Celebrating the #LiteracyLifestyle

By Margo Hammond. The Cultured Books Literacy Foundation is a nonprofit, book-promoting organization with an unusual mission. Unlike most literacy programs which look to the needs of individual children, CBLF is interested in fostering literacy throughout an entire community — the Black community of south St. Pete. “It’s not just about focusing on the children,” the foundation says on its website, “It’s about supporting and involving parents as well.” For CBLF, literacy is a lifestyle…. Read More

Dynamic Exhibit Explores Black Women Artists

By Jake-ann Jones. A dynamic display of contemporary Black women artists, including Shannon Elyse Curry, Kendra Frorup, Nneka Jones, Jodi Minnis and Princess Smith, is currently on view at the Tampa Museum of Art (TMA) in Verde: Poetics of Shade. Taking its title from contemplation on the color green and its various emotions and feelings, the exhibit considers several shades and symbolic messages evoked from the color through the mediums of painting, sculpture, ceramics, and embroidery on canvas…. Read More

Welcome to Yamandú Canosa’s Space

By Carol Mickett. I knew as soon as I walked into The Visit, the first solo museum exhibition in the U.S. by Uruguayan-Spanish artist Yamandú Canosa, that I was not in the typical Museum show. It’s rare to find a show such as The Visit which quietly and simply creates a place. The entire show itself is generated from Canosa’s visit to the home of Salvador Dalí in Port Lligat, Spain. Canosa uses the home of Dalí and its landscape to construct a place of his own that pays homage to his visit and to his roots in Spanish art history and surrealism…. Read More

Glass is Hot and Learning is Cool

By Tom Winchester. The DMG School Project brings the art of glass to students who don’t otherwise have access to this art by offering demonstrations and workshops on-site at local schools. This project is funded, in part, by the Pinellas County Recovers Grant that’s awarded by Creative Pinellas through the National Endowment for the Arts’ American Rescue Plan. The DMG School Project helps to put the power of creativity into the hands of the next generation…. Read More

Creating a Chess Set and Community

By Jackie Kaufman. The St. Petersburg Chess Club is a hidden gem close to downtown St. Pete. They have been operating in the same location longer than any other chess club in the United States, 91 years – yes that is right, since 1931 in the same building. Through this NEA/Pinellas Recovers grant project, the members will make their own individual chess pieces out of pewter, and learn the whole creative process.
…. Read More

My Toolbox.

There are so many approaches to acting- to building the character. Some from the inside out (what is often referred to as “method acting”) or from the outside in (which… Read More

Call me Carmen!

Another WONDERFUL opportunity in the books!    I was recently hired to participate in a corporate training series for JW Marriot! E-Training projects, like this one, are a great way… Read More

Become a Creative Pinellas Supporter