Featured Articles
The Irresistible URGE to Create
By Emily Stehle. Go to the Tampa Museum of Art – this weekend! – for the experience of seeing work by a group of talented and inspired artists from Western and Central Florida you’ve never heard of – or seen before. Your experience will be eye-opening, exhilarating, soul-searching. . . and perhaps, a little sad. The Florida Outsider Art Collection celebrates artists who create – to create. They don’t have traditional art training. But to them, “. . . making art was as essential as breathing”… Read More
Women’s Work
By Tom Winchester. Women’s Work: A Survey of Female Photographers, emphasizes the early contributions of women in photography. The exhibition includes artworks created by many of photography’s most notable women, as well as several whom viewers will be meeting for the first time. The exhibition reveals that men weren’t the only pioneers of photography, and that women were creating photographic imagery that was meant to be understood as art from the earliest days…. Read More
A Look at Harriet Monzon-Aguirre
By Laura Kepner. Harriet Monzon-Aguirre opens the front door to her Safety Harbor home. “Come in,” she says. Her smile is authentic. Her kitchen offers the welcoming aroma of freshly-brewed coffee. “It’s not a big space,” she says, handing me a full cup. She carries her two-year-old son Thomas as she walks toward a brightly-lit back room — the Florida room. “But the sunlight – it’s perfect for painting.”… Read More
Arts Coast Artists at Work
Updates from Creative Pinellas Grant Recipients
A Muse Of Fire
I am beginning a new work. The story is based in autobiography. My father was violently killed when I was nine. I was with him at the time. I experienced… Read More
No Straight Lines
I often joke that I can’t draw a straight line for the life of me. It’s actually fairly accurate, though. This probably lends to my love for painting nature. Maybe… Read More
See all Arts Coast Artists at Work posts
Visual Arts and Film
The Irresistible URGE to Create
By Emily Stehle. Go to the Tampa Museum of Art – this weekend! – for the experience of seeing work by a group of talented and inspired artists from Western and Central Florida you’ve never heard of – or seen before. Your experience will be eye-opening, exhilarating, soul-searching. . . and perhaps, a little sad. The Florida Outsider Art Collection celebrates artists who create – to create. They don’t have traditional art training. But to them, “. . . making art was as essential as breathing”… Read More
Women’s Work
By Tom Winchester. Women’s Work: A Survey of Female Photographers, emphasizes the early contributions of women in photography. The exhibition includes artworks created by many of photography’s most notable women, as well as several whom viewers will be meeting for the first time. The exhibition reveals that men weren’t the only pioneers of photography, and that women were creating photographic imagery that was meant to be understood as art from the earliest days…. Read More
A Look at Harriet Monzon-Aguirre
By Laura Kepner. Harriet Monzon-Aguirre opens the front door to her Safety Harbor home. “Come in,” she says. Her smile is authentic. Her kitchen offers the welcoming aroma of freshly-brewed coffee. “It’s not a big space,” she says, handing me a full cup. She carries her two-year-old son Thomas as she walks toward a brightly-lit back room — the Florida room. “But the sunlight – it’s perfect for painting.”… Read More
Performing Arts
Creative Clay is Flying
By Sheila Cowley. At our second Sparks Collaborative Ensemble rehearsal for Billow, Creative Clay’s artists were flying. The performance is part of Creative Clay’s Spring for the Arts fundraiser on May 20. Billow is a short play dozens of Creative Clay’s member artists have a hand in – from painting strikingly beautiful billowing flags to moving and dancing and shouting out lines with actor Jan Neuberger, dancer Helen Hansen French and choreographer Paula Kramer.
… Read More
Reflections on BEACON Dance 2022
Words by David Warner, Photos by Tom Kramer. Collaboration is a key word for BEACON, the annual concert of contemporary dance at The Palladium. The 2022 edition on April 29 was no exception, with partnerships not just among dancers and choreographers but with a jazz pianist, a composer of electronic music, two laptops, two visual artists and even the audience. I know I will hold all of these dances in my heart for a very long time…. Read More
The Art of Health in Tarpon Springs
By Laura Kepner. This Saturday, the City of Tarpon Springs’ Tarpon Arts, a division of the Cultural and Civic Services Department, is hosting The Art of Health at Craig Park, 5 Beekman Lane in Tarpon Springs, a free all-ages event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., which will focus on the ways art uplifts and improves lives through music, painting, dance and more…. Read More
See all Performing Arts features
Literary Arts
Nature Journaling Event
By Carlene Cobb. One of 11 events offered by the 6th Annual SunLit Literary Festival held April 1–3 and produced by Keep St. Pete Lit was Nature Journaling at Sawgrass Lake Park. The activity was co-hosted by the St. Petersburg Audubon Society and led by Nature Writer Anda Peterson. Peterson’s 18 years’ experience as a writing instructor seemed to imbue her with a magic formula to successfully motivate students to try something new — walking in the woods, then writing, and then sharing their words…. Read More
Postcards Inspired by Picasso
By Margo Hammond. Have you ever written yourself a postcard? I did — at a workshop last month at the Dalí Museum offered by The Paper Seahorse. You can, too. Just join the second Art of the Postcard – Picasso Style workshop at the museum on May 10 from 6-8 pm. The Paper Seahorse is a stationery store that addresses what its founder, Tona Bell, calls “the digital dilemma” – the fact that these days so many of us are constantly in front of our computers…. Read More
Celebrate Reading and Writing with SunLit
Keep St Pete Lit celebrates the written word with the 6th annual SunLit Literary Festival, coming up April 1-3. The festival “is a confederation of like-minded literary, cultural and civic organizations coordinating their individual efforts for the common goal of advancing the enjoyment of books, reading, writing, and the classic art of letterpress printing.”… Read More
See all Literary Arts features
Arts and Education
Visiting the Clearwater Library’s Clyde Butcher Exhibit with Kids
By Harriet Monzon-Aguirre. I really encourage everyone to visit Clyde Butcher’s exhibition before it closes on May 31. His message is moving and important. If you are visiting the Clearwater Main Library with children, the second floor is a wonderful space. Where else can you find a boat amongst books overlooking the Clearwater Marina?
… Read More
Fearless Abstract
By Gabrielle Reeder. Dane Capo and his mother Krista taught and curated an art class titled “Fearless Abstract” at Indian Rocks’ Beach Art Center, on painting without the feeling so common to artists – fear. “We came up with the idea out of Autism Awareness Month,” Krista says. “Everybody asks about how he chooses his colors and how he comes up with these weird mixtures and things. I blame it on the Autism because he doesn’t have any fear about choosing a color.”… Read More
Visiting Great Explorations
By Harriet Monzon-Aguirre. Visiting the Safety Harbor Library and requesting a Museum Pass for one of nine brilliant museums in Pinellas County is how I imagine Charlie felt when he won the golden ticket to see Willy Wonka’s factory. There is a rush of excitement to choose a museum, pick up a pass – and head out on a new adventure. On this occasion we went to see Maurus the Explorasaurus at the Great Explorations Children’s Museum in St. Pete…. Read More
