Frank photos A Terrible Beauty | Photographers Amid Chaos is on view at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in St. Pete. Taking its title from William Butler Yeats’s poem “Easter, 1916,” the exhibition explores how artists across time have confronted trauma, strife, and destruction to make sense of a chaotic world. https://bit.ly/mfabeauty
What’s my line? The August MFA Writer’s Workshop is Line/Break, a workshop about why poets break a line—[Text Wrapping Break]and what happens in the white space around it. Explore how a single shift in lineation can change the rhythm, the meaning, and the feeling of a poem. 8/20, 5:30pm. https://bit.ly/mfa-writers
Hello operator? Hankering for a rotary telephone? How about a ruff, one of those stiff, pleated circular collars you see in Shakespeare’s plays? Everything from 50 years of shows must go! Find your keepsake at American Stage’s flea market 8/7-8 at the theatre, 163 Third St N in St. Pete. https://www.americanstage.org/flea-market
Attention Dalí Museum members During August, you can enjoy free admission to the Glazer Children’s Museum. This Tampa museum, which encourages children to learn, grow, and thrive through play, is ranked one of the Top 10 Children’s Museums in the country by USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards. https://glazermuseum.org
Worth the trip There’s still time to see Something Borrowed, Something New at the Sarasota Art Museum. This exhibition offers a rare glimpse into private collections held throughout SW Florida. The show showcases some of the most prominent artists of our time, from Louise Bourgeois to David Hockney and Ai Weiwei. Through 9/27. https://bit.ly/sam-borrowed
Art lovers tip The Sarasota Art Museum is FREE on the second Sunday of the month!
What’s in your wallet? If it’s a Bank of America credit or debit card, all the world’s a museum entrance for free. To find out what’s available in the Tampa Bay area, or anywhere you’re passing through, check out https://bit.ly/boa-impact
Life is sweet Yours truly attended the opening of Juicy: A Slice of Florida Life, Creative Pinellas’s newest exhibition at the Sightline Gallery at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (PIE). Reproductions of vintage citrus crate labels and large, blown glass fruit sculptures illustrate Florida’s identity as a tropical paradise. That’s glass artist and gallery owner Duncan McClellan explaining to me how Steve Hagan created a larger-than-life glass lime. On exhibit through 9/30. https://bit.ly/juicy-slice
Lost & found A vacationer found a painting on a Seville sidewalk and picked it up because he liked the frame. What he didn’t realize was that his find was a picture valued at $170,000 by the Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla. The owner was in the habit of putting it in the car and taking it on holiday but accidentally left it leaning against a wall and drove off. After some research, the finder discovered the truth and police returned the painting to the rightful owner.
Tweet, tweet, tweet August is bird month at Brenda McMahon Gallery in Gulfport. FOR THE BIRDS – An Artful Fundraiser features 18+ artists showing their “bird art.” 10% of sales proceeds will go directly to Birds in Helping Hands, a rescue organization helping birds in crisis. The show opens 8/7 with jazz singer Sasha Tuck & Mike Hoke from 6-9pm. https://brendamcmahongallery.com
It’s about time The Art of Banksy has toured the world for 10 years and finally has arrived in Tampa Bay. The exhibition features 160 original and authenticated Banksy works including prints, canvases, screenprints, sculptures, hand-drawn sketches, limited-edition pieces, and more. At the Straz Center in Tampa thru August. https://banksyexhibit.com/tampa
Blast from the past Meet turn-of-the-20th-century Tampa Bay Hotel staff members and guests Sundays at 2pm during Upstairs/Downstairs at the hotel-turned Henry Plant Museum in Tampa. August characters include: Sergeant Henry Dobson, First Lady Edith Roosevelt, builder Henry Plant, hunting & fishing guide Arthur Schleman, and President Teddy Roosevelt. https://bit.ly/plant-stairs
Trash to treasure For the past two decades, a Grand Rapids, MI man looked after his great-grandfather’s trunk, which was filled with century-old film reels. He couldn’t interest museums or antique stores, so he donated the cache to the Library of Congress, which discovered one was a long-lost film by Georges Méliès, the French pioneer of early cinema. The one-shot, one-reel film tells a story of a robot and its creator’s struggle to control his ingenious machine.
Elvis is in the building Join the St. Pete History Museum 8/7 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s first appearance in St. Pete. Bob Kealing, author of Elvis Ignited, will present Elvis’s rise to fame in Florida – including his fateful 1956 performance at the Florida Theatre in downtown St. Pete. https://bit.ly/spmoh-history
Grants available The Arts Council of Hillsborough County Professional Development for Artists (PDA) Grant Program provides support to advance the careers of artists in Hillsborough County. Artists may apply for up to $2,000 for either education or equipment. https://bit.ly/hills-grants
Pop opportunity The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts manages a flexible grants program that has given over $300 million in cash grants to more than 1,000 arts organizations in 49 states and abroad. It has donated 52,786 works of art to 322 institutions worldwide. More info and application at https://warholfoundation.org
Arrr-tists wanted Applications are open for the 57th Annual Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts. On 3/ 6-7, 2027, 250 artists will gather at Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park to show their work and compete for $92,000 in awards, including the $15,000 Raymond James Best in Show Award. Applications close 9/7. https://gasparillaarts.com
Brother can you spare a dime The Museum of the American Arts & Crafts Movement (MAACM) presents Faces of Inequality: Depression-Era Photography. During the 1930s, photographers across the nation captured the lives of the marginalized and disenfranchised, creating images that reveal both suffering and resilience with unprecedented honesty. https://bit.ly/maacm-faces
FMoPA film Join the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts in Tampa for a showing of First Frames. The documentary follows photographer Serbest Salih, a Syrian refugee, and his mobile darkroom as he travels to overlooked communities across Turkey. The film is told mostly from the child’s perspective as they engage with photography for the first time. 8/20 at 5:30pm. https://www.fmopa.org
Reading room Tombolo Books welcomes back bestselling Florida-based author and friend of the bookstore Kristin Harmel to celebrate her new novel Meet Me in Paris, a book of intertwined stories of love, loss, courage, and redemption set over the course of one magical week in the City of Lights. Join avid readers at Coastal Creative in St. Pete for brunch on 8/29 from 11:30am-12:30pm. https://bit.ly/meet-harmel
Fall festival Celebrate Pinellas County’s artistic verve during Art Everywhere, a month-long celebration of culture and creativity at our beaches, parks, and city venues, organized by Creative Pinellas. Immersive installations, music, dance, and interactive pop-ups will turn the entire St. Pete-Clearwater region into an open-air gallery and stage during Nov. & Dec. Watch this space for details. https://bit.ly/fall-art-everywhere
Quotes:
“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” – Leo Tolstoy
“Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings.” – Wassily Kandinsky