Arts In

Audio producer Jessica Tomlinson is also a keyboard instructor at Girls Rock St Pete – and created a vivid sound portrait of this very cool group empowering "women, girls, and gender-expansive folx through fearless expression, artistic experimentation and collaboration to build confidence and leadership skills to transform ourselves and our communities." https://girlsrockstpete.org Published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast Online photo by Marissa Rafalski for Girls Rock St Pete

“I'm a nice guy, really!” laughs Gregory Green. The artist and pacifist teaches at The University of South Florida and is internationally known for his 3D installations of realistic bomb-making workshops and nuclear missiles. It's art with a political edge and educational aim, seeking to spur conversations about violence - and alternatives to violence - and exploring how information and technology are tools of social change. Gregory Green shares the theatricality behind his work, which includes more than a dozen fully-functional pirate radio and TV stations in the US and Europe, his “Gregnik” re-creation of the first Earth satellite and a three-stage booster rocket that's ready to launch if you've got the rocket fuel. Green tells of wrangling with the bomb squad, designing an installation for filmmaker John Waters' home, and how he was rated one of the Top 100 Artists in the World before 9/11, and how after 9/11 artwork about violence suddenly became much harder. Green's work is included in major public and private collections, including among others the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, the Tate Gallery in London, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Mori Museum in Tokyo and MAMCO Geneva. Explore Gregory Green's work here - http://gregory-green.com/home.html And his incredible resume - http://s3.otherpeoplespixels.com/sites/33374/gregory-green.com-1445104004.pdf Arts In is produced by Matt and Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair for Creative Pinellas.

Eugenie Bondurant is film and TV actor, cabaret singer, teacher, director, international runway model – and part of the heart of St. Pete. At an age when many women actors are struggling to find good roles, she was cast in the pivotal role of Tigris in the last Hunger Games film. In 2019, she started work on a DC comics film called The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and starred with Harry Connick Jr. in Fear of Rain, a national film that was shot in St. Pete, playing a very scary villain and talking Cole Porter to Connick during breaks. They'd already auditioned over 100 guys for that part and couldn't find anyone they liked. When they let Eugenie audition, they rewrote the villain to be a woman.  Then she got a call from the director, who said they'd been doing test runs of the Conjuring film and feedback from audiences was that they wanted much more of her character. So amid the pandemic they actually rewrote and re-shot much of the film to expand Eugenie's character. She got a whole new look, new lair, new backstory, more stunt work – and a DC comic based on her character, with material from scenes she played in the film. Last year she joined the Marvel universe via Werewolf By Night – as an elegant and deadly monster hunter in a fun classic horror film world, in an ensemble with Gael García Bernal and Harriet Sansom Harris directed by multi-Oscar-winning film composer Michael Giacchino. And after 25 years of teaching acting, Eugenie opened up her own acting school – Station 12 Studio. Classes take place in front of the big screen at the intimate Greenlight Cinema. She still appears in and directs local indie films and shorts, and uses her storytelling skills to bring classic songs to life with her piano-playing husband, Paul Wilborn. Eugenie shares these amazing stories – and how as an actor, she works hard to humanize the villains that she plays onscreen. A vibrant 61 years old when this was recorded, as Barbara St. Clair notes, Eugenie Bondurant is "living her best life." Arts In is produced by Sheila Cowley Executive Producer Barbara St. Clair

Dancer, choreographer, professor – and inventor – Merry Lynn Morris talks with Barbara St. Clair about her work exploring dance and disability, and how dance companies and educators are embracing a diversity of dancing bodies in performance. Published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast magazine on May 16, 2023 – https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/ Photo by Jim Lennon – Mary Lynn Morris and Dwayne Scheuneman in ML Morris choreography

Members of ThinkTank TYA's Young Artists' Ensemble Edwin Noah Perez, Kaylee Tupper Miller and Jadon Milne share their thoughts on how it feels to sing. Published in the Arts Coast magazine feature "Both Sides of the Bay Cabaret" by Creative PInellas 5/12/23.

