Mar 162023
 

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.

Artists from this exhibition pictured above- Adam Christopher Reed, Nikita Rosalind, and Eric “ESH” Hornsby

Currently the gallery is showing Rite of Spring, featuring artists Kenny Jensen, Nathan Beard, Samson Huang, Laura Spencer (Miss Crit), John Gascot, and Leafmore Studios (Becca McCoy and Justin Groom).

The gallery is open Thursday- Sunday from 12-5 pm.

Feb 222023
 

Currently at Carter G. Woodson Museum is Touch in the Spirit of Love, an exhibition of work by professor and artist Dr. Gary L. Lemons.

From the artist about his work (via the museum’s website)-

“I am a Black abstract painter. Conceptually, my paintings are rooted in Africentric colors and patterns. I believe art should inspire all people to connect to the liberating power of communal love. Touch in the Spirit of Love is a series of paintings that graphically illustrate the value of love for all humanity. In an imaginary, spiritually enriched context—this series calls all people together to see each other reaching out to one another through the touching of their hands. The hands in my paintings connect people together to express hope for the life-saving power of love committed to community-building. As envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., hope for a “beloved community” can be realized when people actively join together to show love for social justice. Overall, the paintings in this series visually challenge people to see the need for loving wholeness in mind, body, heart, and soul. Hands of different colors touching each other in this painting series artistically demonstrate the power of love rooted in freedom for all people who have been historically oppressed.”

 

Feb 132023
 

Auguste Rodin, “Monumental Head of Jean d’Aire”

Eternal Spring

Currently at the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg is True Nature: Rodin and the Age of Impressionism. The exhibition includes nearly 40 of his sculptures and presents them alongside Impressionist paintings by his contemporaries.

The curation of the show by Stanton Thomas really creates an exceptional experience for attendees. The large works, along with the paintings, are given plenty of space to be appreciated. While there is a power to seeing these larger than life works, the smaller ones, like Eternal Spring, pictured above, are also captivating.

In one room, on a single wall, is the facade of the building that would become the Musée Rodin. It is there to give both a sense of scale and to remind visitors that most of Rodin’s sculptures were intended for public spaces. Quotes by the Rodin, including one on beauty and character, along with film footage and photographs, add depth to the show as well.

This exhibition closes 3/26/23.

Jan 252023
 

Now it Makes Sense

iFA Peddler

Conquering Pride

Internal Dialogue

Currently at the Tully-Levine Gallery at the ArtsXchange ( part of  The Warehouse Arts District Association) is The Wiz Reimagined a collaborative art exhibition by iBOMS (Jabari Reed- Diop) and Zulu Painter.

The imaginative paintings accompany sculptures and an installation which also at times includes video projections.

Tonight (1/25/23) there will be a screening of The Wiz, hosted by Hillary Van Dyke of Green Book Tampa Bay and an artist talk with both artists and Scott Terry of Mahogany Gallery.

Jan 242023
 

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.

Dec 222022
 

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!”

Dec 202022
 

“Call Me Mrs. Mary E. Pleasant: The Midas Touch” by L’Merchie Frazier

Pictured above is a portrait of entrepreneur, civil rights activist and benefactor, Mary Ellen Pleasant who made a name and a fortune for herself in Gold Rush era San Francisco. Her timeline from 1814 to 1904 begins in racial slavery as an indentured servant girl with no formal education. She ascended to a self-made millionaire, amassing a fortune in her lifetime of over $30 million, ($900 million today).

Organized by historian, artist, and curator Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, “Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West” at The James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art, consists of 50 pictorial quilts created by members of Women of Color Quilters Network, a group founded by Mazloomi in 1985.

Mazloomi’s statement at the exhibition entrance-

American history is incomplete without the stories of African American men and women, from our enslaved ancestors to our societal challenges. The role of African Americans in the movement toward westward expansion has been largely overlooked. This exhibition of original pictorial quilts brings into focus the rich and diverse stories and achievements of Blacks in American western history. The timeline begins with Esteban’s 1528 arrival in the West and continues through the Civil Rights Movement.

At the end of Reconstruction in the South, discrimination and segregation caused African Americans to seek opportunities where there was less prejudice. In the 1800s, they moved by the thousands to the American West. Some went West as slaves, while free African American men joined the United States Army or became ranch hands, fur traders, cowboys, or miners.

