Arts In

Kim Dohrman works in an art studio full of laughter and music. She’s the Executive Director of Creative Clay, St. Pete’s long and much-beloved arts center whose mission is to make the arts accessible for all.

Creative Clay helps people with disabilities find their paths as working artists who actively create, market and sell their artwork.

Kim shares how much she loves her job, the rich artistic programs Creative Clay offers - and the vibrant, expressive artists who work there.

Creative Clay’s big fundraiser, Creative Clay Fest, takes place Sunday, November 11 at 3 Daughters Brewing in St. Pete’s Warehouse Arts District, with visual art, music, food and festivity. You can find the details at creativeclay.org/creative-clay-fest.

Find out more about Creative Clay at creativeclay.org.

Visit Creative Clay during ArtWalk, when the gallery is open from 5-9 p.m. with live music, every second Saturday.

Their pay-what-you-can art Thrift Store is a source for art supplies including paint, paper, cloth, craft materials, art books and more. Donations of art supplies are always welcome. Find out more at creativeclay.org/creative-thrift.

Creative Clay’s Gallery is open with original art for sale Monday through Friday 9-5, and during ArtWalk, 5-9 pm every Second Saturday.

If you’re interested in becoming a Teaching Artist at Creative Clay, you can email [email protected] for information.

You can lease original, beautiful work by Creative Clay artists through their Art In Offices program - creativeclay.org/art-in-offices.

Creative Clay’s Community Arts Program serves adults with developmental, emotional, and/or physical disabilities. This program provides professional artist mentorship in the performing and visual arts in a vibrant studio environment. If you’re interested in becoming an artist in the Community Arts Program, an application form is here - creativeclay.org/community-arts-application.

Creative Clay is a 501c3 nonprofit. Donations are always welcome - creativeclay.org/donate-cc.

When Helen Hansen French is onstage, it’s hard to keep your eyes on anybody else.

As a dancer, Helen’s every move is purposeful and thoughtful, but seems utterly spontaneous.

As a choreographer, she’s an expert at visual storytelling and often collaborates with composers, writers and visual artists.

Helen is a St. Pete native with a degree from Julliard, who’s danced around the world. After joining NY’s Buglisi Dance Theatre, performing with Karen Reedy Dance, Nilas Martins’ Dance Company, the Guggenheim Works/Process program and at national and international dance festivals, we’re lucky that she came back to St. Petersburg to live and work and raise a family.

Explore Helen Hansen French’s work during her time as a 2016 Creative Pinellas Professional Artist Fellow, including her Motherhood Project film about balancing an artistic career with motherhood. . . rapidreturns.org/helen-hansen-french.

And her extensive resume. . . rapidreturns.org/helen-hansen-french/2016/5/30/helen-hansen-french

See images from Air-Earth-Fire-Water, the collaborative work she was commissioned to create for the 2018 GASP! Festival with playwright Sheila Cowley. . . sdcowley.com/collaborations/air-earth-fire-water/.

Keep an eye out for Helen’s upcoming performances in St Pete's SPF Festival, reprising Air-Earth-Fire-Water on the steps of the Museum of Fine Arts on October 25, 2018 and performing an original duet with Alex Jones as part of St. Pete Shares the Stage! on October 27, 2018.

https://stpeteartsalliance.org/spf-festival/

https://stpeteartsalliance.org/event/air-earth-fire-water-a-creative-collaboration-oct-25/

https://stpeteartsalliance.org/event/st-pete-shares-the-stage/

And don’t miss the amazing Beacon Dance Concert she and dancer Lauren Stone produce each year at The Palladium Theater, coming up in April 2019.

https://www.cltampa.com/arts-entertainment/performance/article/20989521/beacon-2018-dance-palladium-st-petersburg

https://www.mypalladium.org

Imaginative visual artist Kenny Jensen translates fallen branches, lichen and found objects into paintings, sculpture and strikingly beautiful installations.

Trained in the precision of graphic design, Kenny learned to let unpredictable mediums lead him down new artistic paths.

A Creative Pinellas Emerging Artist Grantee, Kenny talks with Barbara St. Clair about the gorgeous piece he created after Hurricane Irma, using hundreds of fallen branches from around his house. He describes how he used a wall with an odd-shaped window to construct a view into a starry universe. And he shares his passion for taking what most people would consider trash, and revealing it to viewers as a thing of beauty.