Cindy Stovall talks with Helen French, Lauren Slone and Alexander Jones about 2023's Beacon dance celebration at St. Pete's Palladium Theater. Featured in "Beacon 2023" published in the Creative PInellas Arts Coast magazine on April 25, 2023 – https://creativepinellas.org/magazine/beacon-2023/

In a potent conversation ranging through his fascinating career, dancer and educator John Parks talks with Barbara St. Clair about his experiences touring the South with the Jose Limón Company during segregation, his inventive teaching philosophy – and how he helped the undervalued dancers in the movie version of The Wiz go on strike for equal pay and credit. . .  and win. Transcript available at https://creativepinellas.org/magazine/arts-in-john-parks/ Photo by Tom Kramer

Cindy Stovall of "Beauty & The 'Burg" talks with actor Jennifer Christa Palmer, who plays Susan B. Anthony in freeFall Theatre's 2023 production of "The Agitators" by Mat Smart, and Matthew McGee, freeFall's director of community outreach.

Visual artist and creative activist John Gascot talks with Barbara St. Clair about his exploratory series of self portraits, the powerful human rights installation he created during the pandemic and inventing a Diversity Game to help teach kids that diversity and inclusion matters. He shares the vibrant work of the Pinellas Park arts community and the start of Pinellas Park's PRIDE celebration. gascot.com diversityartsinc.com pinellasartsvillage.com – photo by Laurie Elmer

Christina Bertsos shares her passion for sculpting in stone and marble with host Barbara St. Clair – and how her work with fabric and hand-crafted couture influences her creations now. She guides us through the physical hands-on craft of sculpting, explains how you find marble in Florida, and how she got started in stone through a class at the Dunedin Fine Art Center. https://www.christinabertsos.com/

Bach's "Toccata Et Fugue En Ré Mineur" performed on the University of Tampa's Ars Sonora Bell Tower – the first in the U.S. and the largest in the world. Recorded by Kurt Loft, photo by Kurt Loft. Story published in Arts Coast Online on October 7, 2022 – https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/

Cindy Stovall talks with Eric Davis and Matthew McGee about freeFall Theatre's 2022-2023 season and their efforts to create a safe space to gather, to escape and build community.

USF Theatre professor Fanni Green talks with USF English professor Gary Lemons about his aim as the June 2022 guest editor of the Arts Coast magazine – Community Healing through Artistic Transformation. Published in https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/.

A profile of 13-year-old violinist Eunice Park and the all-volunteer Tampa Bay Symphony, which includes 70 musicians ages 18 to 80 and serves as a platform for people who want to play part-time, but still tackle challenging works. "The beauty of our group lies in the members," says double bass player Paul Kurtz. “It's a beautiful blend of young, old, Black, white, brown, yellow, straight, gay – basically, come as you are. And to me that is a true reflection of community." Voiced by Susan Giles Wantuck. Written by Kurt Loft. Originally published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast Magazine on May 5, 2022. https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/

An audio version of Kurt Loft's story, "Master Chorale Offers Musical Balm in Times of Stress," voiced and produced by Susan Giles-Wantuck. Published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast Magazine on March 23, 2022, https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/. Music by the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, https://www.masterchorale.com/.

An audio version of Kurt Loft's conversation with pianist Susan Cahill about her performance series "The Future is Female," focused on works for piano written by historic and contemporary women. Voiced and produced by Susan Giles-Wantuck, as published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast Magazine – https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/.

Susan Giles Wantuck voices the story she wrote for the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast Magazine, exploring the wonders of Replay Amusement Museum in Tarpon Springs FL – where the visitors and staff are equally passionate about pinball and retro video games. Published December 17, 2021 in https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/

Public artist Douglas Kornfeld tells the fascinating tale of how he created vibrant public artworks in New Orleans that became symbols of the city, part of parades – and will hopefully save lives if a major storm hits. Kornfeld talks with Barbara St. Clair about what it truly means to be an artist – and what it means to make work on a monumental scale, along with the logistics of massive installations. He shares how he found his way to large-scale public sculpture and explains how figuring out Photoshop at a time when people barely knew about it revved up his career. You can explore the work of Douglas Kornfeld at http://www.awaka-inc.com/. Published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast Magazine on November 23, 2021. . . https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/

