The Arts Annual at Creative Pinellas is always a great way to see what the artists in the area are creating. For 2023’s larger than ever edition, there is also a separate space for a video program that includes short films, theater productions, poetry readings, musical performances and more.
Below are some additional selections from the exhibition.
Reid Jenkins, “Holding Court”, Acrylic
Candace Knapp, “What the Blue Heron Sees” and “The Light Within” Acrylic on canvas
Daniel Barojas, “Future Ancestor”, Gouache, acrylic, gold leaf on canvas and “Future Ancestor #3”, Gouache and resin on paper
Rachel Stewart, “Caribbean Currents” Colored pencil, oil stick and collage on Archers archival paper; “Under a Different Sky”, Wall installation Painted relief wood construction with cooper and mixed media materials; Printing Ink and collage on rice paper
Mark Mitchell, “The BurgHive”, Acrylic on Hexagonal canvases
Sketzii,”Out of the Pink Concrete”, “Reclamando Mis Raices” and “A Señora’s Dream”, Acrylic on canvas
Steph Hargrove, “Catch You Later”, Acrylic paint, paper on canvas
Marlene Rose, “Three Bell Tower”, Sandcast glass and “Map Triptych” Sandcast glass
Heather Rippert, “Shakti” (center) and “Hawk 1, 2, and 3”, acrylic on canvas
“THE RIVER. THE REALMS.” 2021, Acrylic on canvas (detail)
“HANUMAN WITH MIRROR”, 2014, Oil on canvas
“HANUMAN WITH MIRROR”, 2014, Oil on canvas (detail)
“HANUMAN WITH MIRROR”, 2014, Oil on canvas (detail)
Nancee Clark’s paintings for Insights and Follies at Dunedin Fine Art Center create a dreamlike world, a jumping off place for your imagination to fill in its own stories.
The artist’s statement about her work-
I find humor in life’s absurdities.
Some time ago, after the impact of family tragedy, a shift happened in my painting. The new direction began with a series of colorful monotypes using images of monkeys on fruit strewn tables looking at themselves in mirrors, monkeys throwing up. The animal was a stand-in for human; the table a stage, and the monkeys a reflection of ourselves.
In current paintings, I create my own strange space, a gap space of irony, populated with intimate, playful, ambiguous narratives of human folly. They are my visual response to life’s ever-changing moment — where what is expected is not what actually occurs. A world where the observed and the observer occupy the same space. With a delight in illuminating the absurd, I offer wickedly humorous metaphors revealing keen, often poignant observation of human behavior.
The launch pad for my paintings is my sketchbook. It fosters idea generation by providing a free pass to just draw anything. Some sketches become formal paintings that evolve to a new version of the original idea. Some just remain in the sketchbook.
Drawing is primary to my painting; it is the skeleton and the continuing definer of the imagery.
My painting process is intuitive and spontaneous. Staying at the ready for chance opportunities, I play with illusion and sleight of hand. Discovery is sometimes funny, and I have found laughter to be a part of the evolution of my work. The final painting usually arrives as a blend of intellectual formal decisions, intuition and chance.
The 2023 Emerging Artist Exhibition in Creative Pinellas’ gallery space highlights work from the ten Pinellas County artists chosen by the organization for this year’s Emerging Artist Grant.
Above are sculptures by Amy Wolf. She has written several articles for the Creative Pinellas website which give some insight into her work and are worth a read.
According to artist Kimberly Engel, the paintings above “explore vibrant color interaction while inviting viewers to meditate on an illusive horizon line where sky meets water.”
From the Creative Pinellas website-
Kimberly Engel is a contemporary abstract painter who lives and works in Clearwater, Florida. Her distinct gestural style combines a love for color interaction with spontaneous mark making. Engel’s paintings explore levels of transparency, evoking depth and light. She is inspired by the constant presence and changing states of large bodies of water. She has lived on the shore of Lake Erie in Euclid, Ohio prior to moving to the Gulf Coast.
Engel describes her process as an exploration of herself and ultimately the dissolving of herself mirrored in the process of making and deconstructing works. Her gestural marks have been described as both compulsive and somewhat calligraphic. They undulate and disappear under thin veils of color.
Denis DeBon created the unique glass works seen above.
His biography from the gallery website-
Dennis DeBon is the creator of EnergyWebs, which are one-of-a-kind works of modern glass art. He is often been compared to artist Jackson Pollock. Like Pollack, Dennis uses simple artistic techniques and has combined reverse painting on glass with spin art and taken both to a whole new level.