Check out Kenny Jensen’s June 30 pop-up exhibition, Solar Flare, made possible by a St. Pete Arts Alliance grant -

https://www.facebook.com/events/1994945610817068/

Kenny Jensen details his artistic process on the Creative Pinellas blog - http://creativepinellas.org/kenny-jensen/.

Watch a video of the space diorama here - http://www.kennyjensen.com/rhizome-nebulae/.

Read Danny Olda’s article on Kenny’s studio space in the woods - http://creativepinellas.org/magazine-items/dancing-with-a-hurricane-kenny-jensen/.

Find out more about Kenny Jensen’s work at

https://www.patreon.com/kennyjensen

https://www.instagram.com/kennyjensenartist/

http://www.kennyjensen.com/

Xavier Cortada is an artist who tackles climate change, endangered species, poverty, homophobia, Florida’s history and hard science with his artwork.

And he’s a funny, engaging, vibrant guy from Miami whose art projects are seen by millions, and get people all over Florida participating. Cortada’s work is featured in school textbooks and publications, on National Geographic TV and the Discovery Channel.

Xavier talks with Barbara St. Clair about marking the 500th anniversary of Florida’s colonization by Spain by working with biologists to find 500 native Florida wildflowers that he got 500 Florida artists to paint, while asking historians for 500 people vital to Florida’s history - who weren’t white men - and getting people around the state to plant 500 native wildflower gardens each dedicated to one of those people. Then he put the whole project and research online, where people could read up and share their own photos of natural Florida.

Xavier Cortada was commissioned to create beautiful artwork exploring the Higgs boson particle experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. He created art projects at both the North and South Poles to draw attention to climate change and endangered populations, with a project currently in the Antarctic that will take 150,000 years to complete.

His Reclamation Project encourages Floridians to take back nature from developers by planting native trees as an act of performative art. And he offers darkly comic advice for 5 Ways to Stop Sea Level Rise from destroying Florida’s coastline.

Xavier Cortada shares his passion for art as a tool for social change, for sculpting not a sculpture but a thriving community.

90N, a solo exhibition of Xavier Cortada’s work at the North Pole is on display at Creative Pinellas through September 2, 2018. The exhibition opens to a reception with the artist on Friday, June 29 from 6 to 9 p.m. Gallery hours are Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment through September 2, 2018. Details at http://cortada.com/event/2018/90N.

RSVP for the Opening Reception on June 29 at: http://creativepinellas.org/gallery/

Find out more about Xavier Cortada’s art and explore images, writings and more at http://cortada.com.

Hear his TED Talk on the Higgs boson project at http://cortada.com/2013/cern/statement.

Coralette Damme’s distinctive handcrafted printmaking is inspired by trees, birds and the bees, flowers and butterflies in her backyard. . .  and colored by Halloween, her Midwestern background and her German heritage. 

Keep an eye out for Coralette’s work at Florida CraftArt, St Pete’s Saturday Morning Market and Craft events and workshops around Pinellas County.

Coralette Damme was chosen as a featured artist at American Stage, with a piece that’s inspired by Andrea Lepcio’s play, Straight of Gibraltar.

In her lively conversation with Barbara St. Clair, Coralette shares her hands-on printmaking technique, her hands-on work behind-the-scenes at The Studio@620 - and welcomes you into her magical, imaginative art installations.

Explore Coralette’s artwork at craftyhag.com

Follow her artwork on Instagram - instagram.com/thecraftyhag

@thecraftyhag

and Facebook - facebook.com/craftyhag

Greg Byrd is an award-winning poet with a PhD in Literature, living in Clearwater and teaching at St. Pete College.

He’s a Fulbright Fellow in poetry and literature, winner of the Yellow Jacket Prize and recipient of a Creative Pinellas Professional Artists Fellowship.  

Greg explains that, “My poetry is often connected to placeness and to mythology, but is rooted in concrete things and often in working class life. My poems just as often mention Winslow Homer or Bach as they do dovetail joints or rusted pocket knives.”

He talks with Barbara St. Clair about creating poems during cancer treatments and after his father’s death. Greg shares his experiences growing up in the Florida Keys and helping in his family’s appliance store, delivering washers and dryers before becoming the first person in his family to go to college.

Greg Byrd teaches at St. Pete College, where he works with many Iraq War veterans. He’s working right now on a novel set during World War I.

You can find out more about Greg’s work at https://gregorybyrd.wordpress.com/salt-and-iron/.

Kathy White is the Deputy Director of The Salvador Dalí Museum. Peter Tush is the Curator of Education. They met and married at the Dalí and have seen the museum from its early days to its glorious signature home on downtown St. Pete’s waterfront.

