Please Join us on May 26th at 6:00pm

Rea, an Eckerd College OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) Art Instructor is a painter who has produced and exhibited artwork since 1987. She divides her time between Helsinki, Finland and St Petersburg, Florida.

Participants will:
Learn about and see examples of her “Healing Wall” murals located in Europe, Florida and Connecticut.
Learn the process of acquiring a mural project
Learn about the OLLI art program at Eckerd and the benefits of becoming an instructor

Rea has published books about her “Healing Walls” where she explains the humanizing aspect of her work. She creates soothing environments in hospitals, nursing homes, other health facilities and schools. Her large works of gardens and other nature scenes relax both staff and patients. Her intention is to bring color and light into the world and take art where it is most needed.

Sign Up: https://www.warehouseartsdistrictstpete.org/event-4310358''

The Warehouse Arts District Association (WADA) proudly announces an Artists Member Art show with the theme “About Face” in celebration of the successful way we have all had to turn to face the opposite direction in our thinking and interactions with other humans. Selected artworks fitting this theme submitted by WADA members, will be on exhibit for the month of June in the Burka Member Lounge of the ArtsXchange located in the heart of the Warehouse Arts District. The ArtsXchange campus is one of the most widely visited spots during Second Saturday Artwalk.

The deadline is approaching, don't delay your entry! 

More details: https://www.warehouseartsdistrictstpete.org/page-18305?fbclid=IwAR09MpBV2v72wdvwbSbyexlewsswo0s9weB2uYyzaOshQuPs1ls1VWKhPAY

Artist Statement by Anna Broshears:

My art is an expression of what I am feeling at the moment I am painting. The techniques used take form in whatever is happening to me at the time I am painting. Like me, it is unpredictable and varies from subject to subject. Sometimes my work is precise or impressionistic, or abstract with a lot of dripping and throwing. Painting is enjoyable and performed as joy. Many of my paintings are the result of several experimental approaches. I often will paint four or more paintings of the same scene or image to achieve my desired outcome, those results I often discover quite by accident.

My background is in the sciences and medical field, but nothing brings me as much fulfillment as when I am alone in my studio. The ultimate satisfaction is watching the faces of people as they gaze upon my work and I see a sparkle in their eye. Art, whether in the form of paintings, music, dance, photography, is the connection of one person to another. A connection that is personal and individual between the performer and the viewer. It is that connection that inspires and motivates me.

Meet the WADA Art Tubs Artist, Francine Michel and her contribution of a line drawing of The Palladium in Downtown St. Petersburg. 

Francine Michel-Artist Statement

My name is Francine E. Michel and I currently reside in St. Petersburg, Florida.  Although I moved to St. Petersburg for professional reasons, the thriving art community here was a welcome surprise. I spend the summers near the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in New Mexico which never ceases to provide inspiration. First hand observation of both these places is essential to my work. My current medium is encaustic.

Learning technical aspects, sharing ideas with others, unearthing new skills and exploring new mediums are invaluable. I take classes, attend workshops and participate in retreats. Nearby museums are a constant source of ideas. As an emerging artist, I welcome the feedback, praise and guidance that juried exhibitions afford. 

To create paintings to exhibit, nature is my starting point. In my current paintings, I don’t worry about realistic colors but instead movement and feeling.  I add as much detail as the scene calls for. Most times my colors are vivid, since I began working on a new series, I have enjoyed how others relate to it as much as I do.

Meet the WADA Art Tubs Artist, Julie Falzarano.

Julie created a line drawing of the Museum of American Arts and Crafts Movement downtown St. Pete. 

Artist Statement

I’m a multimedia artist living in St. Petersburg, Florida. I create art with paint, wood, ceramics, photography, fabric and green life. My jewelry business @REJuled was established in 2016 out of my love for repurposing, stones and jewelry. My jewelry uses found objects like fishing lures, copper pipe, forks and bullets in a new way. I sell my work at markets and stores in St. Petersburg and in my home state of New York. Before becoming a full-time artist, I was a Visual Arts teacher for 8 years and taught students in Pre-Kindergarten through college. While teaching, I used blocks in my elementary classrooms and based this art tub on that enrichment activity. I am an active member of the Warehouse Arts District Association that promotes arts education in the Tampa Bay community. I live with my husband, young son, dog and rescued kitten and live in a home we have been renovating for the past few years and moved to St. Petersburg to be part of the growing arts scene. When not working, I love cooking, reading, thrifting, yoga and walking in nature.