Each EnergyWeb is cut from a large sheet of plate glass, then free-style hand-cut into shape, scalloped, polished then spun. Dennis uses a multitude of application techniques and color combinations when creating each piece before firing and hand-signing them.
Every EnergyWeb is a unique, one-of-a-kind work of modern glass art and he is the only artist in the world creating them.
In addition to selling his artwork at fine art festivals across the country, Dennis was commissioned as the artist to create the Richard Dawkins Awards. In addition, his past creations have been presented to James “The Amazing” Randi, Carl Sagan’s widow, Ann Druyan, and the Zora Neale Hurston and the Koi Society of America award winners.
Dennis was born and raised in Buffalo, New York and attended the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, where he studied photography and graphic design.
He now lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida and when he isn’t creating art, you might find him writing screenplays or in the boxing ring . . . working as a professional boxing referee.
For more of the artists in the exhibition, head to the pages below.
Currently at the Creative Pinellas gallery is Yolanda Sánchez’sOut of Eden, a collection of her paintings and textile work. The gallery is filled bright pleasing colors and this is the perfect exhibition to celebrate the spring season.
On the Creative Pinellas website, Sánchez discusses her work in a detailed essay. Below is a section of that piece.
Whether in painting or textiles, my working instruments are rhythm and color. I am interested in the joyful, playful or even spiritual properties of light. I am reflecting the light and color of where I live, of my immediate environment.
This artistic practice is improvisational and process-oriented, abstract. The relationship of one color to another creates a rhythm and tempo and establishes the composition. Each color suggests the next color, almost like the “call and response” form found in many musical traditions. There is a continuous orchestration, as the colors converse with one another, suggesting a mood or vibe.
I am often not sure where it is going or going to go. It is a surprise at every turn. I shape my perception as I work.
My textile work is informed by the Korean art form known as Bojagi. Humble in its origins, nameless women made these traditional textiles as often extravagant visual pieces using mundane, leftover fabric from wrapping, storing and transporting goods. Over time, the nobility introduced finer, more delicate cloth.
In its traditional form, design characteristics include stitching and seams to create linear elements, especially with translucent fabrics. These features differentiate and distinguish Bojagi from patchwork textiles found in other cultural traditions. Nevertheless, Bojagi shares what feminist art historians identify as centuries-old histories of turning scraps of fabric into beautiful objects and ultimately shifting perspectives from private to public.
I pay homage to these unknown women, authenticating their domestic work – and I affirm their values of inclusion, pleasure, love, the familial, the decorative, the colorful and joyful, the spiritual and the everyday.
My Bojagi-inspired textile work – painting with thread and fabric – honors the Korean tradition. Still, while relying on the conventions and basic structure, these pieces extend and interpret the Bojagi into a more contemporary form. I offer a new direction by varying medium and size and utilizing color compositions and stitching techniques less anchored to established methods.
Material, color, texture and transparency are crucial elements in this work, as is the geometry inherent in the design. While geometry, in this case, emerges from a particular culture, the form does not demand a specific culture-dependent response. Its only function is beauty. It is about the sensual delight derived from looking – the viewer can ascribe or chose meaning, if at all.
As an order, rhythm and pattern are generated within the geometry, creating beauty through harmony and stability, color dominates as a suggestive poetic force, concurrently evoking a connection to my immediate tropical environment. It sets as my intention arousing a sense of place, a feeling, and the atmosphere of an abstract garden, or even a walk through a field of flowers.
It is the color but also the sensuousness of nature that I endeavor to suggest in both my paintings and textiles.
Eric “ESH” Hornsby, “Living Daylights 1″and “Living Daylights 2”
Adam Christopher Reed, “The Judge”
Nikita Rosalind, “Peace in the Wild Waves”
The Werk Gallery is an exciting new space in St. Pete that hosts monthly exhibitions in one half and the owners’ curated mix of vintage and modern items in the other. The photos above are from Shiny & New, the first gallery’s first show.
He is one of the artists at The Studios @5663 in Pinellas Park. It’s a great place to see what local artists are making and working on.
On the fourth Saturday of the month Pinellas Arts Village hosts a block party with vendors, open galleries and studios, crafts, live music, and food. It’s a fun event that offers the opportunity to check out what local artists are working on.
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.