Feeling the holiday pressure? Artificial mall lighting getting you down?
Here's an alternative: Check out the Professional Association of Visual Artists' once-a-year art exhibit, then pop next door to soak in the Florida Botanical Gardens. If you're there close to dark, stick around to wander through the Gardens as the holiday lights illuminate the paths. And yes, those holiday lights are artificial, too, but you can stroll through the gardens, revel in the sights and smells of the outdoors, and — we're gonna go out on a limb here — there's not a single mechanized Santa who, at the touch of a button, will swivel his hips and sing Christmas songs.
But back to that art exhibit: PAVA has the work of local artists on exhibit at Creative Pinellas' Pinewood Gallyer through Dec. 23. Work runs the gamut of mediums — including a Plein Aire exhibit, which is some of my favorite stuff. Bonus: There's an artisan gift shop, so you can knock out a lot of your holiday shopping and support local artists and businesses in one fell swoop. If you head there on the weekends, you can catch artists doing demos, and if you have kids in tow, there'll be kids activities, too.
Kids 6-14 will have the chance to express their creativity with butterfly blot painting and rock painting, so here's a way for kids to make gifts for people on their list — and yes, it's free.
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As for that art exhibit, the PAVA show is a curated one, so the odds that you'll have to wander through rows and rows of "Aunt Maisie's Still Life With A Clown" are next to nothing (I mean, maybe there'll be one really, really exceptional one of Aunt Maisie with a clown holding a bowl of fruit, but it'll be the best clown with fruit you're ever going to see) — instead you'll have the chance to take in work from local artists who create using paint, pastel, wood, ceramics, photography, metal, glass, fiber, mixed media and jewelry.
The Plein Aire exhibit is more of a demo, where you can happen upon artists painting the surrounding scenery (and seriously, the Florida Botanical Gardens is a visual orgasm for artists — and fans of the outdoors). The artists won't confine themselves to the Gardens — you'll be able to find them painting in Heritage Village as well as in Walsingham Park. Which means that you can probably snag a locally-created painting of something that matters to that history buff or nature lover on your shopping list, even if that person is you (hey, it's been a long week, treat yourself!)
Creative Pinellas Pinewood Gallery (next to the Florida Botanical Gardens), 12211 Walsingham Rd., Largo | Through Dec. 23: Wed.-Fri., 3-8 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 1-8 p.m. | Gift shop opens Dec. 8 | Free kids activities: Dec. 8, 15 & 22, 1-4 p.m. | Artist demos: Dec. 2, 9 & 16 | Ukulele music from The Three Ukers: Dec. 15, 4-5 p.m. | pava-artists.org
This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 6, 2018.