WADA Member, Summer Dicus Boydstun, to show work at St. Pete Artworks.

May 4, 2021 to May 30, 2021.

2604 Central Ave in St. Pete.

Meet the WADA Art Tubs Artist, Nick Reale. 

Nick created almost 1000 wood blocks for the WADA Art Tubs Project!

The Warehouse Arts District Association is wrapping up the development of WADA Art Tubs for K-5 art teachers to use in their classrooms to support their established curriculum.  The project focuses on six art focused buildings in St Petersburg with remarkable architecture.

“Tubs” exist for math and science and not yet for art. The goal is to provide an art experience that supports the established classroom structure by sharing WADA resources and highlighting the talent of our WADA member artists. 

All will fit in a plastic tub, the size a 5-year-old can carry independently, with artisan crafted wooden blocks of various shapes and architectural details, natural finish and sealer for easy cleaning and disinfecting.

The four sides of each WADA  Art Tub has a photograph, simple line drawing and artist rendering of each of the six art-focused St. Pete buildings. Each tub will include an artist statement and headshot for all 15 commissioned artists involved as well as varied directions for each grade level and descriptions of each building. 

Meet the WADA Art Tubs Artist, Carol Dameron.

Carol created a line drawing of the Dali Museum for the WADA Art Tubs Project.

Artist Statement

Did you know our ancestors developed their sense of time by observing the horizon?

I love the horizon line. 

Pulling a long mark straight across the page instantly divides space into sky and earth. I then create all figures and bring that inhabit various terrains.

Figure and landscape allow engagement in the seen and unseen parts of life. Silence emerges through situational and spatial ambiguity to reveal a deeper reality behind the surface of things.

I paint in oil on wood, the original surface for oil paints. Heavy, dense and uneven, it is a natural contrast to the buttery silk of oil.

Typically, I begin with a small black and white sketch, working out the large shapes and finding the image therein. The story gives the composition, the composition the color and the color informs the brushwork. Mixing the entire color palette can take an hour or two. The result is perfectly harmonious color relationships, like a musical chord. Painting includes listening to the sound of the paint.

From singing and playing the piano to finger painting and making illuminated manuscripts, much of my early life was spent in solitary creativity which brought me great happiness. I have continued to try and live in such a manner, as lifestyle influences artistic choices.

By interrupting images through the smearing of paint or turning round objects into partially flat areas, I try to create bridges from one world to another, looking for completeness.

The Venetian painter Giorgione combines worldliness and simplicity by placing strange figures into the Italian landscape- similarly, my narrative work combines academic expertise and finger-painting in conjunction with people, animals and trees talking to each other, an effort to wed the mystery of the inner and outer worlds.

Join WADA Board member and mosaic artist Teresa Sullivan as she shows the art and tells the story of the history of this ancient art form. The first found mosaics were in Uruk in what is now Iraq around 3000 BCE.  How mosaics are made is explained and there will be a live demo in which Teresa will use some of the tools of the trade. 

Register now for this fact filled and fun filled class. Wednesday, April 28, 6-7:30pm

https://www.warehouseartsdistrictstpete.org/events/

      

Meet the WADA Art Tubs Artist, Saumitra Chandratreya

Artist Statement

I am an immigrant to the United States and I engage with my surroundings with the lens of that identity. I walk the fine line of being an observer and a participant. My art has evolved over the years to engage more with my immediate social roles and that has pushed my art to involve social issues.

   I create abstract images, decorative overall patterns and text heavy pieces. I use formal as well as colloquial gay language in my text pieces. Current social commentary and pop culture play an important role in informing my practice.  

I believe that textiles are a versatile medium for contemporary art. I like molding them to create objects, sculptural pieces, wall mounted pieces and installations. I have an affinity for transparent and translucent materials and ordinary materials that aren’t associated with fine art.

  Contemporary art enables me to weave in various mediums to achieve a goal or to embark on an exploratory journey. I believe in the power of art and its ability to impact popular opinion and bring about social change. I think about contemporary art in the context of everyday and I want my art to reach across barriers, tactile and emotional.