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Art

Sizzling art in cool places

Two exhibits in downtown St. Petersburg offer art browsers a deal they can't refuse: imaginative work by talented artists and crafters, air conditioning and free admission.

By LENNIE BENNETT
Published July 20, 2006

[Cool Art Show]

Charles Rowe, painting, at Cool Art Show.

	Joe Walles, photography, at Cool Art Show.
	Lisa Glaser, ceramics, at Cool Art Show.

ST. PETERSBURG

"Free admission" isn't something we hear a lot when we're trying to find weekend entertainment that's out of the heat.

But it does exist.

Example: the Cool Art Show on Saturday and Sunday at the Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. With 70 artists and fine craftsmen, it's larger than in previous years, though still smaller than its outdoor counterparts such as Mainsail and Gasparilla.

Its size has the advantage of manageability. You can stroll around and see everything before someone in your party starts making restless sounds. It's air-conditioned, so no one can complain about the heat (or rain). And, if a little impatience sets in anyway, food vendors will be on hand to offer a different kind of distraction and fulfillment.

The art itself is the real fulfillment, of course, and you will find most media represented in interpretations ranging from traditional to funky.

After you have loaded your trunk with finds, stroll east or south: There, city blocks are full of other arts venues, most of which also offer free admission, along with shops and cafes.

One of the best new exhibitions, at Florida Craftsmen Gallery, is titled "Heat of the Moment." (Don't worry, it's air-conditioned.)

"Heat" features works by Chuck Boux, Kristin Holeman, Sang Roberson, Carole Hetzel, Duncan McClellan and Matthew Steckley. The gallery is free, but all the works are for sale (except those with red dots, which mean they have already been bought).

In an even smaller format, it, too, offers beautiful variety by fine craftsmen who know and honor their materials.

Elaboration and exuberance are the key notes of McClellan's and Boux's glass, blown into out-sized vessels. Particularly lovely is McClellan's Vines, shaded in blues with a cork screwy topper. He follows the ancients' use of visual narratives on clay urns, covering his glass with figures, signs, symbols and stories. So does Boux, sometimes in more literal ways.

Holeman's jewelry is flamboyant in another way. Her cloisonne is flawless but used with a looser spirit than the preciousness common to that medium.

The pure lines of Steckley's mahogany tables are distillations that will please any minimalist, the wood polished to a subtle, tactile sheen.

Roberson's "boxes" resemble wood but are made from clay slabs fired, glazed and coated with materials such as silver leaf. They are objects that encourage meditation.

Sitting between the aesthetics of more and less are Hetzel's baskets, geometric in design and curvaceously rich. Humble reeds are tightly woven and laced with steel cables - the iron hand in the velvet glove.

Strength of character is what all these works, different as they are, share.

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

[Last modified July 19, 2006, 10:52:25]