Arts Talk

By Compiled by MARY ANN MARGER, JOHN FLEMING and STEVE PERSALL

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 3, 2000

Museum charging non-members

It was only a matter of time -- and economics.

Two years ago the Florida Gulf Coast Art Center became the Gulf Coast Museum of Art. One year ago it moved from Belleair to lavish new quarters in Largo's Heritage Park.

Now come admission fees for non-members.

As of Sept. 8 the entrance fee will be $3 for adults and $2 for seniors and students with ID. Children 12 and under and museum members will be admitted free.

The date coincides with the museum's season opener, a retrospective of Tampa artist Theo Wujcik.

Director Ken Rollins decided it was time to charge a fee to help offset the operating budget, which has grown to $1.2-million.

The rate is the lowest of any area museum. The Salvador Dali Museum (St. Petersburg) and the Ringling Museum of Art (Sarasota) charge $9 adult admission; the Museum of Fine Arts (St. Petersburg) charges $6; the Tampa Museum of Art charges $5. Of area art museums, only the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum (Tampa) and the Polk Museum of Art (Lakeland) remain free.

Most of those museums have a reciprocal arrangement; show your card from another institution to gain free admission. The Gulf Coast Museum, however, reciprocates only with the Museum of Fine Arts and the Tampa Museum of Art.

Like most of the museums, the Gulf Coast Museum has a free day, Thursday.

It's a small world at the Olympics

For the second time, an exhibit by the Miniature Artists of America, a national honorary society based in Clearwater, will travel to the Olympics, exhibiting first in Hobart, Tasmania, on Sept. 1 and then moving on to the Florida World Pavilion in Sydney Sept. 12 to Oct. 1.

In 1998 the society exhibited at Clearwater's sister city, Nagano, Japan, which hosted the Winter Olympics. In addition, the Second World Exhibition of Miniature Art, representing seven nations, will exhibit in Hobart Sept. 1 to 17.

Film debuts on the Internet

Countryside High School graduate Stephen Unger created a short film now being shown at ifilm.com, an Internet movie exhibition source. Unger's movie, The Fly That Wouldn't Try, combines live action and animation and is based on a children's book he wrote during high school. Visit the site at http://www.ifilm.com to locate the movie through a search option. Nearly 2,500 visitors with QuickTime, Real Player or Windows Media capabilities have already viewed it there. Unger, a 1996 Countryside graduate, now attends the University of Central Florida.

Van Gogh comes to the Deep South

Planning a trip to Atlanta? You might check out "Van Gogh's Starry Night: Three Masterpieces from the Museum of Modern Art, New York," High Museum of Art, Atlanta, through Nov. 5. Three works by Van Gogh, including his most famous, visit the Deep South for the first time. (404) 733-4400.

Calling all artists

62nd Annual National Exhibition of Contemporary American Paintings, Nov. 30-Dec. 23. Indoor competition. Society of the Four Arts, Four Arts Plaza, Palm Beach 33480; (561) 655-7227. Judged from work shipped to location; no slides. Entry form deadline Sept. 23.

Noted in brief:

The Florida Orchestra will be holding auditions for a new principal flutist. Catherine Wendtland Landmeyer recently resigned from the position because she is expecting her second child in November. She was on leave last season. . . . The Pinellas Opera League has awarded $4,500 in scholarships to five area singers studying voice in college: Sara Peeples, Melanie Gill, Erica Ambrose, Martin Shalita and Monette Mestas. . . . Sarasota playwright Larry Parr has received the first annual Barbara Anton Playwriting Award from Florida Studio Theatre. The award includes a residency at the Sarasota theater and $1,000.

Compiled by art critic Mary Ann Marger, performing arts critic John Fleming and film critic Steve Persall.

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