticks – the longest-running musical in Broadway history – at freeFall.
The work of Great Britain’s Nomad Clan, at 2025 3rd Ave. S. Photo: Bill DeYoung.
