This Grand Prix Weekend, 3/11/2017

Downtown St Pete sounds like an orgy of hornets. There is no place to park, but it will soon be over. The Dali always suffers in attendance because of this - and shouod be compensated.

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Trolley Stop #1 – 2955 Central Avenue starts here at 5pm.
Craftsman House Gallery – 2955 Central Avenue - . Live pottery demo in the studio. Wire & Wood: The Art of Bim Willow. The legendary willow furniture maker, author, and activist presents his new collection of wire sculptures. https://www.facebook.com/craftsman-house-gallery-158706022997/?fref=ts
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Trolley Stop #2 – 26th Ave. South between 26th & 27th St.
Charlie Parker-Pottery – 2724 6th Avenue S. – Demos by Charlie Parker through out the evening. https://www.facebook.com/Charlie-Parker-Pottery-143278235683807/

Zen Glass Studio – 600 27th Street South - The Women of Glass show. Featuring an all female line-up of glass artists. Also visit all of the glass studios and glass galleries for the 1st annual Sunshine Glass Week & Glass Trail ArtWalk. And the latest work from your friends at Zen Glass Studio. https://www.facebook.com/events/142589632902727/
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Trolley Stop #3 – 562 25th St. South
Funktionhouse Urban Lumber & Furnishings – 562 25th St. S - Premiering new work! Rescuing local St. Pete trees headed for a chipper or landfill. Hear the process of creating 'urban lumber' and see their sawmill and the latest wood slabs fresh off the mill made into new furniture designs. https://www.facebook.com/Funktionhouse

Consilience - 2501 Emerson Avenue South (727) 280-3638 - TBA
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Trolley Stop #4 – 2342 Emerson Ave. South
Duncan McClellan Gallery – 2342 Emerson Avenue South – Wild Life! Kelly O’Dell and Raven Skyriver. Artists’ reception with glass blowing demonstration by Kelly O’Dell and Raven Skyriver. Live music from 8-10PM with the Henry Ashwood Jazz Project. https://dmglass.com/march-11-12-join-duncan-mcclellan-gallery-opening-glass-show-wild-life/
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Trolley Stop #5 – 400 23rd St. South
Brick Street Clay Studio - 400 23rd Street South. New work on display and a demonstration starting at 6:15. https://www.facebook.com/brickstreetclay/?fref=ts
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Trolley Stop #6 – in the parking lot of 515 22nd St. South
Dazzio Art Society Gallery & School of Art - 515 22nd Street South - St. Petersburg: Each artist has portrayed our City in their own unique way. Everything from realism to abstraction. Some choose our buildings to define St. Petersburg, while others paint the colorful citizens in situations that make them interesting to paint. The featured artist of the month is Pat Green. Meet artists, many who will be demonstrating and painting. Live music. https://www.facebook.com/dazzio.art.experience/?fref=ts

Soft Water Studios - 515 22nd Street South - Fantastic Ekphrastic is here again! View a collection of 15 visual art pieces and read their corresponding literary interpretations by 15 local writers. https://www.facebook.com/sws.art.art/events/

Mga Sculpture Studio – 515 22nd Street South - A commission driven sculpture facility that specializes in the design, fabrication and installation of sculptural objects in a variety of mediums from cartable materials to metal fabrication. Currently working on several large scale commissions for local private entities and across the country. https://www.facebook.com/MgaSculpture

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Trolley Stop #7 – 2240 9th Ave. South
Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum - 2240 9th Avenue South - TBA https://www.facebook.com/WoodsonMuseum/?fref=ts

