Arts In

If you’re near downtown St Pete, you’ve seen the cheerfully iconic Mr. Sun mural and Twiggy’s dreamy, gazing eyes. The striking Paris-London-Tokyo-St Pete graphic is now a proud city emblem. Many of the city’s signature images spring from the quick-witted mind of Chad Mize.

Chad talks with Barbara St. Clair about the allure of mural work, and the draining physical labor of mural creation. He shares his many inspirations, the business sense that lets him earn his living as an artist and the sharp eye for design that drives his work.

Explore Chad’s murals, paintings, design, logos, music mixes and more at http://www.chadmize.com/chadmize.html

Check out the SHINE Mural Festival at http://shineonstpete.com

Arts In is produced by Matt and Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair for Creative Pinellas.

The vibrant actor Becca McCoy shares her passion for Shakespeare and the sublime storytelling of musical theatre, in a jolly conversation with Barbara St. Clair.

Audiences experienced Becca’s four-and-a-half-octave vocal range in her acclaimed performance last year as the Lady of the Lake in Spamalot, and in the intimate cabaret setting of the Palladium Side Door. In recent months she’s tackled Tennessee Williams, nostalgic radio-style comedy and an experimental duo with a dancer at the Gasparilla Fringe Fest.

As a hard-working member of Actors Equity, Becca’s realistic about life as a working actor and the need to make your own creative opportunities. She’s eloquent about the unique artform of cabaret, and the joys of lifelong learning and exploring.

You can keep up with Becca’s varied work at http://www.beccamccoy.com.

Arts In is produced by Matt and Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair for Creative Pinellas.

Gasparilla Fringe Fest clip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pOEK1928-Y

Rose Marie Prins shares her thoughts on the beauty of abstract art, and the artist’s need to adapt to changing situations and available materials.

Her work connects to nature and to healing, both visibly and viscerally, and below the surface. She explores subjects such as habitat destruction and Florida’s water. Viewers often experience an emotional reaction to her paintings and imaginative installations.

Born in South Africa, Rose Marie’s paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works are in public, corporate, and private collections in the United States, Canada and Europe. The award-winning artist calls St. Petersburg home, and students at the Morean Arts Center have been studying with her for years.

You can see Rose Marie Prins’ artwork in the exhibition, “Sanctuary, East and West” at The Studio@620 in downtown St. Pete, on display May 13-May 30. Rose Marie will give an artist talk at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 13.

http://www.thestudioat620.org/events/sanctuary-east-and-west

Find out more at http://www.rosemarieprins.com

Arts In is produced by Matt and Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair for Creative Pinellas.

Maureen McDole is a passionate reader and passionate writer. And passionate about creating opportunities for everybody in St Pete to read and write.

As the founder and director of Keep St Pete Lit, Maureen has made her literary nonprofit a vital part of the local arts scene. And she’s woven literary arts into visual and performing arts, with the Fantastic Ekphrastic, the Museum of Fine Arts Book Club, the SunLit Festival, First Night and the 100+ writing classes KSPL provides each year at the Morean Arts Center.

And along with that, Keep St Pete Lit hosts an annual children’s book drive, open-mic poetry and storytelling, a carefully-curated used bookstore, sunrise poetry and moonlit writing walks.

Maureen’s a published poet, recipient of St. Petersburg Art Alliance’s 2016 MUSE Award for Literary Arts, and a true believer that reading can change the world.

Keep up with Keep St Pete Lit’s events at - http://keepstpetelit.org

Check out their low-cost, professionally-taught writing classes at the Morean Arts Center in downtown St Pete - http://keepstpetelit.org/litspace/litspace-classes/

The BookSpace Bookstore - http://keepstpetelit.org/bookspace-has-a-new-home/

Arts In is produced by Matt and Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair for Creative Pinellas.

“We’re surrounded by materials. So there’s no reason to not make things.”

If you’ve been in downtown St. Pete you have seen James Oleson’s work. The sculptor and muralist shares his infectious enthusiasm for creating public art that’s crafted as a gift to everyone who sees it.

James talks about the sense of discovery in his work, and his collaborative projects with St. Petersburg’s Bloom Art Center. He explains in detail his process for creating Fire Sculptures, beautiful at every stage of their existence and especially when alive with 30-foot flames. And he gives us the philosophy of art he shares with children, “If you want to be an artist, you don’t need materials, you don’t need fancy things. You just are an artist and you make stuff out of stuff that’s around you.”

You can find out more about James Oleson’s work at http://www.olesonart.com.

Keep up with the happenings at Bloom Art Center at http://www.startbloomin.com.

Arts In is produced by Matt and Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair for Creative Pinellas.

Everybody knows Paul Wilborn. From jazz at The Palladium, newspaper pages, the emcee of countless arts events, the voice of “Noel Berlin, Cabaret Detective” and half of a beloved creative couple with actor and torch singer Eugenie Bondurant.

But Paul is even more than all of that. In this conversation, he shares his experiences as a war correspondent and award-winning journalist, and as one of the mischievous founders of Guavaween. As Executive Director of downtown St. Pete’s Palladium Theatre, Paul explains how a performing arts center focused on local performers can sell out shows and strengthen the area’s music scene.

As a tuxedo-clad cabaret pianist, Paul shares his passion for the vibrant songwriting of the 1920s-‘50s. And from his experience serving as Manager of Creative Industries for the City of Tampa, to becoming a mainstay of St. Petersburg’s arts community, Paul shares his thoughtful perspective on the past, present and future of the arts in Tampa Bay.