Abstract artist Kirk Ke Wang teaches at Eckerd College and his work is known internationally. His boldly abstract creations are colorful and striking – moving through painting, sculpture, photography, video, conceptual, performance and installation art. “Although oscillating between them, I intend to weave a tapestry of my vision of the world, led by a consistent thread – the fear of inexorable cataclysm.” Still, Kirk Ke Wang's work often appears joyous. He shares the details behind several large-scale installations, and talks with host Barbara St. Clair about how he grew up in China during the cultural revolution – and learned both visual art and music from professors locked up in a labor camp, using water instead of ink to paint, and playing a keyboard drawn on a table while the professors sang the notes. Published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast Magazine on November 19, 2021. . . https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/

Famed photographer Clyde Butcher tells how he didn't let a water moccasin bite stop him from taking a photo of a Ghost Orchid, for an audience of reporters at the Clearwater Public Library. The free exhibit, "America's Everglades Through the Lens of Clyde Butcher," runs through May 31, 2022. Featured in "Clyde Butcher's Photography Inspires Visitors at Clearwater's Main Library," published November 17, 2021 by the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast Magazine. https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/

Susan Giles Wantuck reads "Tarpon Springs Oboist Plays on the Need for Reed," a profile of oboe player Amy Collins, written by Kurt Loft and published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast Magazine.

Susan Wantuck reads "Keyboard Kinetics," a story by Kurt Loft that was published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast Magazine on October 29, 2021. Featuring music by John O'Leary III and Shaun Martin from O'Leary III's upcoming CD produced by Martin. https://creativepinellas.org/magazine/keyboard-kinetics/

A profile of the Tampa-based Acme Jazz Garage ensemble before their performance at St. Petersburg's Palladium Theater on October 24, 2021. Written by Kurt Loft and published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast Magazine. Voiced and produced by Susan Wantuck. https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/

Bestselling suspense novelist Lisa Unger is based here in Pinellas County. Her new book, Last Girl Ghosted, comes out on October 5 and was named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2021 by Crimereads. Unger's critically-acclaimed thrillers have sold millions of copies and been translated into 30 languages. Her work has been on “Best Book” lists from the Today show, Good Morning America, Entertainment Weekly, Amazon, Goodreads and more. In 2019, she received two Edgar Award nominations, an honor held by only a few authors, including Agatha Christie. Though she writes dark psychological thrillers, Lisa Unger is a warm and down to Earth working mom. Her conversation with Barbara St. Clair is rich in laughter, as she shares how stories and characters reveal themselves to her, and what she's driven to explore as she digs deep into stories. You can explore Lisa Unger's work at lisaunger.com

Sheree L. Greer reading her short story, "Ghostbusters"

Award-winning poet Gloria Muñoz shares a soundscape of her poem “The Romantics” from her forthcoming poetry collection "Danzirly / Dawn’s Early." The soundscape was created for Nikke Pike’s installation “Totem” which was on tour at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center. The poem was originally published by Cosmonauts Avenue.

Brandie Dziegiel (pronounced “Diesel”) is a young artist embracing the age-old craft of printmaking. She tells Barbara St. Clair about choosing to get an art degree after serving in the Coast Guard. Brandie shares her passion for the physical craft of cutting away to reveal an image, and how she uses her artwork to process her experiences as a veteran. Growing up in a military family, Brandie moved around a lot. She talks about returning to Florida’s landscape and how the fragile natural world and Pinellas County’s indigenous heritage finds its way into her work. Explore Brandie Dziegiel’s work at https://brandiedziegielart.com/ Arts In is produced by Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair.

Ray Arsenault’s Freedom Riders Book 
Premieres as a New Opera

Cora Marshall can express herself in almost any medium. That’s thanks to teaching high school art for many years, where she had to show students how to do everything from drawing to throwing pots on a wheel. In this thoughtful conversation with Barbara St. Clair, Marshall explains how different concepts lend themselves to different artistic mediums. She shares her inspiration for the series she’s created based on newspaper ads hunting for runaway slaves, and another about older people who keep working at difficult jobs on their feet, to survive. Cora Marshall and Barbara St. Clair discuss the fine lines of political art, and her college years at Howard University during the Black Power Movement. Marshall details the artwork she’s created to explore her family’s heritage and history, and a new series designed to find a way out of our current negativity - artwork inspired by children’s faces. Explore Cora Marshall’s work here https://www.coramarshall.com/Artist.asp?ArtistID=47105&Akey=X679CJP9&ajx=1#!asset76453 Arts In is produced by Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair.

