Once, my obsession was collecting key chains from every vacation spot I visited. (Bear with me – I was 10.) As I aged, I moved on to magnets. And, as I grew of age, magnets were replaced by shot glasses. Makes you wonder where the souvenir’s sense of style went, doesn’t it?
Travelers still want souvenirs of their trips, but perhaps something a little more substantial, useful or beautiful. In St. Pete/Clearwater, the answer to the stylish souvenir is art – to use, wear or display – found at local museum gift shops and gallery stores.
Museum Shopping
Just one stroll through the museum store in downtown St. Pete's Museum of Fine Arts, and I can’t believe that I haven’t been shopping here for years. It’s the kind of place where you can find the perfect gift for a girlfriend – plus a few treats for yourself. Bangles made of cut kimono fabric, Andy Warhol watches and cuff-style rings rocking fuchsia, lime and leopard scream for me to try them on. I oblige.
Understatement lives here, too – in cultured pearls and Venetian and Roman glass (the latter culled from an Israeli excavation and set in sterling silver by designer Cynthia Gale). Opposite the jewelry counters, I find telephone wire baskets crafted by Zulu weavers (their swirling colors hypnotic) and vignettes tied to current and former exhibits, including books on folk art and Georgia O’Keeffe’s Poppy on a postcard.
A few blocks south, at the store in the brand-new Dali Museum (the building alone is well worth a visit), surrealism trumps subtlety. The artist designed jewelry in the 1940s and '50s, and the reproductions are available for purchase here. I can’t help staring at the Living Flower pin, whose petals are outstretched arms of cubic zirconia and clear crystals. During the same period, Dalí created fragrances, too. The scents are strong, but the visuals of the sculpted bottles are stronger.
Always the hostess, I pick up a bottle of Spanish sparkling wine favored by Dalí and wife Gala. Wine glasses and square plates bathed in the artist’s Still Life: Sandia make my wish list.
Isabelle’s Store at Tarpon Springs’ Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art is as much about Leepa and Rattner as it is about local artists. Visitors with bigger budgets can consider a framed lithograph of Rattner’s Feast of Lights (the words and images play so well together), but you can pick up an original mini-abstract by Leepa for just $10.
Pastels, photographs, acrylics, pencils, pottery and stained glass showcase the talents of hometown artists, including Larry Hasiak, who turns out wooden vessels in his studio on Tarpon Spring’s Anclote River.
It doesn’t get any more grassroots than at the gallery gift shop inside the Dunedin Fine Art Center. Center faculty, students and members create the stone carvings, jewelry and other items on sale here. In fact, it’s often the place where amateur artists turn “pro,” so to speak – just ask shop manager Angelea Carpenter, who has studied and sold her pottery at the center, and is preparing for a show in Tampa this month.
Gallery Hopping
In downtown St. Pete, Florida Craftsmen is a must-shop for anything from jewelry to furniture.
In Dunedin, it’s The Painted Fish Gallery. Likely you’ll get to chat with artists/owners Bill and Linda Renc, though there’s plenty for sale here from area ceramic artists, quilters and plein-air painters. Bill’s underwater scenes (see larger-than-life Redfish) turn oil paint into neon energy. Just as exciting is Fresh Fish 3, the gallery’s current exhibit of emerging talents – pop-y, multimedia and color-rich.
A few blocks away, the Firehouse Gallery blurs local and global. I nearly trip on a stack of imported Persian rugs as I move toward a Beatles rendering by Bay area resident and renowned caricature artist David O'Keefe.
Traditional Souvenir Stops
When you’re done with fine art, find some fun art (and a shot glass, if you must), at these other souvenir stops around town:
Beach and Shore Boulevards, Gulfport. In the offbeat boutiques of this funky neighborhood, mermaids and tiki men influence art, clothing and home decor.
John's Pass Village & Boardwalk, Madeira Beach. Shop for island wear, surf gear and Florida wine in the open air.
Eighth Avenue Historic District, Pass-a-Grille Beach. Home to a pocket-sized artists’ co-op, an internationally known jeweler and an art market (Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.).
The St. Pete Pier. Hats to hot peppers, all in one building.
Mandalay Avenue, Clearwater Beach. From beach/surf shops to specialty shops, including the Freaky Tiki Surf Shack.
