Culinary help steps up when Plan A goes down

By

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 14, 2001

Sometimes Plan B works better than Plan A. That was the case Wednesday for those of us noshing on the groaning board of food at an Affaires d'Art "tea and talk" to benefit the Museum of Fine Arts. Several dozen of us were gathered in the downtown studio of art dealer Eric Lang Peterson to view the huge body of work left behind by the late Robert Hodgell. And to eat, of course.

Lynn Cox and Kally Harvard had asked a friend to prepare all the refreshments and make rental arrangements for plates, tea cups, tables and tablecloths. On Monday the friend came down with the flu and Plan B went into action.

Donna Painter, Susan Harvard and Carol Barbosa helped them make mountains of egg and shrimp salad, which were stuffed into sandwiches and pastry cups. Someone rolled sausage balls. Iris Salzer produced trays of petit fours and miniature cheesecakes from her freezer. And Ed Shamas of Orange Blossom Catering sent chafing dishes of phyllo and puff pastry bites and more sandwiches. So successful was the effort that bags and boxes of leftovers were given to departing guests. But I get ahead of myself.

Peterson's studio is a hidden treasure, taking up the fourth floor of the Center for Ministry, a building owned by St. Peter's Cathedral on Fourth Street between First and Second avenues N that houses the Cathedral Bookstore, small social service agencies and Cathedral offices.

After Hodgell's death about a year ago, Peterson was asked by the artist's daughter to organize and administer the thousand or so paintings, prints and sculptures left behind. Peterson needed a lot of space and knew of the vacant fourth floor. On Wednesday afternoon, we ascended to the studio in an old, eccentric elevator that sometimes decides you need to go to the sixth floor instead of four, or that up really means down.

"Just pretend you're at Andy Warhol's factory," Mrs. Cox said when we arrived at our destination.

And the space does have that urban-industrial feel to it, a perfect backdrop for the paintings Peterson has hung on walls and stacked along floorboards. So many of them.

"He painted or sculpted every day of his life until two days before he died," said Peterson, who recently curated a show and sale of selected Hodgell works at the Arts Center. The ones we saw were those he kept; Hodgell was the rare artist able to earn a living from his art and sold thousands of pieces in his lifetime. And his visceral, bold style, the brush strokes that seem barely contained within the confines of canvas and frame, suggest the restless energy that made him so prolific.

All his estate work is for sale, but I hope something can be done to keep the collection, or a good part of it, intact.

The afternoon was also a social occasion. I enjoyed getting a Rome update from Mary Cross, who spent Christmas and New Year's Eve there with her daughter and son-in-law; grandchildren updates from Nancy Wright Thomas and Jeannine Hascall; a Cape Cod update from Penny Buzzard, who summers there and winters here; and kiln updates from potter Beth Manning, who has had one for years, and Barbara DeMaire, who bought one to facilitate her sculpting, which she took back up as an avocation. Also nice to see were Anne Shamas, Valerie Knaust, Jane Black, Jean Houghton, Patsy Kelly, Fay Nielsen, Susan Hicks, Judy Stanton, Mary Wyatt Allen and Mary Garrett. Mrs. Garrett is a St. Petersburg native who gave me a history lesson.

Remember the Aikin Open Air School? I did not, but she attended it in the 1940s. I did some research on it and the school's story is an interesting one. For another time.

James Seymour sent an e-mail yesterday, gently accusing me of "spatial dyslexia."

"It's a phrase I coined," he writes, "to explain my problems with concepts like left and right, north and south. You seem to have a version of it related to distance."

Ah, Mr. Seymour, how perceptive you are. I confess I have no sense of direction and a very poor sense of time and distance. For example, "north" to me is the direction I am facing at any given moment. Those who know me best marvel that I arrive at any planned destination.

Yes, I am aware that the mileage between Florida and North Carolina is in the hundreds, not thousands. And I carelessly described an area as several square miles. It was probably less. Thank you for taking me to task. And pointing me in the right direction. I think.

LOOKING AHEAD

Tuesday

TO LIFE: Annual dinner to benefit the Florida Holocaust Museum honors Mel Klinghoffer and Dr. Bruce and Amy Epstein, with celebrity guests Jon Voight and Bo Derek. Black tie optional. 6 p.m. Tampa Waterside Marriott, 700 S Florida Ave., Tampa. $175. 820-0100.

Wednesday

NAUTICAL AND NICE: St. Anthony's Hospital Auxiliary luncheon and fashion show by Johnston of Florida and Men's Warehouse. 11 a.m. St. Petersburg Yacht Club, 11 Central Ave. $35. 894-8484.

MUSICAL CHAIRS DINNER: Zodiac Group of the Salvador Dali Museum hosts a three-course dinner at Grand Finale Restaurant at which you change tables with plates, giving you the chance to meet new people. 5:30 p.m. 1101 First Ave. N. Members, $40; guests, $45. 823-3767, ext 3043.

Friday

BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB ART AUCTION: Organized by Regency Fine Art, a professional fundraising auction company, and the club's guild. Door prizes, hors d'oeuvres and cash bar. 6:30 p.m. St. Petersburg Yacht Club. $15. 302-9798.

Saturday

FESTIVAL BETH-EL OPENING RECEPTION: First look at one of the best art shows in the area and terrific hors d'oeuvres prepared by volunteer cooks who are members of the temple. 7-10 p.m. 400 Pasadena Ave. S. $20. The show opens to the public for free on Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., and 10.a.m.-5 p.m. Monday. 347-6136.

BAYFRONT ON VINE: Excellent sips of domestic and imported wines and bites of food from local restaurants are served at this tasting to benefit Bayfront-St. Anthony's Health Care Foundation. Silent auction includes a Bull Durham script autographed by Susan Sarandon and Kevin Costner. 7-10 p.m. Bayfront Medical Plaza Building, 603 Seventh St. S. $50. 893-6148.

Jan. 30

AMOUR DU COEUR: Infinity, the League to Aid Abused Children and Adults, hosts a luncheon and fashion show by CC's Boutique, Sharon Clayton Clothes Plus and Irene's Kidz Boutique. The event supports Brookwood, A Young Women's Residence, Center Against Spouse Abuse and Suncoast Child Protection Team. 11 a.m. St. Petersburg Yacht Club. 866-1276 or 360-0350.

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