Muralist, painter, designer and all-over creative Daniel Barojas talks with Barbara St. Clair about the art of graffiti, the inspiration he draws from indigenous communities and his own Mexican heritage, experiments with Op Art-style patterns and illusions. . . and the stories behind two murals in St. Pete that are helping keep the city safe. You can explore the work of Daniel Barojas at https://r5imaging.com/ and on Instagram. This article explores his experiments with Chromadepth 3-D glasses - https://creativepinellas.org/analyzing-chroma-depth-and-geology-with-daniel-barojas/.

St. Petersburg Poet Laureate Helen Pruitt Wallace reads her narrative poem "Pink Streets" and shares her memories of this offbeat neighborhood.

St. Petersburg Poet Laureate Helen Pruitt Wallace talks with Barbara St. Clair about growing up in St. Pete’s “Pink Streets” neighborhood and shares poems inspired by her rollicking childhood, the joys and grief of family, and her mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s. With laughter and enthusiasm, she talks about her passion for the sounds of poems, the spark of playing with formal structure and how she’s not afraid to confront politics through poetry. You can explore Helen Pruitt Wallace’s writing at http://helenwallacepoetry.com/ and follow her on Twitter at @HelenPWallace. Helen hosts the Dalí Poetry Series - free and open to the public - typically the second Thursday of the month from September through May at The Dalí Museum. Details here.

Tenea Johnson is a writer of speculative fiction, a poet and musician. In this conversation with Barbara St. Clair she talks about her imaginative stories and novels, and how her childhood in Kentucky shaped her views of life. Tenea shares enticing details from her stories, and how she’s built a sustainable full-time career as a writer. She’s currently bringing printed words to life in multimedia creations. The Knitting Factory, Dixon Place, The Public Theater and others have opened their doors to this new form. Her work has appeared in Mothership: Tales of Afrofuturism, African Voices, Arise, Humanities in the South, Infinite Matrix, Contemporary American Women Poets, Shades of Blue and Gray, Whispers in the Night: Dark Dreams III and Necrologue, among others. She is the author of a poetry/short prose collection, Starting Friction as well as the novels, Smoketown, R/evolution and Evolution. Find out more about Tenea Johnson’s work at http://www.teneadjohnson.com Links to printed and recorded work: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1204168.Tenea_D_Johnson http://www.teneadjohnson.com/compositions/

Suzanne Pomerantzeff - or Ms. P, as she’s known to generations of dancers in St. Pete - shares her love of dance with movers of every ability. For 50 years, dancers of all ages have learned and flourished with Ms. P, sparked by her passion for all of the arts. Many who’ve studied with her at the Academy of Ballet or the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School have gone on to acclaimed professional careers. An award-winning teacher and choreographer, Suzanne shares how her own performance career was cut short by injury, which let her find a path to teaching. She tells us how the Academy of Ballet Arts grew from one rented room to their current home, covered in murals - and explains how vital St. Pete’s own “Fame” high school is, as Pinellas County’s arts magnet. Ms. P talks about how much the classic discipline of ballet and the idea of a ‘perfect body’ has changed and grown. She shares the Academy’s newest success, an adaptive ballet program open to dancers of differing abilities. A seasoned educator, she explains how as a teacher, she never stops learning. You can hear the joy and passion in her voice, on this inspiring conversation with Barbara St. Clair. Find out more about the Academy of Ballet at https://www.academyofballetarts.org/. The Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School serves public school students throughout Pinellas County - https://www.pcsb.org/pcca-gibbs. - Arts In is produced by Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair.

As Florida CraftArt gets ready to host artists from around the country at their annual CraftArt Festival, Executive Director Katie Deits guides Barbara St. Clair through the varied landscape of Fine Craft. Katie shares her favorite experiences at Florida CraftArt - from exhibits inspired by the use of light and poets writing about work inspired by animals, to visiting Tibetan Monks creating, and erasing, a mandala. Katie talks about her own artistic journey from aerial photographer to curator, and explains the history of downtown St. Pete's vibrant Fine Craft center - a place where everyone is welcome to wander in and look at art. Find out more about Florida CraftArt at floridacraftart.org.

