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Art enthusiasts add intrigue to small downtown

By JENNIFER STEWART
Published September 10, 2006

NEW PORT RICHEY - Linda Blondheim had never been to the "Little City By the River."

"It's a lovely little town. It's utterly charming," Blondheim said.

The Gainesville painter was in New Port Richey for a reception at Progress Energy Art Gallery the night of Sept. 1. More than 50 guests filled the colorful gallery where Blondheim's vibrant Florida scenes are among the pieces in the "Tropical Temptations" exhibit.

Noting downtown's distinctive architecture, Blondheim asked gallery director Lia Gallegos about neat spots in the area where she could wander around and sketch.

And that kind of exploration is just what the gallery folks are pinning their hopes on - more walking traffic downtown.

"Because galleries are incidental," Gallegos said.

The Richey Suncoast Theatre and a handful of restaurants and bars, thankfully, help draw walk-in patrons to the gallery.

The quaint artistic space now has later and more regular hours: noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

A recent benefit raised the funds to hire three part-time staffers: Paula Showen, Karren Tolliver and Michelle Collins.

Gallegos, whose position is unpaid, has also added many reasonably priced pieces to the gallery's walls. "(We're) keeping it fine art but making it more attainable," she said. "We want to get art into everyone's homes."

Progress Energy Art Gallery now also sells music by Dave Eichenberger's group Hazard Factor. Eichenberger, a guitarist and instructor, performed at the reception.

With the gallery now open until 8 p.m., its supporters are desperate for more small businesses, or even sidewalk vendors, that encourage people to hang out downtown at night.

Like "a funky coffee shop with weird music," said Sherry Stamback, a tarot card reader and henna artist who offers her services at the gallery on Thursdays.

Stamback, a 1984 Gulf High School graduate, remembers when the West Pasco Art Guild was the only game in town for artists.

She lived elsewhere for many years, and just moved back to her hometown about a year ago. "I had grown up thinking I hated this area," she said.

During a visit, though, Stamback realized she missed the Florida landscape. She also noticed a "major difference" in the arts community.

It had grown.

About a dozen artists have work in the gallery's wonderfully energetic "Tropical Temptations" exhibit.

Oftentimes at night, Stamback and her significant other, Michael Turansky, will walk to the benches on downtown streets.

They sit and talk about how the area could be more pedestrian friendly, and how vacant stores could house small businesses for the creatively inclined.

Still, Stamback concedes: "It wasn't like this when I was a kid."

[Last modified September 10, 2006, 06:32:20]