By Caron Schwartz
All dressed up with somewhere to go
Tickets to MUSE 2023 are now on sale. Celebrate Our City of the Arts at the fabulous Morean Center for Clay in St. Pete’s Warehouse Arts District on Friday, March 3, from 7-10pm. In what has become the most talked about art party of the season you’ll mingle with St. Pete’s artsiest crowd, enjoy gourmet delicacies and cool libations, and honor six outstanding 2023 MUSE award winners. Get tickets or become a sponsor: https://bit.ly/3HhQ4Om
Artful partnerships
The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art will host American Stages’ “Lift Every Voice: New Play Festival” on March 3-5pm. These two St. Pete arts leaders are partnering on the Festival, which will include five readings of new plays currently in development along with conversations and forums with working artists. Regina Victor, founder of Rescripted, an artist-led interactive commentary on the state of the arts, is the keynote speaker. More information and tickets: https://bit.ly/3GUGO11
Using art glass master Duncan McClellan’s blown glass vessels as inspiration, area craft artisans crafted innovative new pieces in their medium. See the results at Florida CraftArt’s exhibit Clearly Collaborative: A Master of Glass Meets Masters of Craft. The show runs now through March 11. Find out more at www.floridacraftart.org
For your next birthday how about celebrating at the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement? Groups of 10 or more enjoy discounted admission to the museum and learn more by exploring the galleries with a knowledgeable docent on a 50-minute tour of the museum’s collection. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3wiql1T
Photo finishes
The Morean Arts Center is featuring three new photography shows: Águeda Sanfiz’s “The Other Pandemic,” Tom Kramer’s “Forever Changed,” and “Wonder in the Wild” featuring photographic works by Curtis Anderson, Jr., and Stefan Jennings Batista. The three shows, on exhibit through March 23, address either mental health issues and/or the loneliness of the COVID-19 pandemic. https://bit.ly/3HjXznO
The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts is moving to a new home in Ybor City. The new 3,000-square-foot space will offer visitors a ground-floor entrance from the historic Seventh Ave. Ybor Citywalk, a gift shop, and space for lectures and Artist Talks. Fundraising for the move is underway. For more info and to contribute: www.fmopa.org
Ocean Blue Galleries is honored to host Tom Everhart in a rare appearance of himself and his iconic works. Pieces from his original collections will be featured, as well as catering, a complimentary bar, and the chance to mingle with the artist. The event will be held at Ocean Blue Galleries in St. Petersburg Feb. 10 from 7-9pm and Feb. 11 from 1-4pm. Everhart, the Master of Creating Snoopy Art, is the only fine artist educated directly by Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. www.oceanblue.gallery
Imagine Museum’s Jane Buckman is stepping down after serving as executive director since the contemporary glass art museum opened in 2018. Buckman says she plans to spend time creatively as a painter and sculptor. Imagine turns five this month, and Buckman will stay on until founder Trish Duggan hires a new executive director.
The Straz Center has received a $25,000 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grant. The funds will support the Straz Center’s 2023 Amplify Project, an effort to provide broad access to multiple multidisciplinary main-stage performances, free outdoor cultural events, and community conversations.