Saumitra Chandratreya is an adventurous visual artist whose work is political, but beautiful - and often created from unexpected materials. In this conversation with Barbara St. Clair, he talks about identity, immigration and the inspiration he takes from objects other people overlook or throw away. As he explains, “If I don’t make challenging work, then I’m letting down anyone who is of brown skin and queer, who might be interested in making their voice heard, but don’t have the tools - because I have the tools.” Saumitra Chandratreya’s work was chosen this month for the 2019 Visions of Health Equity project sponsored by the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg. His work will be featured at the Chad Mize Gallery in November. Link to the Foundation For Healthy St. Pete announcement: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/News--Events-and-Resources.html?soid=1120560768999&aid=BfoxUOerk8I Link to Mize gallery website: http://chadmize.com/exhibits.html Find out more about Saumitra Chandratreya’s work at https://www.saumitrac.com Instagram: saumiisawyou Facebook: Saumitra Chandratreya

Arts In: Don Gialanella Don Gialanella can make a cow out of children’s toys, that’s the size of a cow. He made the giant twirly moustache in front of The Dalí Museum. Don creates huge and beautiful sculptures that have personality and humor. From a life-sized metal man tenderly opening his chest to reveal his glowing heart, to a diver arcing exuberantly into a dumpster full of plastic bottles, to remind us to recycle. In this conversation with Barbara St. Clair, Don Gialanella shares wild and wonderful stories of working with sculptor Louise Bourgeois, new projects involving sound and how he keeps up with more commissions than ever despite Parkinson’s disease. Don explains how he wound up on the cutting-edge of digital design for television and shares his enthusiastic passion for public art. Explore Don Gialanella’s work at donsculpture.com Arts In is produced by Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair.

Award-winning filmmaker and screenwriter Victoria Johnson creates both narrative and documentary films. In this conversation with Barbara St. Clair, she tells us surprising and humorous tales of learning the craft of analog filmmaking in the adventurous artistic atmosphere of the University of South Florida in the late 1970s. She explains how her skills evolved through video and digital, and her focus on creating films that change her audience’s views about a subject. Victoria shares the challenges of suddenly needing to run her family business, and how she brought video to her marketing firm - and surprisingly got hired by the 2012 Republican National Convention, something she still chuckles about. She won the Telly Award for Welcome to Tampa. Victoria shares her passion for screenwriting, an art she came to after establishing a career as a filmmaker. She reflects on the thriving world of streaming video, and how to find an audience in a world where everyone can make a film on their cell phone. Victoria’s currently exploring political performance art. You can read about her recent project here - https://www.cltampa.com/arts-entertainment/visual-art/article/21080912/tampa-bay-artist-puts-toy-babies-in-cages-to-protest-trumps-migrant-detention-centers. And here - https://www.wtsp.com/mobile/article/news/local/ice-ice-baby-local-artist-takes-aim-at-immigration-crisis/67-6bdae07b-a0e9-48dc-a4ed-e8220edaf090. You can find out more about Victoria Jorgenson’s work at http://amovieproductions.com/.

Bahia Ramos recently spoke at the Art of Marketing and Branding Summit hosted by Creative Pinellas. She serves as Director of Arts at New York City’s Wallace Foundation, and leads the team responsible for the foundation’s work funding research by arts organizations around the country, as they explore a larger question that affects the entire arts community. Bahia explains the five-year relationship she has with grantees, as they help create a body of knowledge that can be shared to help arts organizations nationwide. She shares her thoughts on the crucial business of philanthropy, on growing new audiences and how to change your art as the world around you changes. Find out more about the Wallace Foundation at https://www.wallacefoundation.org/pages/default.aspx. Explore their five-year project, Building Audiences for Sustainability - https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/building-audiences-for-the-arts/pages/default.aspx   Their research is available for anyone to read. Here’s a selection from many pages of documents you can download.   Audience Building and Financial Health for Nonprofit Performing Arts https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/audience-building-and-financial-health-nonprofit-performing-arts.aspx   Ballet Austin: Building Audiences for Unfamiliar Works https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/ballet-austin-building-audiences-for-unfamiliar-works--discussion-guide.aspx   Change in Audiences in American Theaters https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/change-in-audiences-american-theaters.aspx   Arts for All: Connecting New Audiences https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/arts-for-all-connecting-new-audiences.aspx   Studies in Building Arts Audiences and Building Deeper Relationships https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/wallace-studies-in-building-arts-audiences-building-deeper-relationships.aspx

