By Nanette Wiser
Nature inspires art, and the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation hopes it will inspire conservation and environmental awareness. For more than a decade, the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation has been showcasing the beauty of wild Florida through various mediums such as photography, film, and community murals with the goal to increase awareness about the Corridor. The success of these initiatives has spurred a statewide movement advocating for its protection.
Now, they have a permanent showcase in downtown St. Petersburg. The ribbon cutting on 12/13 showcased FWCF’s new home base located at The Factory St. Pete, featuring the new Wild Space Gallery. This gallery serves as a space to exhibit the works of environmentalists who share the compelling narrative that inspires the ongoing efforts for the protection of the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
Open to the public, it’s especially fun during 2nd Saturday ArtWalk 5-9pm monthly. Follow their events on Facebook and www.floridawildlifecorridor.org. Every second Saturday of the month the Central Arts District, Grand Central District, Warehouse Arts District, Uptown Arts District, and downtown Waterfront District come together as one arts destination with many venues opening their doors to the community.
Currently on exhibit through 1/13 at Wild Space Gallery in The Factory St. Pete is the inspiring Circle of Water by Mickett-Stackhouse Studios. (Exhibit is pictured below.) Mickett and Stackhouse extend the climate change conversation through the mediums of paintings, drawings, and video to emphasize the interactions between Florida’s inland waters and the Earth’s oceans. The artists present how all water is connected and the roles that humans play in the health of our world. Circle of Water includes video from participants of the NEA project Cool Pinellas (currently on exhibit at Creative Pinellas) and the WEDU PBS digital series High Water Marks. The exhibition is curated by Noel Smith.
But there’s more to explore, thanks to Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation’s film. For the first time, teen trekkers embarked on a Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition. The Spring to Shore Expedition covered 50 miles on a four-day filmed trek starting on paddleboards from Rainbow Springs State Park ending with an ocean debris cleanup by boat in Homosassa Bay. The trek crossed an important yet unprotected bottleneck linking the Nature Coast to the Ocala National Forest and the eastern trunk of the Florida Wildlife Corridor. Trekkers waded through the land to water connection vital to Florida’s wildlife, wildlands, and humans alike. They were joined by original trekkers, Mallory, Carlton, and Joe for the final segments of the journey. Previous expedition films have received national attention and multiple film awards. With the recent passage of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act into law, the vision of a connected, protected, and restored statewide Corridor is more possible than ever before. www.floridawildlifecorridor.org/2021-spring-to-shore