It’s showtime
Don’t miss “The Laramie Project” by Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project at the Catherine Hickman Theater in Gulfport. Evening performances are Feb. 10, 11, and 17 at 8pm; matinees Feb. 11,12,18, and 19 at 2pm. Tickets are $20. A benefit performance, including a talk-back following the show, is being presented Feb. 18 at 7:30pm in partnership with the LGBTQ Resource Center of the Gulfport Public Library. Tickets and more information: www.ghostlightyc.org
Dunedin’s Syd Entel Galleries hosts international artist Maya Eventov with an artist reception 2/11 5-8pm. Eventov doesn’t just paint with her hands; she paints with her entire being. Her acrylic paintings instantly recognizable are uniquely sculpted, using a palette knife technique. The paint rises from the canvas like a sculpture creating a window to her vision. www.sydentelgalleries.com
freeFall Theatre starts off 2023 with a new play by Mat Smart, which runs through Feb. 26. “The Agitators” tells of the enduring but tempestuous friendship of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. Great allies and at times great adversaries during their 45-year friendship. They agitated the nation, they agitated each other, and, in doing so, they helped shape the Constitution and the course of American history. Tickets and information www.freefalltheatre.com
Fine-tune your voice and learn how to act through a song during American Stage’s “Sing, Act, & Dance!: Intro to Musical Theatre for Adults.” The 10-week fun class runs on Monday nights from Feb. 20-April 4. Learn more and enroll: www.americanstage.org
“There are no mistakes, just happy accidents”
So said Bob Ross during his long-running Joy of Painting TV show. Learn his technique with Tricia Lynn of the Gulf Coast Arts Alliance. A certified Bob Ross instructor, Lynn is offering classes in the Bob Ross Wet-on-Wet painting technique this spring. Learn more about making “happy little accidents” at https://bit.ly/3IZpWZP
Something of a Mystery
Painter David Larson Evans, who resides in St. Pete and works from a remote studio in Pasco County, is interested in not only the perfect execution of a painting but what is being said and what is not being said. See his show “Something of a Mystery” at St. Pete ArtWorks through March 5 and attend a reception on Feb. 11 from 5-9pm. https://bit.ly/3ksmjBn
Dream worlds
The Dalí Museum and Neiman Marcus invite you to enter the dream world of Neiman Marcus fashions and surreal works of wearable art created by Fashion Design at The Dalí teen designers. Join them Feb. 9 for complimentary drinks & hors d’oeuvres and the opportunity to meet some of Tampa Bay’s up-and-coming fashion designers. Learn more and buy tickets: https://bit.ly/3kyDzFa
Duncan McLellan Gallery presents the Washington Glass School’s “Dreams and Visions: Artwork for a Distracted World,” an exhibit of glass artwork that grapples with the truths of contemporary reality while employing familiar narrative motifs found in oral traditions, fairy tales, fables, myths and legends. Washington Glass School artists will present talks and demonstrations Feb. 25 and 26. See www.dmglass.com
Attention Banksy wannabes
Creative Pinellas and Pinellas County are joining together to create the 2023 ARTWorks Signal Box Project that encourages artists to submit original artwork to beautify Pinellas County by transforming the traffic signal control boxes from graffiti waiting to happen into public art. You just missed the first call to artists, but another will open in the spring. Learn more and apply: https://bit.ly/3kzMtlA
Attention teenage creatives
Know a creative high school student? Have them apply for a Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture & the Arts (Tampa Bay BCA) Charlie Hounchell Art Stars Scholarship. Every year Tampa Bay BCA awards six or more scholarships to Tampa Bay area juniors and seniors with exceptional talent in instrumental and vocal music, theater, dance, and visual and literary arts. Since 2008 Tampa Bay BCA has awarded financial tuition assistance to more than 90 Tampa Bay area students. Learn more and apply: https://bit.ly/3iVc9IY
Music to Clearwater’s ears
The Florida Orchestra is expanding its Soundwaves chamber series to the Church of the Ascension in Clearwater starting in February. The series is a unique opportunity to experience TFO’s world-class musicians playing chamber music in an intimate setting, with music ranging from Beethoven and Bruckner to Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Tickets are on sale now at www.floridaorchestra.org.
50 shades of Pompeii
After 20 years of restoration, Pompeii has reopened the infamous House of the Vettii, allowing visitors to return to see its erotic frescoes. Along with run-of-the-mill Roman porn, details include a depiction of Priapus, the Greek god of fertility and abundance, weighing his, uh, equipment, on a scale against a hefty bag of coins. The seemingly obscene image would have served as a symbol of the homeowners’ prosperity.