If running the gauntlet of gallery openings revs your engine, get ready to log some serious mileage the second weekend in March.
For the first time in a while, Ybor City lights up with some arts activity: At Brad Cooper Gallery (bradcoopergallery.com), Yvonne Petkus's textured figurative paintings — reminiscent of works by Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon — take center stage with a reception and artist's talk Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. At the same time, Hoffman Porges Gallery (hpartgallery.com) offers an opportunity to meet artist Kevin Costello, whose abstract oil and gouache paintings and charcoal drawings are on view through April 19. On Friday, Clayton Galleries in South Tampa (claytongalleries.net) celebrates the opening of Contemporary Folk Expressions XII, the gallery's biennial exhibit of folk art. This year's show focuses on Miami artist Purvis Young.
In St. Petersburg, Necklust and the Chocolatier brings divine jewelry and tasty treats to Florida Craftsmen Gallery (floridacraftsmen.net) with a Friday opening from 6 to 8 p.m., while at The Arts Center, wraps come off internationally known artist Jun Kaneko's larger-than life ceramics from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Also on Friday, C. Emerson Fine Arts (c-emersonfinearts.com) debuts an exhibition of drawings, paintings, prints, sculpture and artist's books by local artist Neverne Covington titled The Wild and the Tame. Keep an eye peeled outside the gallery for a small band of musicians and video artists who've been making the rounds of St. Pete's arts institutions for the past couple of months, mixing live and taped footage, music and impromptu street performances into video projections on building walls.
On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., graffiti writers Center, Sane and HBT will tackle a wall outside Central Art Supply Company (centralartsupplyco.com) during a promotional event for Montana Cans, a highly regarded brand of spray paint designed for graffiti artists. And on Saturday evening, downtown arts venues will remain open late in conjunction with Second Saturday Gallery Walk.
This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2008.