Assignment: St. Petersburg » Art

Surreal Parade

Bob Horn — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 22:49:09 +0000

Yesterday morning, I took a break from the ‘work’ part of my job and opted to check out the Surreal Parade that was taking place to celebrate the official move from the original Dali Museum in its old warehouse building to the shiny, beautiful new $36 million dollar masterpiece on the waterfront next to Mahaffey Theater. I thought that I might catch an interesting photo or two for this blog, and I did. And, although some of my other photos are certainly more surreal by design, this shot was my favorite of the parade. As this formerly calm and peaceful horse walked down Third Street with Spanish Royalty riding in the carriage behind, it was suddenly spooked by some movement in the parade ahead, and it opted to register its concern with a couple of unplanned moves! After the jumping, there was a momentary, very sudden burst of forward speed, and then the driver was able to calm the horse down and resume a normal pace. But for a few seconds, it was pretty exciting to see! The small size of the photo here doesn’t do it justice, but if you click on it, you’ll get a larger image.

Anyway, there were hundreds of people who came out to watch the parade of Dali-esque beings who made the journey from old home to new. I’m not going to write about the details of the new museum – much better for you to get your information straight from the source, at the Dali Museum website. Rather, I’ve chosen to show you another parade image or two, as well as a shot of the front of the new Dali. It looks absolutely spectacular – I’m very excited to make my first visit!

Pops in the Park Saturday Night

Bob Horn — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:42:34 +0000

The Florida Orchestra’s Annual Free Pops in the Park concert takes place tomorrow, October 16th, at 7:00 PM in Vinoy Park in downtown St. Petersburg. Once again this year, it looks as though the concert timing coincides perfectly with our new cool front that arrived just last night, so it should be a glorious evening to throw down a blanket, eat a picnic dinner (or maybe just dessert), and enjoy the wonderful music that the Florida Orchestra always delivers. The park setting is just a very fun way to listen to the Orchestra, and the musicians always seem to thrive on this outdoor setting – I guess it’s a nice change of pace for them. If you want to get a good spot for your blanket, go early – this is a very popular happening! And, as always, the concert finishes off with the 1812 Overture, played at the same time as a nice little fireworks display is set off over the Vinoy Basin – it’s a perfect pairing! If you’d like to go, and you’re not familiar with Vinoy Park, it’s at the far east end of 5th Avenue North, where 5th Avenue dead-ends at Tampa Bay. Parking will be available at lots around the downtown area, or along Beach Drive or along NorthShore Park…

This concert has been presented for free, outdoors, each year for the past seventeen years thanks, in large part to local Realtor Helen Torres who seventeen years ago pledged $20,000 per year to the Florida Orchestra for the next twenty years in exchange for this annual outdoor concert/gift to St. Petersburg. Three more years in her pledge – I hope that, at the end of the twenty years, someone else steps up and takes over for Helen. In the meanwhile, we’ll continue to attend each year and to enjoy the music. In the words of Joni Mitchell, they’ll be ”playin’ real good, for free”. Just another one of the many reasons that St. Petersburg is a fantastic place to live and play!

Arts Alive: Free Museum Day for All in St. Petersburg!

Bob Horn — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 18:06:16 +0000

One week from tomorrow, on Saturday, September 25th, St. Petersburg residents will get the chance to experience Arts Alive Free Museum Day! St. Petersburg’s major museums will throw open their doors and welcome everyone in, free of charge! This will be the sixth annual event, done in coordination with the Smithsonian Institute and Smithsonian Magazine. The event is taking place in many major cities around the country, so if you’re not near St. Petersburg, be sure to check your local media for details in your area. But for St. Petersburg, I can tell you that you will be welcomed, at no cost, at the following great museums:

The Dali Museum
Dr. Carter G. Woodson Museum
Florida Holocaust Museum
Great Explorations Children’s Museum
Morean Arts Center and Hot Shop
Museum of Fine Arts
Pier Aquarium
St. Petersburg Museum of History

For more details, such as addresses, museum hours, description of current exhibitions, etc, you can check out this link on the City of St. Petersburg’s website.

And if you’d like a larger version of any of the photos shown here, just click on the individual image.

The Sun Is Up, The Sky Is Blue…

Bob Horn — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:21:34 +0000

After so many days of gray skies and rain, it was absolutely glorious to wake up yesterday morning to blue skies and sunshine, the way things are supposed to be, here in St. Petersburg! I was close to downtown on business, so I drove by the Chihuly Collection location on Beach Drive, just to see how things are coming along. This brand new venue is scheduled to open this weekend at 400 Beach Drive. It definitely appeared as though all the finishing touches were being applied, including workers welding a protective frame around the base of this very cool looking Chihuly exhibit that will live in front of the new venue.

The Chihuly Collection is presented by the Morean Arts Center. For full details on the Chihuly Collection, as well as information on the many special opening events scheduled for this weekend, check out this link.

[For a larger, full-size view of the photo, please click on the picture.]

Updated Look at the New Dali

Bob Horn — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 16:37:57 +0000

I usually prefer not to repeat myself, but in this case, I’m going to make an exception. Yes, I’ve done posts in the past about the amazing new
Dali museum (click on this link if you’d like to check any of them out). But it keeps getting more and more amazing looking, and I just couldn’t stop myself this morning. My wife and I had taken a nice, long walk downtown (because, even though it was hot out, it seemed much more fun that going to the gym and fighting the treadmill) and when we finished, we decided to drive to The Hangar for breakfast. On the way, I saw the current state of The Dali and just had to stop for this shot.

