The Voyage was by Matt Kress for the 2018 SHINE Mural Festival. The mural was sponsored by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team (note the football under the skull). For more of Kress’s work, also check out his Instagram.
This weekend the annual Gasparilla Pirate Festival continues with The Parade of Pirates which includes floats, marching bands, dance groups, and, of course, pirates.
Florida artist Jane Bunker’s Mandala, is one of several of her paintings of lilies on view at Soft Water Gallery in St. Pete, Florida.
Proceeds from the sales of her work will be donated to the Woodson Warriors Scholarships Fund. Administered by The Carter G. Woodson African American Museum of Florida, the fund distributes scholarships to local African American college scholars. Bunker established the fund in 2019 while she was a volunteer at the museum.
Notice Us was created for SHINE Mural Festival 2018 by Michelle Sawyer and Tony Krol. Together the husband and wife artist team create murals under the moniker illsol. The mural depicts the endangered Florida panther.
For more of their work, you can also find them on Instagram.
Floating Candy Canes, 2021, from Nancy Cohen’s 2021 exhibition at Morean Arts Center, This Is How I Got So Fat.
From the Morean Arts Center website about the artist and exhibition-
Nancy Cohen is a classical oil painter in the chiaroscuro style of the Old Masters, but with a contemporary twist. She paints the things that inspire her: light filled florals, still life, and landscapes. At the top of the list recently is food, especially desserts: cakes, cupcakes, ice cream cones, and candy. She likes juxtaposing her serious masterly painting technique against such a frivolous and fun subject.
Her current series, entitled “This is How I Got So Fat,” although whimsical, underlines a serious message. Nancy believes that celebrating something that many people find shameful makes a powerful statement about acceptance of differences and the ability to be confident without having to be perfect.
About this body of work, Nancy says: “I think ‘art’ can seem serious and intimidating for many people. I hope that my work brings humor and humanity that can make art more approachable and accessible. What could be more fun than seriously executed paintings of fluffy desserts and juicy fruits with maybe even some gum balls thrown in? One thing I’ve learned as an artist – everyone loves a painting of a giant donut!”
“Themes for a Left-Handed Pitcher”, 2021: “Still Life with Left-Handed Pitcher (04-06)”, 2021. serigraphy, pochoir, collage, acrylic ink, gouache on paper; “Left-Handed Pitcher Still Life (II)”, 2021. particle board, acrylic ink, concrete, polymer clay; “Perfect Games (Theme for a Left-Handed Pitcher)”, 2021. projected sound from single speaker. 9:00 min. (infinite loop)
While at Dunedin Fine Art Center to hear Ry McCullough’s talk, I was reminded of seeing this work at the USF Contemporary Art Museum last year as part of Skyway 20/21: A Contemporary Collaboration. The discussion was great and touched on a lot of interesting topics, especially around his use of collage.
From the gallery’s wall plaque about Themes for a Left-Handed Pitcher–
Inspired by the perfect game Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitcher Sandy Koufax threw against the Chicago Cubs in 1965, Themes for a Left Handed Pitcher engages compositional fielding of the domestic pitcher and black and white balls in a callback and comparative dialogue between sculptural objects and works on paper. Inviting playful and participatory discovery, the project includes an amplified palindromic sound score and a zine, which are both available to download. Interspersed with abstracted baseball references, the project evokes a change-up between the fabricated and found forms, the known and the unknown.
On McCullough’s website you can find the downloadable zine and the audio file mentioned in the description above and its a chance to check out more of his impressive collage pieces. For his most recent work, also check out his Instagram.
In addition to his independent practice, he is part of the collaborative project, small_bars, with artist Nick Satinover.
From the small_bars information page about the project-
Within their collaborative practice they explore the structural authority of their band name moniker, small_bars. This ambiguous name serves as an all-encompassing banner which simultaneously referencing pixels on a screen, lines of type of a letter press, halftone processes, and the physical clubs and venues their former bands played. As small_bars, McCullough and Satinover are able to generate a collection of collateral materials such as audio recordings, videos, printed ephemera, performative events, and structural arrangements, all of which support and expand the notion of what the moniker suggests. This collaborative effort seeks to use the form of a band-like entity to create a space where the acts of publishing, printing and performance co-exist.
Orange Tree
One Line That Connects Us
Orange Tree by Angela Warren is one of several of her works currently located at the Fenway Hotel in Dunedin, Florida. Organized by Creative Pinellas, Beyond the Walls 2022 places Pinellas County artists in several different hotels in the county.
Warren is also part of Arts Annual 2022 at the Creative Pinellas Gallery. For this exhibition she created the interactive work shown above, One Line That Connects Us.
From her Instagram about the work-
Last summer I took some time to brainstorm this work. I wanted to do a piece that would engage people in the gallery and encourage others to participate in creating. My idea/the concept is that we are all literally connected with one line, there’s so much that divides people but art is a way to connect us together! 💜
One Line That Connects Us:
This is an interactive art piece.
This year was hard. The recent hurricane Ian, the pandemic, various wars…these things pushed us further and further away from each other. It’s time to come back together!
During the 2022 Arts Annual opening on November 11th, I invite friends to have their portrait drawn by me in a “blind contour” style. If guests are feeling extra brave and want to take a turn, it is highly suggested!
The two rules are, no looking at the canvas, and no lifting your marker. This allows for an intimate interaction between the drawer, and the drawee. Once there are a good “community” of drawings, we can fill in each others portraits.
The picture above is from one of the earlier days of the piece. Check out her Instagram for more updated shots or better yet, see it at the gallery.
Tomorrow, 12/15, Creative Pinellas is having a party to celebrate the exhibition, from 6-9pm. It’s a great way to experience the show and meet the artist participants.
For the months of November and December, Brenda McMahon Gallery is focusing on Fiber Arts, and Marlene Glickman is one of the artists included. Her fabric collages are made with hand dyed and found fabrics that she then embellishes with thread drawings.
Another one of her projects is using instant setting dyes to create silk scarves. She teaches workshops on the process and also sells kits to do it on your own. She recently gave demonstrations at the Dunedin Fine Art Center (as part of their Open House) and at Art in the Park! in Clearwater, where the scarves pictured below are from.
Glickman’s artist statement from her website–
Art, for me, is the act of expressing ideas regardless of the medium and sharing them with others. I see things and am compelled to create with them. I also love to encourage viewers to interact with my art and put their imprint on the work. Creating 3D sculptural forms and textile “paintings” using new and found materials is a passion.
Verve Supreme by Neverne Covington
The Blue Book of Love & Longing by Neverne Covington
The Blue Book of Love & Longing by Neverne Covington (closer)
The Book of Remembering and Forgetting by Neverne Covington
The Book of Remembering and Forgetting by Neverne Covington
Currently at the Creative Pinellas Gallery is Arts Annual 2022. Creative Pinellas invited past Professional and Emerging Artist Grantees to participate in the show, which celebrates the work of local artists. Many of the works from the show are also available for sale.
For more on artist Neverne Covington, whose work is above, here is a bit more information.
This year the following artists are included in the show-
This exhibition is on view from November 11th through December 31st, 2022. It’s a great way to see some of the best artwork being made by local artists in Pinellas County.
A selection of some of the work on view is on the pages below, but all of the work is definitely worth checking out.