Gallerie 909 - 909 22nd Street South - TBA https://www.facebook.com/gallerie909/
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Trolley Stop #8 – 420 22nd St. South
Morean Center for Clay – 420 22nd Street South - Florida Heat: Surface Design 2017: An exhibition in conjunction with the Florida Heat: Surface Design workshop series. Nationally recognized demonstrating artists include Matthew Metz, Linda Christianson, Sam Chung, Carole Epp, Meredith Host, Thaddeus Erdahl, Adam Field and Ben Carter. https://www.facebook.com/CenterForClay/timeline
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Trolley Stop #9 – in the parking lot of 3 Daughters Brewing Starts Here at 5pm - Free parking lot for trolley riders
Nancy Smrekar Art Studio - 2135 3rd Avenue South, Unit #5, Five Deuces Galleria Garden Building. Featuring acrylic/oil paintings in impressionism, realism, and abstract styles by emerging artist Nancy Smrekar. https://www.facebook.com/nancysmrekar.artist/?fref=ts
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Trolley Stop #10 – 2006 2nd Ave. South
From Mayan Hands - 2006 Second Avenue South - Featuring handmade Mayan folk art, both new and antique. Also a large selection of santos, nativities, day of the dead, dance masks, colorful wooden animals, and outrageous Mayan art. Plus the usual religious folk art. https://www.facebook.com/From-Mayan-Hands-768725999853388/?fref=ts
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Trolley Stop #11 – 2010 1st Ave. South
Clay Center of St. Petersburg - 2010 1st Avenue South – TBA https://www.facebook.com/ClayCenterofStPetersburg/events/
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Trolley Stop #12 – 1114 Central Avenue
Creative Clay – 1114 Central Avenue - Elegant Women: New Paintings by Shasta G., painter and mixed media artist. Shasta has attended Creative Clay since 2012, and her work is generated by information gleaned from books she reads, her imagination and life experiences. Music by Infinite Third, featuring Billy Mays III. https://www.facebook.com/events/634852180056714/
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Trolley Stop #13 – 620 1st Ave. South
The Studio@620 - 620 First Avenue South - Here and There: a group photography exhibit that brings together six local photographers at various stages in their careers, exploring a wide range of styles and subjects both at home and abroad. This diverse collection features vast landscapes, intimate spaces, spiritual travelogue, playful portraiture, unintentional paintings, and lazy afternoons. Photographers include: Karen Kommer, Benjamin Ross Duensing, Laura Dante, Kevin Damphouse, Kéra Holzinger, and Lenore Duensing. https://www.facebook.com/pg/Studio620/events/?ref=page_internal
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Trolley Stop #14 –3rd St. S. between Central & 1st Ave. South
The Gallery - 200 Central Ave. Suite 111 - Featuring the automotive work by artist Timothy Raines, in honor of Grand Prix weekend. Luxury is the essence of his compositions, capturing movement and energy through color and shape. Raines explores these subjects all through his iconic style of painting, inspired by the controlled chaos of his technique that both represents and redefines distinctive style. https://www.facebook.com/thegalleryart/?fref=ts

Ocean Blue Galleries - 284 Beach Dr NE - TBA. https://www.facebook.com/Ocean-Blue-Galleries-350976551912594/

SHAPIRO'S Gallery – 300 Beach Drive NE. - Showcasing the finest in American made blown glass, jewelry, pottery, wooden boxes and sculpture. https://www.facebook.com/shapirogallery

D-gallerie - 203 1st Street North - Showcasing top quality emerging and mid-career artists from Latin America and Florida. An unusually unpretentious place where art lovers can participate in the appreciation and collection of original art. https://www.facebook.com/dgallerieusa/

Lynn Merhige Gallery - 216 Fourth Street N - TBA https://www.facebook.com/Lynn-Merhige-Gallery-146904772019134/?fref=ts
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Trolley Stop #15 – 5th Street between 1st Ave. N & Central
Florida CraftArt - 501 Central Avenue – Round Square – conversations @large. Featuring art works by four established Florida artists: Edgar Sanchez Cumbas, Kendra Frorup, Babette Herschberger and Charles Parkhill. Round Square may seem like an oxymoron, but guest curator Katherine Gibson has created an exhibition that offers visual connections and conversations throughout - some obv

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mmmm

Art Taco's Art Person of the Year 2017: Carrie Boucher

Carrie Boucher spent ten years in Chicago going to college at The Art Institute, living as an artist, doing painting, metalsmithing, and, like so many artists. doing retail windows to pay the bills. Studio or art-making space was a concern then, and remains a core thread in this story. Carrie returned to Florida, and taught Art at a charter school. She experienced frustrations with access for students, particularly how they were punished by being removed from Art class, Questions of access to art, spaces, materials and wall space persisted, along with other, more philosophicai questions about identity as an artist, all part of the bus idea and the Neighborhood Oriented Mobile Art and Design Studio, NOMAD. Carrie was on new ground, and had to redefine herself to do this. Social Practice Artist is the term she uses.

                                      "There is no wrong way to be an Artist"
                                                                 --- Carrie Boucher

Carrie began looking for a bus, the community responded, a generous offer was made, which included labor and bus. Volunteers emerged, now totaling 160-plus. From certified Art teachers to those who wash the bus, they are a community committed to the idea. The first bus, named Nuri, has contracts with schools, half way houses, and foster homes. Nuri was recently superseded by a new bus, acquired via social fundraising This funds the other places NOMAD serves in the community. You see it at festivals, full of children insde happily making art, being taught.and the bus is not just a mobile space, but a rolling canvas, covered with their art, Fantastic stuff, to see smiling children, focused and creating, Carrie tells me she would like to expand operations, with multiple buses and serving a much wider area. On a personal level, whe wants to do an installation involving metalsmithing, preferably on an island. This is a community-shifting paradigm, supported by the community itself, which is why Carrie Boucher is Art Taco's Arts Person of the Year for 2017.