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On the Streets: Arts Events & Villages
Go out for an (art) walk. The 26 communities in the St. Pete/Clearwater area serve up a host of galleries. Start in Gulfport, St. Petersburg, Dunedin or Pass-a-Grille.
In Gulfport, visit Art Village Courtyard. Here, artists and crafters sell their wares. Farther north, in Dunedin, you’ll find galleries scattered along Main Street, Broadway and Highland Avenue. At the Painted Fish Gallery, three artists offer oil paintings and calligraphy art, while three doors down, Clay and Paper Gallery features a funky mix of ceramics and other work.
Enjoying the wide stretch of sand on Pass-a-Grille? Take a stroll along Eighth Avenue, where you’ll find galleries, boutiques and restaurants. If you love fine jewelry, Evander Preston sells contemporary designs in 14 and 18 karat gold, and in silver. (Check out the model train running through the window – its headlight is a half-karat diamond.) Galleries in downtown St. Petersburg are plentiful enough to merit their own day trip.
Organized art strolls – held regularly in St. Petersburg and Gulfport – are also popular. St. Pete’s Second Saturday Gallery Walk is held monthly from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Nearly 20 galleries take part – spotlighting everything from glassworks to American crafts. They extend their hours, serve refreshments and host live entertainment. In Gulfport, Art Walks are held the first Friday and third Saturday of each month, from 6 to 10 p.m. More than 40 galleries, stores and restaurants stay open late for the occasion. Enjoy the street performers. Free in-town shuttle service is available.
The St. Pete/Clearwater area also hosts a number of art fairs. Perhaps one of the most popular of these is St. Petersburg’s Mainsail Arts Festival. This two-day juried show, held in April, draws artists from across the nation. Art ranges from fiber work to sculpture. Dunedin Art Harvest, held each autumn in Highlander Park, offers a similar array.
A Museum Tour
Any museum tour of the area should start in St. Petersburg. That city’s Museum of Fine Arts houses a collection extending from antiquity to the present. European and American art are spotlighted, as are Greek and Roman works and pre-Columbian art. The permanent collection includes pieces by Claude Monet and Berthe Morisot. Nearby, the Dali Museum wows visitors with America's most comprehensive collection of work by the eccentric surrealist. Ninety-six Dalí oils are on view, including masterworks such as the "Hallucinogenic Toreador" and "Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of Voltaire." These famous works of art moved to a new downtown location in early 2011. The dramatic new concrete and glass building has attracted attention from art and architecture lovers worldwide. Dali fans, watch a video, read more about the new Dali Museum and see an interactive floor plan here.
Also recently unveiled in downtown St. Pete is the Chihuly Collection - Morean Arts Center. A stunning exhibit and the only permanent installation in the world displaying examples of the elaborate glass works of Dale Chihuly. The pieces are showcased in a specially designed space on the St. Petersburg waterfront and presented by the Morean Arts Center.
On Fifth Street South, the Florida Holocaust Museum documents the social and political forces that contributed to the murder of six million Jews; the story is told through collections of artifacts and photography. View a 15-ton railroad car that was used to transport Jewish people to the death camps.
While you’re in St. Pete, two not-for-profit art galleries are well worth a look. Florida Craftsmen mounts exhibits that show off the work of Sunshine State crafters. The Morean Arts Center, meanwhile, displays work of contemporary artists.
Visit Tarpon Springs and Largo for more museum tours featuring the works of 20th-century artists. In Tarpon Springs, the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art highlights the work of figurative expressionist Abraham Rattner, whose works depict apocalyptic themes.
Theater – Indoors and Out
For intelligent stage plays, begin with American Stage, the region’s oldest professional theater company. Its Mainstage season serves up sophisticated dramas and comedies every year. More broad-reaching, perhaps, is its American Stage in the Park series, held each spring at St. Petersburg’s Demens Landing Park, overlooking Tampa Bay. Musicals such as "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Pirates of Penzance" have proved popular draws. If you prefer the bright lights of Broadway, head over to the Mahaffey Theater, a short distance away. The touring troupes of Broadway shows perform here. Similar performances can be seen at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, which also hosts shows by classic rock musicians. All three theaters offer kids’ programs.
For Music Lovers
The Florida Orchestra season – October through May – is anchored by its Masterworks and Pops series of concerts. Masterworks programs spotlight the work of Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and their ilk. During Pops concerts, you can hear everything from Broadway tunes to Motown. The orchestra plays in the Mahaffey Theater and Ruth Eckerd Hall.
Classical music buffs may also want to check out the offerings of the St. Petersburg Opera Company.
Operas are performed in St. Petersburg’s Palladium Theater, one of three architecturally significant concert venues in the city. Built in 1925, the Palladium boasts a unique Romanesque Revival style. In addition to opera, hear jazz and cabaret performances there. You’ll also enjoy the Mediterranean Revival architecture of St. Petersburg’s Coliseum, generally considered one of the South’s best ballrooms. Visit here for everything from tea dances to rock concerts. Rounding out the troika is the State Theater on Central Avenue. Dating from 1924, it serves up an outstanding Beaux Arts façade. More important to the music lover – you can listen to everything from jazz to punk, rock to ska there.
Just west of downtown and about a 15-minute drive away is the arts community of Gulfport, which sports its own performance space: the Gulfport Casino Ballroom. Take swing lessons and go swing dancing, listen to country music and comedians, and, if your fox trot’s just slightly off, take ballroom dancing lessons.
Music festivals abound. Perhaps the most significant of these is the Clearwater Jazz Holiday. Every October, this shindig offers four days of jazz, performed by regional musicians and national headliners.
