There have been some intense, sharp-edged encounters between Rick Kriseman and Rick Baker as the two men compete this summer to become mayor of St. Petersburg for the next four years. Wednesday night’s encounter at the Museum of Fine Arts wasn’t one of them.
Art is a powerful medium of political expression — and has been since the beginnings of recorded history. But in a political arena saturated with terse, ephemeral electronic messages, does art — especially public art in an urban environment — still have legitimacy in fostering civic consciousness and building social capital? That is a question which a distinguished author and panel will attempt to answer in a forum at the Museum of Fine Arts, 255 Beach Drive NE. It is…
Earlier this year a man wrapped his rented home and a palm tree in aluminum foil in the interest of art. His neighbors weren’t amused. But Piotr Janowski’s shiny project did catch someone’s eye. Janowski’s aluminum foil art will be featured at the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts beginning December 3. Janowski will apply foil to eight palm trees surrounding the museum and attach what he describes as abstract forms, “suggestive of the human ear.” “The meticulously applied and…
Last month’s SHINE mural festival has been all the talk of St. Petersburg residents and visitors, but if you don’t think AARP when you think of the city’s burgeoning mural scene, you don’t know … Ethel. Among the many new spray-painted artworks gracing the city’s walls, one in particular is my favorite. On the 8th Street side of the Morean Arts Center, local star muralist Derek Donnelly has painted “Keep on Cruisin’ (Xtreme Ethel)” on the wall of the elevated…
St. Pete City Council members celebrated anniversaries for two of the city’s key establishments during a meeting Thursday. Both the Museum of Fine Arts and the University of South Florida St. Pete turn 50 this year. MFA head Kent Lydecker spent more than 10 minutes talking up the museum nestled in between Beach Drive and Bayshore Drive. The museum and USFSP were both founded in 1965. “We’re all looking to that next 50 years,” Lydecker said. The MFA founders envisioned a…
Put the chains away. The Kapok tree in front of the St. Pete Museum of Fine Arts is not coming down. A rumor surfaced over the weekend that the giant Kapok tree in front of the museum where generations of children have climbed along St. Pete’s Beach Drive was going to be removed to make way for an addition to the museum. According to Susan Robertson, MFA’s marketing director, there are no plans whatsoever to expand. “Somebody started a rumor,”…
Members and friends of St. Petersburg’s arts community have spoken, catapulting the city to the top spot on AmericanStyle Magazine’s list of Top 25 Arts Destinations for mid-sized U.S. cities. This is a significant jump for St. Petersburg; since 2005, the city has consistently ranked near the bottom of the list among other Florida cities. This is the ninth straight year St. Petersburg has been recognized for its vibrant arts community and the first year it’s finished in the top…