Events at The Palladium Theatre - http://www.mypalladium.org

Palladium Paul’s Blog - http://www.mypalladium.org/category/palladium-paul/

Paul Wilborn’s American Songbook Series - https://www.facebook.com/PWAmericanSongbook/

Paul’s Oral History of Tampa arts under Mayor Pam Iorio - http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1260&context=flstud_oh

Noel Berlin, Cabaret Detective - http://www.radiotheaterproject.org/?s=noel+berlin

Arts In is produced by Matt and Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair for Creative Pinellas.

There’s a ship docked in downtown St. Pete with aerialists flying from the rigging. It’s a ship filled with actors and dancers and theatre crew, creating a visually spectacular story about climate change.

Adriana Kelder started the Caravan Stage Company with Paul Kirby in the 1970s. They’ve been bringing original productions to small towns and cities around North America - and Europe - for more than 40 years.

Adriana and Paul toured with horse-drawn carriages for 20 years before setting sail. They raised a family as they traveled, and built a network of creative collaborators around the world. And while the troupe lives together onboard with a library in the galley and lively shared meals, their website’s up to date and their shows use high-tech gear and video projections.

Quiet, passionate and full of humor, Adriana shares the inspiration behind the company and their current production, the risks they take performing political theatre and the pleasures of wanderlust.

Find out more about Caravan Stage Company’s history and current projects at http://caravanstage.org.

You can reserve tickets to “Nomadic Tempest,” performing April 4-8 in downtown St. Petersburg at https://www.eventbrite.com.

Rehearsal photos by Tom Kramer.

Internationally-known artists Robert Stackhouse and Carol Mickett share details of the evolving designs included in their Gateway Plaza commission in Richmond, Virginia. The building was constructed as their artwork was embedded in the structure.

They talk about working with German mosaic specialists and how to install art in 8-degree weather while elevators are being installed around you.

Find out more about their work at http://mickettstackhouse.com

Arts In is produced by Matt and Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair for Creative Pinellas.

Internationally-known architect Yann Weymouth shares the practical ideas behind the Dalí Museum’s striking design, and why the glass pyramid he helped build at the Louvre was a beautifully simple answer to their needs.

He shares the stories behind the new James Museum of Western + Wildlife Art that will grace downtown St. Pete this year, and how he let natural light into Miami’s Frost Museum using surfboard technology.

Yann Weymouth was honored by French President Francois Mitterand for his work as Chief of Design for I.M. Pei during the Louvre project. He also worked with Pei on Washington D.C.’s National Gallery. In Tampa Bay, you can see his work at the Salvador Dalí Museum and Museum of Fine Arts in St. Pete, the University of South Florida campus in Tampa and Sarasota’s Ringling Museum of Art.

Yann’s thoughtful philosophy of creativity and collaboration reveal the layered process of design. This professional who could live anywhere in the world explains why he and Susana Weymouth choose to live in St. Petersburg, and how he is constantly learning and growing.

For more details:

Salvador Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg - http://thedali.org/virtual-tour/index.html

http://inhabitat.com/interview-hoks-yann-weymouth-discusses-designing-the-hurricane-resistant-salvador-dali-museum/

Frost Art Museum, Miami - http://w3.fiu.edu/websites/FrostMuseum/thefrost.fiu.edu/new_building.htm

James Museum of Western + Wildlife Art, St. Petersburg - http://thejamesmuseum.org

The Louvre, Paris - http://greatbuildings.com/buildings/pyramide_du_louvre.html

Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg - http://mfastpete.org

National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. - http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/east_wing_national_gallery.html

Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota - https://www.ringling.org/museum-art

Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture and the Arts - http://www.tbbca.org

University of South Florida’s Interdisciplinary Sciences Building - http://www.hok.com/design/type/education/university-of-south-florida/

Arts In is produced by Matt and Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair for Creative Pinellas.

Journalist Dr. Lillian Dunlap and actor/director Jaye Sheldon are co-Artistic Directors of Your Real Stories.

Based in St. Petersburg, Your Real Stories practices “theatrical journalism.” After in-depth interviews with local residents, they distill each person’s story into a script that an actor shares onstage.

Your Real Stories brings real experiences to life, to spark conversations across differences in race, gender and age - while creating a detailed view of local history from many different viewpoints.

Find out more at http://www.yourrealstories.org.

Check out a video of St Pete Stories - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpFP-keLjrE.

And their popular Decades of Day Work series - (see Dropbox video?)

StoryDays in Tampa Bay, their week-long storytelling festival, takes place every year in early October. You can follow the schedule of stories told by voice, text, dance, theatre and image on the Your Real Stories Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/YRSinc.

Journalist Dr. Lillian Dunlap and actor/director Jaye Sheldon are co-Artistic Directors of Your Real Stories.

Based in St. Petersburg, Your Real Stories practices “theatrical journalism.” After in-depth interviews with local residents, they distill each person’s story into a script that an actor shares onstage.

Your Real Stories brings real experiences to life, to spark conversations across differences in race, gender and age - while creating a detailed view of local history from many different viewpoints.

Find out more at http://www.yourrealstories.org.

Check out a video of St Pete Stories - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpFP-keLjrE.

And their popular Decades of Day Work series - (see Dropbox video?)

StoryDays in Tampa Bay, their week-long storytelling festival, takes place every year in early October. You can follow the schedule of stories told by voice, text, dance, theatre and image on the Your Real Stories Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/YRSinc.