St. Pete steps up their wardrobe this week for their Annual Art and Fashion Week. Fashion week celebrates 14 local designers, features 10 local artists and looks for fresh faces to show off the beautiful pieces. St. Pete has a growing art and fashion culture that is trying to capture the attention of brands, shoppers and collectors from around the world. Being seen at the shows, however, is just one step in getting your name out ‘there.’
Local designers, artists, and businessmen, Scott Durfee and George Medeiros highlight the opportunity and challenges presented to the growing art community in St. Pete. George and Scott are the owner/artists working to build their presence not only in St. Pete, but earn an audience beyond the Bay Area. Their art combines an industrial edge with re-purposed natural materials to create pieces that are environmentally friendly and futuristic. Their company SpathoseLLC was featured in last year’s St. Pete Art and Fashion Show as well as in other local fashion/art events including Dunedin’s Wearable Art 8.
Their design concept is that of repurposed industrial material mixed with natural fibrous material. Their first pieces were inspired by the out of place ‘natural’ holiday decorations they found during their first Christmas in Florida. Wanting to see more ‘native’ Florida ornaments and wreathes, Scott and George pulled the spathes from palm trees and got to work. (Spathes are the are the outer casing of the bloom of the palm.) Their creations evolved into a uniquely Floridian home for the holidays. Their indigenous decorations sparked an interest with their neighbors and a creative fire in Scott and George that has been burning ever since.
Scott and George had always been involved in the natural elements. They simply describe their move to Florida as a ‘serendipitous’ moment that allowed their art to flourish. Scott’s grandparents owned greenhouses and as a child Scott had spent much of his ‘free’ time arranging wreaths, holiday arrangements and funeral arrangements to help out the family business. George had grown-up loving nature as well.
The community first got to share in their artistic creations during a home tour of Old Southeast St. Petersburg. Scott and George created plant pots for the tour to give away as gifts. They grew their business after that success by creating yard and outdoor pieces, which they sold at local events such as the Green Thumb Festival. They discovered, however, that the Florida Sun was too hot for their painted pieces and re-directed their efforts towards indoor sculptures instead. You can still find many beautiful handmade outdoors pieces surround their home in Southeast St. Petersburg.
Their artistic evolution continued with their indoor sculptures as their refined their pieces from ‘chotschky’-esque creations into works of fine art. Their fine art then gave rise to a series of wearable art pieces which have become their current line of handbags, jewelry and neckties. The gentlemen are proud of their sequence of challenges, reflection and evolution. Their art has grown with and in reaction to the many developments across St. Petersburg’s art community. You can now enjoy their sleekly designed wearable pieces – handmade works of art practical enough to wear in your daily life and unique enough to impress at any event.
Their Art Business and Our Art Community
George is leading their efforts to create an audience beyond the beaches and an audience is what he is creating. Tired of trying to sell his art in a 15-minute spiel at a fold up table, George is sharing the Spathose story across platforms and media. You can find George on Twitter, LinkedIN, Facebook, radio and at many local events. People who buy their work are no longer just buying a piece of art, but are buying the story of Spathose. They know what a Spathe is. They know who Scott and George are. They understand Spathose. Scott and George are creating a new kind of intimate connection between artists and art buyer via an active online presence.
You can find George:
– On Radio with his show THE CREATIVE MIND at ‘Rhino on Air’
– On Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/spathose
– On Twitter at https://twitter.com/Spathose
– On Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/spathose/
– On Kickstarter at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spathose/sustainable-organic-wearable-sculpture-w-an-indust
– Or on your doorstep by purchasing some of their pieces at http://www.shop-spathose.com/
Scott is focused on helping to build the art community in St. Petersburg. He is proud watching the progress St. Petersburg’s museum, gallery and independent artists community had made over the past decade. Scott is trying to grow Spathose right along St. Petersburg’s art community. His museum events are integrated shows with local hair designers, make-up artists, photographers and more featured alongside the Spathose pieces. Scott describes these opportunities to share exposure as ‘reinvesting back into your art community.’ Scott and George enjoy helping young artists gain museum experience and greater exposure in the art community.
You can see them at their next event- An Evening of Ancient Erotica 2014 – at the Museum of Fine Arts.
Spathose’s integrated marketing and adaptive design are both markers for how Scott and George see the future of St. Petersburg’s budding art community. Events such as Second Saturday Gallery Walks and Thursdays After 5 @MFA have made great strides in getting locals and tourists excited about Bay Area artists. The future of St. Pete’s art community, however, depends on developing a network that can both keep that interest alive and translate interest into actual dollars for local artists. Scott and George see their business model as a building block for the St. Pete art community. – Define yourself as an individual. – Identify and cultivate buyers for your art. – Connect with others in the art community. To local non-artists out there, they simply ask you to buy local, buy unique and help keep St. Petersburg’s growing art community alive.