Mark Feinman is the drummer for the eclectic jazz trio, La Lucha - and an inventive composer. Mark tells La Lucha’s origin story of how he and pianist John O’Leary and bassist Alejandro Arenas began their long-term collaboration. And he shares his own journey in jazz, with stops at St Pete’s Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School and the University of South Florida’s cutting-edge School of Music. He talks with Barbara St. Clair about constantly listening and creating music, and even shares a sneak peek at a future song, recorded on his phone during a dog walk. Find out more about La Lucha’s music and performance schedule at https://www.laluchamusic.com/. You can read about Mark Feinman’s work during his tenure as a Creative Pinellas Emerging Artist Fellow at https://creativepinellas.org/mark-feinman/.

Carrie Jadus made a name for herself as a professional artist, after giving up a career as a skilled radio frequency engineer. Her distinctive, soft and subtly subversive style is seen in paintings, on murals, posters and notecards around St. Petersburg. Working at Soft Water Studios, she’s a mainstay of the Warehouse Arts District and longtime illustrator for St. Pete Preservation. Carrie shares the turning point that made her decide to choose art over engineering - and how as a working mother, she carefully planned a sustainable artistic career, using the business plan of a Toymaker as a model. She explains how working in several different styles helped her earn a living and fulfill her urges for personal expression. She tells the story behind her well-known mural of pioneering electrical engineer, Nikola Tesla - and Little Miss Sisyphus, the mural people often miss just around the corner. Carrie shares her passion for ‘grand portraits,’ monumental paintings of figures from Einstein to Nina Simone, and explains in detail two recent, more surrealistic, paintings. You can explore Carrie Jadus’ work at http://www.carriejadus.com/bio.html. And follow her new work at https://www.facebook.com/cjadusfineartpage/ and https://www.instagram.com/jadusfineart/. Soft Water Studios is open during Second Saturday ArtWalk - https://stpeteartsalliance.org/artwalk/ - from 5-9 p.m. on the second Saturday of every month - http://www.softwaterstudios.com/. Her Tesla mural and Little Miss Sisyphus are featured in the St Pete Arts Alliance’s Virtual Mural Tour - https://stpeteartsalliance.org/carrie-jadus-tesla/ and https://stpeteartsalliance.org/carrie-jadus-little-miss-sisyphus/.

Jason Hackenwerth is an adventurous abstract sculptor who’s medium is thousands of latex balloons. His enormous sculptural inventions can fill a towering museum atrium, or mall. His sculptures are enormous, and the vivid pictures on his website are only an echo of the overwhelming power of experiencing them up close. Jason Hackenwerth teaches at St. Pete’s Eckerd College and works all over the world. To his knowledge, he’s the only artist right now doing serious, curated art with balloons. He talks about the challenges of validating a new kind of art when you don’t have a community of artists working in that style. In this conversation with Barbara St. Clair, Jason shares the moving and “terrifying” story of his early experiments, and how his first big installation went so badly wrong. And how he turned that failure into a new way of working that got him a year-long gig building a sculpture a day on a stage inside FAO Schwarz, and traveling the world creating giant balloon sculptures. Jason explains his passion for the ephemeral nature of his artistic practice - and his ongoing artistic quest to push this unique medium constantly further. And the challenges of creating artwork that curators expect to look like a birthday party. Find out more about Jason Hackenwerth’s work at http://www.jasonhackenwerth.com/. Time-lapse footage of the installation of Pisces at the National Museum of Scotland - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtqPxtSMK9E. An interview with Jason during the unveiling of Corona at the Abu Dhabi Science Festival - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHv9PMl-Ki8. The video he mentions of a year of impromptu sculptures created while people watched him at FAO Schwarz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg3aE1zytnI