Why quilts? Quilts and quilt making are important to American, and Black culture in particular. The art form was historically one of the few mediums accessible to marginalized groups to tell their own story, to provide warmth for their families, and to empower them with a voice through cloth. Using quilts to tell these stories accentuates the intersections of African Americans in the Western frontier while at once informing about the art form and its role in Black history. It is this often unknown and underappreciated shared reality that must be voiced if we are ever to truly value the unique contributions diverse groups make to the fabric of our nation.

Two more selections from the exhibition are below, although it was very hard to choose which quilts to highlight- there are so many great ones to choose from.

“A Good Soldier: Thomas C. Fleming, America’s Longest Serving Black Journalist” by Rosy Petri

At the time of his retirement in 1997, California journalist Thomas C. Fleming was the nation’s oldest Black journalist with the longest consecutive period of publication.

Information from the Museum’s wall plaque on Stagecoach Mary

Mary Fields- also known as Stagecoach Mary, Black Mary and White Crow-became a Wild West legend because she was the second woman and the first African American woman star route mail carrier in the United States.

Born into slavery and freed after the Civil War, she worked as a servant and laundress for families on riverboats before moving to Montana in 1885. A decade later she became a star route carrier, delivering mail using a stagecoach. She drove the 15-mile route from Cascade to Saint Peter’s Mission, Montana, from 1895 to 1903. Nicknamed Stagecoach Mary, she was known for her reliability and speed.

The six-foot-tall Fields was a quick-shooting and hard drinking mail carrier who wore men’s clothing and flaunted a revolver and a rifle. Locals praised her kindness and generosity, and schools in the town of Cascade were closed each year to celebrate her birthday.  Cascade’s mayor granted her an exemption to enter saloons after Montana passed a law forbidding women from entering these establishments.

The impressive quilts on view educate viewers with stories of individuals and events in African American history that may not have previously been familiar, and present new perspectives on those that are. It’s a wonderful way to utilize a visual medium to captivate, inform, and often inspire.

This exhibition closes on 1/8/2023.

Nov 212022
 

Florida CraftArt Festival 2022 was this weekend in St. Pete and there were many great artists showing their work. One of these is ceramic artist William Kidd.

From his website about his work-

Inspired by the beauty found in the natural world, my work is not an imitation of any real living thing, but rather life forms that might exist in some other worldly place. Microorganisms, fungi, seeds, cacti, and sea life have been observed in great detail which have inspired me to create these “organic possibilities”.

Using a potter’s wheel and various hand-building techniques, my work is produced solely by myself in my studio. My clay of choice is a low-fire red earthenware clay which is then finished using oxide stains, underglazes, and my signature crawl glaze to create a rich textural, colorful surface that is unique to my work.

I have a sincere passion to create objects with clay and this energy radiates from within me into the work I produce.

Along with his website, you can also see Kidd’s work on his Instagram.

If you are in the St. Pete area, Florida CraftArt is a great place to find and purchase unique work created by artists from Florida.

Jun 202022
 

Florida Roadside- Gatorland, 2020

Dusk Pines, 2020 (left) and Pinelands, 2020

Artists Sam McCoy (works above) and Sheherazade Thenard (work below) were both part of the recent exhibition Fresh Squeezed 6: Emerging Artists in Florida at Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Information on Sam McCoy from her website

Sam McCoy was born and raised in Orlando, Florida in the 90s. She is a contemporary painter who focuses on the boundaries between natural and hyperreal landscapes of Florida. She pulls her inspirations from a place where spectacles and roadside attractions dominate America’s tourism capital. Between eco-tourism destinations and constructed gardens, McCoy explores the contradictions of her experiences in these places. By pulling back the metaphorical curtain on a carefully crafted image of Florida, McCoy’s ideas of disenchantment and re-enchantment are enacted in each painting. The viewer can still find meaning in the shadier discordant corners of the State.

Magnolia, 2020

From Sheherazade Thenard’s information page

For me, a landscape painting is not merely a visual representation of the world. It is a metaphor for the human condition. I paint to try to make sense of the fragility of our world, the passing of time, and our shared experiences of light, color, and space. The incorporation of figures within my paintings are often swallowed or hidden by their constructed lush surroundings. Painting the land and its inhabitants continues to be a way of engaging with the strangeness of being here.

The undercurrent themes of mysticism, escapism and fantasy are reoccurring within my pieces. Through these works, I aim to create psychological spaces paired with hidden symbolism integral to the understanding of each painting.

Check out both of their websites to see more of their excellent work.