What little of Denis Gaston's artwork remains from the fire that destroyed his studio last month bears the scars of trauma. One large piece — an homage to his father, a talented amateur illustrator, which combined drawings by both artists — was framed behind a sheet of Plexiglas that melted in the heat and formed a dome over a nearby rack filled with Gaston's work.
"I like to think that he was protecting it," Gaston says.
A charred border is all that remains of the piece, but it and several other small miracles fill his new studio: Gaston's favorite ceramic tea mug, which acquired only a hairline fracture, water-damaged but salvageable drawings and heaps of donated paint and canvases from caring friends, neighbors and clients.
Following the arson that destroyed Dunedin's Imago Art Gallery, a cooperative studio space for local artists who held monthly exhibitions, Gaston and 14 other displaced artists have a new home. Less than two weeks after the fire, the City of Dunedin voted to grant the Imago artists access to a city-owned former office building expected to be demolished in six to eight months for a mixed-use development.
For Gaston, the tragedy has brought more changes than just location. Shortly after the fire, he quit his part-time job at a natural foods store. The former graphic designer now plans to devote himself full time to rebuilding a body of work and devoting every ounce of his energy to artistic success.
"This was a wake-up call, and now I'm going to do what I should have done," Gaston says. He offers words of wisdom from one of his fellow Imago artists: The fire may have destroyed their creations, but it didn't destroy their creativity. Now Gaston is one of nine artists slated to take part in this weekend's Contain It!, a boundary-bending multimedia installation festival at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center.
If you needed any more proof that this quaint Pinellas city is a creative, forward-looking place, the event should provide it. The format of Contain It! draws inspiration from Art Positions, a yearly tradition at Art Basel Miami Beach during which galleries showcase emerging talent in shipping containers positioned in rows along the beach. At Contain It!, 11 artists from the Bay area will take over the green expanse outside DFAC in smaller PODS storage units for a Friday night party featuring local DJs and Los Angeles performance artist John Kilduff; on Saturday, the show remains up for a second, daytime look.
Contain It! is the brainchild of DFAC's associate education director, Kaya Parwanicka — a 20-something native of Poland — and Kelli Rule Clark, a similarly youthful development associate. Parwanicka can also claim credit for establishing a little event you might have heard of called Wearable Art.
Last year's third annual runway show of titillating, handmade fashions sold out, drawing a diverse crowd of 18-and-up revelers who packed into the arts center like sardines in a can. (How and where to hold a larger version of the event remains a source of debate at DFAC, Parwanicka says.)
The 11 local artists of Contain It! span the gamut of age and experience — and for most, making installation art (rather than 2D works) is a step out of the ordinary. Gaston's contribution creates a post-fire cathartic oasis, drawing visitors into a darkened PODS unit set gently aglow by a light source cloaked in sheer curtains: Here, "fire" is more indicative of rebirth and possibility than destruction.
On an equally meditative note, St. Petersburg artist Maria Licodo plans to construct a "pill mandala" as the centerpiece of her "Third Eye" PODS unit, where the former surgery photographer and hospital A/V technician will remind people to tap their inner ability to heal without the help of pharmaceuticals.
Nancy Cervenka, a Gulfport artist well-known for her celluloid film sculptures, weighs in with a completely different body of work: a series of lighthearted narrative photographs featuring a naked male action figure as the protagonist. And visitors to last year's Gala Corina will recognize Tampa artist Shane Hoffman's surreal felt constructions of figures drawn from a complex personal mythology (think man-sized birds giving birth and other amusing oddities). Artists Marina Williams, Maria Saraceno, Daniel Morgan, Noah Deledda and Michael Carpenter round out the group.
Contain It!'s secret weapon is Los Angeles artist Kilduff, a painter, performer and public-access host whose live weekly call-in show — called Let's Paint TV — has made him a minor small-screen celebrity. After spotting Kilduff on YouTube, where viewers can watch the artist paint, exercise (by running on a treadmill) and make blended drinks while interviewing guests and accepting live calls from obscenity-spewing public-access viewers, the DFAC staffers got clearance to fly him in for a weekend of wacky fun.
On Friday night, Kilduff will perform his painting/exercising/drink-blending act during the Contain It! party; on Saturday, visitors can take part in an outdoor painting workshop led by Kilduff in a local cemetery. For more information, call DFAC, or check out Kilduff's website at letspainttv.com.
This article appears in Jan 23-29, 2008.