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What's Brewing

Artists to get more studios

By SUSAN THURSTON
Published April 8, 2005

Don't tell Gwyn Zesch Fallon that bars have sucked the cultural life out of Ybor City. She'll strongly disagree.

She and her husband, Max Fallon, dug deep into their pockets last month to buy a warehouse at 1517 E Fifth Ave. to rent to artists for workshop space. The hope is to create a gathering place where artists can exchange ideas and pursue their passions.

"We'd been looking for property that would allow us to contribute to the fabric of Ybor," said Zesch Fallon, a painter who has lived or worked in Ybor since 1997. "We're hoping to create synergy with other people."

ON SATURDAY from 10 a.m. to noon the Fallons are having an open house to collect ideas on how to build out the space, which previously stored vending equipment.

The couple envision carving the 2,000-square-foot warehouse into as many as 15 workshops. Similar to Artists Unlimited in the Channel District, it would lease square footage to artists, such as painters, potters and jewelrymakers. Outside, the Fallons foresee a sculpture garden and weekend art market.

It's an ambitious plan that, if successful, will go a long way toward improving Ybor's image as a place to soak up the arts, not just beer.

The 30-somethings bought the building to help the historic district reclaim a once-artsy emphasis that has been smothered by bars and negative publicity. If they break even, they will be thrilled.

"Ybor has such great bones. There's so much and it's really springing to life," she said. "We love Ybor for what there is to do there during the day."

BEYOND TALK of crime, underage drinking and everything else that makes Ybor undesirable, the arts in Ybor are quietly thriving. Last weekend, the city of Tampa opened an arts studio in the former Alessi Cafe at Centennial Park. Adults, and eventually children, can take inexpensive classes in pottery, silversmithing, glass, painting and drawing. On weekends, local artists will give demonstrations and set up displays.

"The arts and Ybor are a natural combination," said Linda Carlo of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, which runs the Ybor studio and four others across Tampa. "You can take a class, then have dinner. And we'll market it to tourists as something else to do in Ybor."

Across Centennial Park, artist Arnold Martinez, 73, recently opened a gallery in one of four casitas relocated to 19th Street and restored. His paintings show scenes of Tampa and Ybor reminiscent of his childhood and parents' cigarmaking days.

So far, business has been good. Although the social scene in Ybor has drastically changed, he said, the area is "starting to come back again. I see it's headed in the right direction." Last weekend during Festa Italiana, 500 people passed through the gallery.

Martinez's one suggestion: Remove the parking meters around the park. They discourage people from stopping.

Longtime art lovers maintain the cultural verve has never left Ybor. It's just moved out of the spotlight.

"There's an artistic base down here that doesn't reveal itself easily," said Marcie Hoffman Porges. "You have to be willing to dig a little under the surface."

She has run the Hoffman Porges Gallery on Seventh Avenue for 16 years and owned Ovo Cafe before closing it in early 2003. She's seen Ybor through its highs and lows. Bars once considered the panacea have gradually lost their luster and profitability, she said. To consider Ybor an entertainment district is only to see a tiny facet that exists Thursdays through Saturdays from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

"The district will always be the creative soul of Tampa. Always," said Hoffman Porges, whose gallery is featuring an exhibit of Gwyn Zesch Fallon's paintings.

She counts more than 30 creative businesses in Ybor, from architects to artists to graphic designers. Add people like the Fallons and those numbers are only bound to grow.

THE LAST DROP: The monstrous sign at the Fifth Third Bank at Swann and Fremont avenues is coming down, bank officials assure. After getting inundated with complaints, bank exec Brian Keenan said they are replacing the sign with one half the size. They are waiting for the city's okay and plan to install it by the end of the month.

Susan Thurston can be reached at 226-3394 or thurston@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 7, 2005, 08:55:10]