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Art

It's cool, and it's air-conditioned

A small, artist-run show in St. Petersburg defeats the summer doldrums with painting, photography, sculpture, jewelry and fine crafts viewed in comfort.

By LENNIE BENNETT
Published July 21, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Good thing the world still has hungry artists. In the spring of 1988, Denis Gaston and Italo Gazzoli were hot, tired and commiserating about a miserable run (no awards, few sales) at Mainsail Arts Festival, which had just wrapped. Summer, the season of slow to no sales for artists, was looming.

An order of Buddha's Delight - the vegetarian Chinese dish - may have inspired the following light bulb moment or it may be an edible red herring in this story.

But Gaston was moved to say something like, "Let's put on a show!"

(Thank you, Mickey Rooney.)

And added, "Inside, where it's cool."

(Thank you, Denis Gaston.)

With a little hustle and a lot of heart, the Cool Art Show began.

It returns Saturday and Sunday, in the Coliseum, still cool after 17 years. Even though it has grown from 21 participants that first year to 59 artists, Cool is small by other art show standards; the next smallest one locally, Art Festival Beth-El, invites about 150 artists. And it's still organized by artists rather than the usual cadre of community volunteers, so it has a more intimate feel than most.

That first year, Gaston hooked up with Bill and Linda Renc, who, like Gaston, are from Dunedin. The Rencs had just formed the Professional Association of Visual Artists, and they and its members pitched in to get the show off the ground within a few months. PAVA remains the sponsoring group.

This year's Cool Art Show features painting, photography, sculpture, jewelry and fine crafts. It does not have the bells and whistles of outdoor shows; sandwiches, snacks and beverages will be for sale, but there will not be an army of vendors, and there won't be entertainment or children's activities. Pets cannot be admitted into the building. But it has that all-important antidote to our sultry, storm-tossed summer: air conditioning.

So these days, Gaston can enjoy a post-show plate of stir-fry as a celebration.

As fortune cookies and old movies tell us, happy endings are possible.

Lennie Bennett can be reached at 727 893-8293 or lennie@sptimes.com

The Cool Art Show is at the Coliseum, 535 Fourth Ave. N, St. Petersburg, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission and parking are free. No pets. For more information, go to www.pava-artists.org

[Last modified July 20, 2005, 09:58:07]