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Your weekend arts forecast: An Art Walk here, an Art Walk there
A little over a month into her job as executive director of the St. Petersburg Arts Association, Terry Marks says the experience so far has been “magical.”
St. Petersburg, she expresses, is “an amazing community. It’s like being a kid in a candy store. I’ve met so many extraordinary people, lovely people, committed people that it’s just a pleasure. It’s been only positive since day one.”
Taking the reins during the Covid pandemic means that Marks has yet to experience the organization’s marvelous mask-free Second Saturday Art Walk, with sidewalks bustling, and trolleys trolleying, and the strong communal energy of the city’s art makers and art lovers interacting en masse for three or four specified hours.
Of course, the Art Walk has been back in business for several months, but without the trolleys, and with masks and social distancing, it just hasn’t been the same.
Yet Second Saturday won’t be silenced, and the May edition – this Saturday, the 8th – approximately 50 studios, galleries and exhibit spaces will be open, with individual hours, to welcome visitors.
Download the May venue list here.
We’re not quite there yet, but Art Walk is in better shape than it was a year ago. According to Marks, artists who dropped out during the worst days of Covid are signing back up … slowly.
“It’s in our hearts, and the city’s, and all the people involved, that it will get back to where it was,” she says. “But we’re still in this transition phase … but I can tell you, just walking the streets of St. Petersburg, it’s starting to feel better. It’s starting to feel like we’re alive again.
“But all have to be patient, and make sure we’re doing it in the right way.”
Making its debut at this Art Walk is the Fresh Start Community Exhibition at thestudio@620; at Mize Gallery, the new exhibit (opening Friday with a virtual tour and Saturday for reals) is The Art of All Things Florida.
Walking in Gulfport
Congratulations to ceramic artist Brenda McMahon, whose Gulfport studio celebrates two years Friday. There’s a party afoot, from 5 to 9 p.m. during Gulfport’s First Friday Art Walk. Gail Trippsmith and Company will provide the tuneage, at 2901 Beach Boulevard.
The Gulfport First Friday Art Walk takes place from 6 to 10 p.m.
McMahon, who’s a brilliant artist in her own right, is head of the Arts Committee for the Gulfport Merchants Chamber. In that role, she has completely transformed the monthly walk – it’s now a fully-curated review of fine art from fine artists. And there are many of those that call Gulfport home; approximately 30 will show and sell at Friday’s event.
Not only that, she’s the founder and creator of the semi-annual ArtJones studio tours.
St. Petersburg painter Vivia Barron, who creates African American Folk Art, is May Artist of the Month at the Brenda McMahon Gallery.
Carry on
Technically, drummer Phil Ehart is the only original member of Kansas. The history of this iconic American band from Topeka is somewhat twisted, as members came and went over the years. But guitarist Rich Williams – who’s still in the group – signed on slightly later than Ehart. That means Ehart and Williams played on “Carry on Wayward Son,” “Dust in the Wind,’ “Point of Know Return” and the other stone-classic Kansas tracks of the mid-to-late ‘70s.
Gone from the ranks are violinist Robby Steinhardt (a longtime resident of Tampa), along with singer/songwriters Kerry Livgren and Steve Walsh, and guitarist Steve Morse. Those are the guys we all heard front and center on the radio back in the day.
If it’s all about the music, the songs should still engage and inspire. Hear for yourself when Kansas plays Saturday at Ruth Eckerd Hall.
Louisiana blues legend Tab Benoit is here Saturday night, too, performing at Ruth’s sister venue, the Capitol Theatre.
The other stuff
Jazz vocalist Ona Kerei has Friday’s Palladium Live concert, streamed from Hough Hall (the big room) in the Palladium Theater. The Spain-born singer’s tribute to the eatles finds her accompanied by Dominic Walker on guitar, with Pablo Arencibia on piano, La Lucha’s Alejandro Arenas, bass, and drummer Jean Bolduc. Streaming info here. Watch for a conversation with Ona in Friday’s edition of the Catalyst.
Hello, goodbye: It’s the final weekend for Leonard Bernstein’s New York, the final show in freeFall Theatre’s “drive-in” series; in Tampa, the drama The Wendy House by Hector Melendez-Figueroa is in its opening weekend, at Lab Theatre Project.
Send your media information to bill@stpetecatalyst.com.