Erin Blankenship is the Curator of Exhibitions & Collections at the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg. The Museum is more special than most people realize - it’s a historical museum that maintains a vital collection of contemporary art. Erin’s seen first-hand how visual art offers another path to understanding the challenging reality of genocide. The Museum’s permanent collection includes work in a range of mediums, created by artists in concentration camps and Holocaust survivors - along with work by “empathizers,” artists who may or may not be Jewish, but are moved to respond to acts of genocide. She explains the powerful role artists shoulder, telling stories that need to be told. And she shares memories of beloved artist William Pachner, an internationally-known Abstract Expressionist and a longtime, vivid presence in Tampa Bay. In one of the highlights of her curatorial career to date, Erin organized an exhibition where collectors of Pachner’s beautiful and colorful abstractions discovered that his paintings were inspired by the loss of his entire family in the Holocaust - forcing people to rethink their perception of what ‘Holocaust art’ looks like. Find out more about the Florida Holocaust Museum’s exhibitions and programming at https://www.flholocaustmuseum.org/. Read a Tampa Bay Times review of the exhibit of William Pachner’s work that Erin talks about - https://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/visualarts/art-review-william-pachners-powerful-response-to-holocaust-still-resonates/2230372. A detailed look at the life and work of William Pachner published in Tablet, with a quote from Erin - https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/250423/painter-william-pachner-obit. - Arts In is produced by Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair.

Katherine Pill is the Curator of Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in downtown St. Petersburg. In this conversation with Barbara St. Clair, Katherine shares her duties as curator of the growing collection of contemporary art at this classic museum - from exploring cutting-edge new digital works to collaborating with public artists Carol Mickett and Robert Stackhouse on community engagement with their work. Find out more about the Museum of Fine Arts at mfastpete.org. . . . Images 1-2 are from Mickett-Stackhouse’s Irma Reflections at the MFA. Find out more about this participatory installation at mfastpete.org/event/mickett-stackhouse-irma-reflections/all. Image 3 is by Christian Marclay, a still from Telephones, 1995, video, running time 7:30 minutes. © Christian Marclay. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Find out more about this pioneering artist at tate.org.uk/art/artists/christian-marclay.

Desiree Moore is a multidisciplinary artist working in video and film, art installations and a unique take on interactive public art. She shares her creative process, with plenty of action in the editing room, in this conversation with Barbara St. Clair. Along with her engaging collaborative effort, The Barter Boat, traveling the country to trade people’s special objects and stories. Find out more about Desiree Moore’s work at https://www.desireenicholemoore.com/. Explore the online journal she posted during her Creative Pinellas Emerging Artist Fellowship - https://creativepinellas.org/desiree-moore/. Find out more about the Barter Boat at https://www.facebook.com/BarterBoat/.

Carrie Boucher’s artistic practice is driving a traveling art classroom, providing opportunities for children and adults to create art. The much-beloved Nomad Art Bus visits art festivals and foster homes, domestic abuse shelters, juvenile detention centers and parks, recreation centers and youth programs in areas of poverty throughout Tampa Bay. Carrie talks with Barbara St. Clair about her journey from a solo studio practice to this vibrant community art project. She tells the story of the Bus they drove and coaxed and sometimes towed to events - and how their first participants invented what is now the Nomad trademark, that everybody gets to paint the bus. Carrie explains the joys and challenges of working as an artist with a social practice - and how she uses her training in critiquing art to constantly question her own work, and keep making it better. You can find out more about the Nomad Art Bus at http://www.nomadartbus.org/.

Susana Weymouth is the Executive Director - and sole employee - of Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture and the Arts. The TBBCA is one of 11 national Business Committees for the Arts, connecting business people with artists and art. Their work brings business folk to galleries and theatres, and connects artists with offices looking for art. The relationships the TBBCA build help artists and arts organizations find patrons, and help businesses shape creative workplaces as they engage with the arts around them. Susana talks about the arts as a vital economic force, and how businesses and artists can work together. She explains the TBBCA’s advocacy role in funding for the arts. And for nonprofits struggling to find and develop board members, she shares her tips for building a strong and active board of directors. The scholarship program the TBBCA provides has helped many young Tampa Bay artists build professional careers. And the annual Impact Awards, honoring artists, arts leaders and arts supporters, shines a light on people who are leading Tampa Bay in a positive and creative direction. The Charlie Hounchell Art Stars 2019 Scholarship Ceremony is this Wednesday, May 15 - https://www.facebook.com/events/409865836483626/. Find out more about Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture and the Arts at https://www.tbbca.org. Find out more about The Charlie Hounchell Art Stars Scholarships Program - https://www.tbbca.org/programs-events/art-stars-scholarships/. And keep an eye out for the annual Impact Awards every October - https://www.facebook.com/TBBCAorg/. Get updates on the TBBCA’s Cultural Encounters, where business professionals gather to explore theaters, galleries, concerts and more - https://www.tbbca.org/programs-events/cultural-encounters/.

