Fashion takes center stage at a pair of Bay area art events this weekend. The Tampa Artist Emporium's monthly mixer, Sat., June 14, 5-9 p.m., features cutting-edge apparel by designers Raven and Blackbird. (If the latter's showing at last summer's Wearable Art show at the Dunedin Fine Art Center was any indication, expect saucy East Village chic, e.g., flirty frocks and androgynous get-ups suitable for both girls and bois.) Pyramid Photography will shoot live portraits, and art by 60-plus artists will be shown. For more information, go to tampaartistemporium.com.
At the Salvador Dalí Museum of Art in St. Petersburg, a new exhibit opening this weekend highlights the Surrealist's fascination with the fairer sex as the subject of art. To celebrate the debut of Women: Dalí's View, the museum welcomes a trio of local designers — House of Ska, Aleka Phoenix and Ungala — and their wearable creations Fri., June 13, 7-9 p.m. Mingle with the fabulous and fashionable, sip cava, and take in 70 of Dalí's iconic artworks; for more information, go to salvadordalimuseum.org.
Also on Friday, the West Tampa Center for the Arts holds a closing reception for A Sense of Space, the final exhibition of its inaugural season. Last week, I reported that the WTCA had come under pressure recently from the Tampa fire marshal's office for fire safety code violations in the historic cigar factory where the organization is housed. Whether the reception, scheduled for Fri., June 13, 6-9 p.m., will come off without a hitch is anybody's guess — but the exhibit is one of the strongest showcased at the WTCA yet.
Finally, June is nearly half over, so it must be time for the Second Saturday Gallery Walk in downtown St. Petersburg. From 5:30-9 p.m. on the 14th, venues including The Arts Center, Florida Craftsmen Gallery, Artspace and Creative Clay remain open later than usual for your art-loving pleasure. For more information, go to stpetearts.org.
This article appears in Jun 11-17, 2008.