According to their website, the new museum will open in 211 days, 12 hours, 39 minutes, and 34 seconds. I, for one, am very excited about it!

[for a larger, high resolution photo, click on the picture below]

Crislip After Dark

Bob Horn — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 19:16:31 +0000

I first posted on the Crislip Arcade back in August of last year. It’s worth a quick look at that post, so that you can compare the entryway to the arcade at that time to the new entryway. It used to have a very boring and stark opening at the bottom, and some old windows higher up. But now, with the renovation of the 600 block of Central Avenue and all of the new artist/tenants moving in, the arcade itself received a much-needed and very well-done facelift. As I drove by one evening last week, I saw the lights on and the new gates closed, and I had to stop to take a photo. It’s even more beautiful in person, though, so you should stop by when you have a chance. For information on some of the businesses and activities in the 600 block, check out their website. [please click on the picture for a full-sized image...]

Duncan McClellan Awarded Mainsail Best of Show

Bob Horn — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:22:52 +0000

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.

Chihuly Fine Art Glass Gallery Downtown

Bob Horn — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 00:29:16 +0000

Dale Chihuly, whose amazing fine art glass creations are known the world over, has chosen St. Petersburg for his first ever permanent collection/gallery. Although the initial plans were made in 2005, the economic downturn wreaked havoc on the early plans, which involved combining a Chihuly gallery and studio with a new arts condo in downtown St. Petersburg.

But, after years of delays and evolution, the Chihuly gallery is being built even as I type! The new gallery will be located downtown, at 400 Beach Drive, easily accessed by visitors and residents alike. The gallery is the creation of the Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg, and it is scheduled to open on July 4th. With the opening of the Chihuly gallery, downtown will have, within a few blocks, the Museum of Fine Arts, the new Dali Museum, and the Chihuly Collection.

For anyone who is not familiary with Dale Chihuly’s work, there are dozens of sites where you can peruse his creations. One of my favorite venues for his work is the lobby of the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas…

The Sunshine City

Bob Horn — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 20:18:48 +0000

We don’t hear it so much these days, but St. Petersburg has been known as “The Sunshine City” since the early 1900′s. There was a great desire to grow the city back in those days, to add both residents and tourism. Because our fantastic weather has always been one of the big selling points of our city, and because we have sunshine almost every day of the year, the city fathers decided to adopt the slogan of “The Sunshine City”. Back then, we had two newspapers in town – the morning paper, which was the St. Petersburg Times, and an evening paper, independently owned and not in any way affiliated with the Times. It was called the St. Petersburg Independent and, later, The Evening Independent. The owner of that newspaper made a public pledge, printed in the paper, that if there was ever a day where the sun did not shine here at all for the entire day, the next day’s newspaper would be free! For the 76 year life of the newspaper, a total of 296 editions were given away – not bad for 76 years! (In the 1960′s, the Independent was purchased by the St. Petersburg Times, then finally shut down in 1986.)

This public art sculpture, situated outside of the St. Petersburg Museum of History, celebrates the “Sunshine City” name, as well as our famous green benches, and even the pledge for free newspapers if the sun didn’t shine. With the Sunscreen film festival in town this weekend, it just seemed an appropriate opportunity to salute our sunshine!

Mainsail Arts Festival This Weekend!

Bob Horn — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:57:27 +0000

The west coast of Florida has a number of great outdoor art shows throughout the fall, winter, and spring seasons. For St. Petersburg, our premier outdoor art event is, unquestionably, the Mainsail Arts Festival.

Held on the waterfront in downtown St. Petersburg, this year’s Mainsail will be the 35th instance of this show! That’s pretty remarkable, but you can be certain that it’s no accident. I’ve been attending the show since the very first one, and I can tell you that the planning that goes into this event is phenomenal, as are the artists who exhibit in this venue. It’s a juried art show, so there is intense competition just to be allowed to exhibit in the show. That means that the public gets a chance to see the best of the best, all in one place, and in a gorgeous outdoor St. Petersburg setting!

This year’s show will take place this Saturday and Sunday, April 17th and 18th, at Vinoy Park, located just east of the Vinoy Hotel on the Tampa Bay waterfront. There will be over 200 artists, covering a wide range of media, including Ceramics, Fibers, Glass, Jewelry, Metal, Mixed Media, Oil/Acrylic, Photography, Sculpture, Watercolor and Wood.

The show is free to attend, and you can go just to enjoy, or you can go with the idea of finding your next treasure. Mainsail is truly a wonderland of creative energy, and it shows in the works that are exhibited. If you have kids, you can bring them by the children’s art tent, where they’ll have a chance to do interactive activities and get in touch with their inner artist.

One final note – a new Mainsail Arts Festival poster is created each year for the show. This year, the poster is the work of Duncan McClellan, an amazing glass artist who I have the good fortune to know. (And, even more good fortune, I have one of his beautiful creations at home, and I get to enjoy it every day!) Duncan’s work is well-known and very highly regarded throughout the country. He will be exhibiting his glass works at the show this weekend. And he is a great example of the caliber of art and craft work that you can expect to see at the show from over 200 artists.

If you need more information, please check out the Mainsail Website. Then, get out and enjoy our beautiful weekend!