Painter Nathan Beard found his way to both realistic and abstract new work in the only time he had - when his newborn daughter was napping. Nathan talks with Barbara St. Clair about creating visual artwork that’s inspired by his other passion, environmental science and endangered species. Nathan shares his path and ongoing goals as a professional artist, and the things art school does not prepare you for. The work of Nathan Beard, Akiko Kotani and Rob Tarbell is featured in Unexpected: Art By Alternative Means, on display at the Leepa-Rattner Museum in Tarpon Springs through May 19 - leeparattner.org/explore/exhibitions-on-view/unexpected-art-by-alternative-means-featuring-nathan-beard-akiko-kotani-and-rob-tarbell. Find out more about Nathan’s work at nathanbeardfineart.com. Follow the online journal he kept during his tenure as a Creative Pinellas Emerging Artist Fellow at creativepinellas.org/nathan-beard. - Arts In is produced by Matt and Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair.

As Keep St Pete Lit brings this year’s Writer in Residence to town, we share a conversation with last year’s award-winning author, Ladee Hubbard. Ladee talks with Barbara St. Clair about her rollicking, imaginative novel, The Talented Ribkins, about a family of African Americans living in the South who have odd and unique superpowers. . . like drawing maps and seeing colors no one else can see. The inspiration for the book is an essay by W.E.B. DuBois, a story of a strangely-shaped potato and her grandfather defying odds to earn a PhD in chemistry and teach at St Pete College, at a time when that was a rare thing for an African American to do. Ladee Hubbard talks about deciding to earn an MFA while raising three young children, and how Toni Morrison encouraged all her wild experiments with language as a student. You can find out more about her work at https://ladeehubbard.com/. Check out the events around this year’s Keep St Pete Lit Writer in Residence and the annual SunLit Festival, celebrating reading and writing in Tampa Bay - https://keepstpetelit.org.

You might think that Sheryl Oring’s work is about old-fashioned manual typewriters. But her compelling style of public art is about memory, and stories. Sheryl Oring’s powerful body of work gives voice to writers who were silenced, and helps people share stories and make their voices heard. In this vibrant conversation, she explains how she developed Writer’s Block to honor the writers, dancers and musicians whose work was banned in Nazi Germany. From the first manual typewriter she bought in Berlin, to the construction crew charmed by her bold request for rebar, to the night she debuted the work where Nazis burned books in the rain in 1933 - and hundreds of people under umbrellas watched dancers and musicians performing in the rain on her monumental sculpture installation, of typewriters trapped in cages. Dressed like a secretary in the 1950s, Sheryl has created vibrant public art projects that invite people to dictate a postcard to politicians. She asked New Yorkers what they’d like people to remember about 9/11, and gave recent immigrants the opportunity to write a letter to their ancestors. She’s currently at work on Greetings From Tampa Bay, gathering stories that will become a piece of visual art at the Tampa Airport. Sheryl Oring talks about public art that engages a community and leaves powerful, lifelong memories, and the life-changing results this kind of art can give. Find out more about Sheryl Oring’s work at http://www.sheryloring.org. Writer’s Block is on display at Creative Pinellas through May 30 - https://creativepinellas.org/writersblock/. Get updates about Greetings From Tampa Bay at http://www.sheryloring.org/greetings-from-tampa-bay

You’ve seen Herb Snitzer’s photographs - on album covers, CD covers and almost every major magazine and newspaper. His images of Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Nina Simone are legendary, a few of the many classic jazz musicians he knew well and loved. His photographs are striking, and they always tell a story. Herb Snitzer’s candid photos of the Civil Rights Movement capture moments of electric change. Though he still regrets being backstage with Martin Luther King Jr., Ossie Davis and James Baldwin - without his camera. In his 80s now, Herb is still creating - and he still chooses black and white film over digital. Herb shares the stories behind many of his best-known images - revealing where and when, and what’s happening outside the frame. And he shares the story of the late-lamented Salt Creek Artworks, a vibrant group of artists who broke new ground for St. Petersburg’s now thriving arts community. Find out more about Herb Snitzer at http://herbsnitzer.com/statement.htm. Explore Herb Snitzer’s work at http://herbsnitzer.com. The archive of Salt Creek Artworks is at http://saltcreekartworks.com.