You might think that a museum focused on a single artist would only be worth one visit. But the Dalí’s ever-changing offerings range from paintings to sculpture, fashion, photography, mathematics and filmmaking. Along with an array of film, theatre, music, dance, workshops and wide-ranging conversations, The Dalí is not just a destination for international visitors, but a compelling reason for repeat visits by Bay area residents.

Kathy and Peter share the imaginative work behind the scenes at the Dalí, the importance of the volunteer docents and audio tours that invite visitors to deeply explore the exhibits, and the museum’s constant outreach to the local arts community, to local artists and to young creatives.

Find out more about The Salvador Dalí Museum at http://thedali.org.

Explore upcoming events at http://thedali.org/events.

Venture into the Dalí’s Educational offerings, including training for Docents and Teen Docents, Innovation Labs, Avant-Garde Studies, Lesson Plans, Student Exhibits and more at http://thedali.org/programs/apps/.

Pat Blocher is an adventurous artist who uses photography as a jumping-off point for experiments and explorations in the digital and physical worlds.

An MFA candidate at the University of South Florida, Pat was one of the youngest artists featured in last summer’s Skyway exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg.

Pat talks with Barbara St. Clair about building thoughtful portraits of a night shared by two people, making art by making software and hardware “misbehave” - and creating cutting-edge photographic art by mixing vintage processes with new digital techniques.

Find out more about Pat Blocher’s work at - http://patblocher.com

on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/patblocher/

Bob Barancik is an adventurous abstract artist who roams through a range of mediums, from painting and collage to printmaking, digital images, video, and three-dimensional boxes and books full of art.

Bob talks with Barbara St. Clair about working on art inspired by current events, that viewers often aren’t ready for until years later. He’s created gorgeous artwork sparked by climate change, 9/11 and the Deep Water Horizon tragedy, exhibited around the country and has over 100 original works in the Florida Holocaust Museum’s permanent collection.

Bob’s lived and worked in an array of creative communities. . . Portland in the 1970s, Palo Alto as the Silicon Valley boom was just beginning, New York City, Chicago, Maine and Philadelphia. He explains why he chose to live in downtown St. Petersburg, and why this creative community is one of the best.

Explore Bob Barancik’s artwork at http://www.creativeshare.com/exhibits/.

Find out more about his Art Not Hate project at http://www.artnothate.com.

View Bob’s Mundo Caliente series on climate change at http://www.creativeshare.com/exhibits/mundo-caliente.php.

Images from the book he talks about with Barbara, Lamentations and Beyond: Healing Through Art can be found at http://www.creativeshare.com/exhibits/lamentations.php.

Images and a video from his 9/11 series, Visual Ruminations, are at http://www.creativeshare.com/exhibits/visual-ruminations.php.

Creative Compass, Bob Barancik’s online blog, contains a list of recommended books, articles and videos that were sources of inspiration and practical help to him as an artist - http://compass.creativeshare.com

Renee Piechocki

Longtime leader of the Pittsburgh Office of Public Art, Renee Piechocki helped create a city full of vibrant and imaginative, exciting and interactive public art.

Renee talks about the need for temporary public art installations, where artists can make bold and more experimental work that serves a range of changing audiences. She details projects that break new ground - and ways that artists can help neighborhoods find creative ways to tackle community needs.

Take a listen to this conversation full of energy and wonderful ideas, and get inspired by new, exciting possibilities for public art.

Find out more about Renee Piechocki

http://reneepiechocki.com

Trappings: What Do Women Wear That Makes You Feel Powerful? and Taking Stock: What Do Men Do That Makes You Feel Valuable? - http://www.twogirlsworking.com

Explore Vibrant Public Art. . .

Market Square Public Art - http://www.marketsquarepublicart.com/info

Pittsburgh Art Places - http://pittsburghartplaces.org

Conflict Kitchen - https://www.conflictkitchen.org

Fraley's Robot Repair installation - tobyfraley.com/robot-repair

Ann Tarantino, the artist who created the Blue Line from Millvale to the river - http://www.anntarantino.com/statement-bio

John Peña, creating changing sculptures drawn from the words of neighborhood residents - http://www.johnpena.net

4Culture - https://www.4culture.org/public-art/

The Regional Arts and Culture Council of Portland - https://racc.org

Recommended References:

Dialogues in Public Art by Tom Finkelpearl

What We Made: Conversations on Art and Social Cooperation by Tom Finkelpearl