Ybor's Silver Meteor Gallery boasts a record of supporting Tampa's alternative arts community. Almost every small theater company in the area — from Jobsite to the Alley Cat Players — has spent some time incubating in its tiny black-box theater. Visual art exhibits, mainly in the form of solo shows, read like a list of who's who on the local scene.
However, the gallery itself has seen better times.
Housed in a dilapidated casita that shows its nearly 100-year age, Silver Meteor sits just across the train tracks on Sixth Avenue behind the Columbia Restaurant. A hand-lettered sign hanging off the front porch gives the only signal that the building is in use; the boarded-up windows — necessary to block out light during theatrical performances — aren't exactly welcoming.
Owner Michael A. Murphy is only sort of kidding when he calls it the world's only handicapped-accessible crackhouse.
Though it's never been in mint condition, the place has really gone to pot over the past few years. When his father John — also his cofounder and collaborator in programming the space — grew seriously ill, Murphy devoted himself to his care. The lights at Silver Meteor went out and the weeds began to grow.
The Murphys founded the gallery in 1995 to showcase the fringes of the Tampa arts scene, hosting events and exhibits overlooked by mainstream venues. (Don't confuse him with the Michael Murphy who owns a distinctly ritzier gallery in South Tampa, or the one who used to work for the Tampa Museum of Art, Murphy says; he's the one who remains dedicated to taking chances on Tampa's most adventurous contemporary art.)
Father and son named the gallery for the Amtrak passenger train that regularly passed by its front door along a route to New York City. When the casita next door became available, they bought that one too. People who attended SMG events in the '90s remember one house as an art gallery and the other as a black-box theater; now the theater doubles as a gallery and the other casita is used for storage. Neither house had much, if anything, in the way of air conditioning, but that didn't stop people from flocking to exhibits and events.
Earlier this year, after his father died, Murphy broke a two-year hiatus by holding a public wake and art exhibit to commemorate his father's life and virtually unknown work as an artist. When the recent closure of Covivant sent a shudder through Tampa's contemporary art crowd, and Brad Cooper's announcement that he would close his Ybor gallery in the near future made heads hang even lower, Murphy felt the time was right to bring SMG back on line. Now, he's on the cusp of relaunching a packed season of events, starting next week, when a visual art exhibit will be held to raise funds for the renovations Silver Meteor will need to rise again.
A group of local artists called [5]art hatched the idea. Led by HCC Ybor art professor Tracy Midulla Reller, the group has included a changing roster of members in the past, but always revolved around five people. The other four current members are Diran Lyons, also an HCC Ybor art professor; Kurt Piazza, a former administrator and curator at the Gulf Coast Museum of Art who was instrumental in bringing the adventurous Boys exhibit; and emerging artists John Russell and Tyler Jopek.
The [5]art group juried the show, which attracted interest from around the world after the group posted a call for submissions extensively on the Internet. From a selection of 80 artists' work, they chose 20 for display in the snug SMG space. With funds raised from a suggested $5 entry donation and the gallery's share of any art sales, the group plans to repaint the interior of the current black-box space white, and hang a giant black curtain to accommodate theatrical performances. (Shows are scheduled to start up again when Hat Trick opens How I Learned to Drive on Dec. 1, with at least three more productions to follow in the new year.)
Beyond those first modest improvements, a long wish list of upgrades to the space includes central air conditioning and a new roof for the casita, says Murphy. Reller hopes someone in the community will volunteer to repaint the exterior of the house.
The [5]art group knew what they were doing when they picked the show — hardly a surprise if you've seen their work as individual artists: Each one is formidably talented in his or her own right. For those in the market for some new contemporary art, take note: There's plenty that's not only good but affordable here.
My favorite is an abstract geometric "painting" assembled from Lincoln Logs by local artist George Byers — there's a hilarious and very sophisticated irony to delving into the retro toy chest and emerging with a paean to minimalism. Speaking of play, former Tampa photographer laureate Suzanne Camp Crosby's artfully staged photographs — plastic toy dinosaurs that look larger-than-life amidst a lush landscape — are always good for a thought-provoking laugh. And a video by Mikel Bisbee-Durlam takes a non-linear road trip through another dimension where people talk backwards and giant papier-mâché heads seem to have a life of their own. This is video art as it was meant to be: a provocative alternative to the boob tube's narrative forms, something akin to visual poetry.
The exhibit, with DJs on the patio and plenty of booze (for a suggested donation), will take place for one night only. Afterward, art will remain on display in the gallery and be available for purchase, but you'll need to call for an appointment as Murphy does not keep regular hours at the space.
If for no other reason, go see what the place looks like now so that, if and when they manage to whip it into better condition, you'll have some idea of just what an undertaking it was.
This article appears in Nov 15-21, 2006.