The first fish to be served up at Clearwater Beach’s soon-to-open Opal Sands Resort wasn’t on the menu at the in-house, coastal-inspired restaurant. It was a 900-foot metal grouper sculpture created by Florida artists.
Weighing in at several hundred pounds, the oversized collaborative work from Carrie Jadus, Mark Aeling and Christopher Still was carried into the chic luxury resort during a media preview Wednesday.ย
According to Still, an acclaimed painter who lives in Tarpon Springs, the sculpture โ called “Gulf Spirit” โ is a fish made up of fish “because that’s what fish do, eat each other.”ย The grouper will hang above the entrance to Sea-Guini, where executive chef Todd Holender is set to spotlight fresh-caught seafood and Italian cuisine.
“It’s one of the first times you have master craftsmanship with 2-D and master craftsmanship with 3-D together,” says Still, who coordinated and partnered with the local artists featured throughout Opal Sands’s “Clearwater Collection.”ย Ocean Properties, led by founder Thomas Walsh,ย gave Still the opportunity to “sing about Clearwater Beach” through the finest artists he could find.
Designed byย Design Duncan Miller Ullmann and opening next week, the resort has multiple noteworthy features, including four drinking and dining options (a couple of which CLย recently covered ), 230 Gulf-front guest rooms and suites with large balconies, and pantry nooks offering complimentary grab-and-go items on every floor.
An elegant fountain called “Clear โข Water” greets guests on arrival. Designed by Still, Arnold Ruiz of Bluworld, and Daryl Vaughn of Light Partners, the fountain carries impressions of egrets in flight and a sunset. The massive “Ascent” dangles above the escalators. The wave-shaped 3-D glass and metal sculpture โ made by Still and MGA Sculpture Studio’s Aeling โ ย is made up of 400 pieces of stained glass that aim to show various facets of water.
Also among the works are “Sunset on Clearwater Beach,” an oil painting by Still, and “Gulf Treasure,” a glass vase by Mariel Bass and Duncan McClellan that celebrates marine life of the Gulf Coast.
As Still puts it, first people will see the water’s “purity, color, reflection,” followed by its gifts, and then they’ll eat those gifts inside the restaurant. Throughout Opal Sands, there’s an art progression that incorporates “all different aspects of what’s sacred about being on the water.”
This article appears in Feb 18-24, 2016.