Last Thursday, I published a post about the upcoming Mainsail Arts Festival, which took place in Vinoy Park on Saturday and Sunday.  In my post, I showed this year’s Mainsail poster, which featured the work of Duncan McClellan, a local Fine Art Glass Artist whose work is loved by aficionados throughout the country and whose local acclaim grows stronger each year.

Well, it seems that choosing that poster for my blog photo was a great move on my part, an action portending things to come!  On Sunday, Duncan was awarded the $10,000 Best of Show Award for this year’s festival!  The first shot below shows my photo of his work that was featured in the show poster, along with some other beautiful examples of his craft.  Further down, another photo of some of his pieces.  And I would love for you to know that, as nice as they look in these photographs, seeing them in person is a much more rewarding experience! (Another thing that I enjoyed learning, when I visited Duncan’s studio, is that all of his pieces have real stories behind them – some very fun/interesting ones!  If you fall in love with one of his pieces, you need to try to cajole him to get him to tell you about the inspiration for that particular piece.)

Which leads me to an announcement that I’m very pleased to make:  When we saw Duncan at the show on Saturday, he told us that he is preparing to move into a new studio, complete with his own gallery, right here in St. Petersburg.  He has worked out of Tampa for many years, and his studio was in an industrial park setting,  not so easily accessible.  So this is great news for those who love Duncan’s work and those who might like to check it out.  The new studio will be located at 2342 Emerson Avenue South, and he will be holding an Open House every Sunday in May, from 11AM to 3PM, as well as the first two Sundays in June.  And, to make your experience even more fun, he’s providing Bloody Marys and Mimosas!  So, if you’d like to see some of his work up close and personal and maybe discuss buying one of these treasures for your home, make it a point to stop by and visit Duncan in his new surroundings.  (Please click on the photos below to view a larger image.)

For a complete list of the Award Winners at this years’s Mainsail show, visit this Tampabay.com page.