Visual ArtsOpenings
Feed Your Senses, an evening of art, music and wine, begins at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 21, at the Clearwater Arts Studios. Check out the works of painter Alexander Kozloff and sculptor Charles Sharrod Partin, while enjoying gourmet desserts, fine vintages from Wines by Morrell, and relaxing tunes by the Zephyr Woodwind Trio. This monthly events is hosted by The Arts Project. Admission costs $10 (reservations are a good idea), and the studio's at 101 N. Ft. Harrison Ave., Clearwater. Call 727-639-8070.
HCC-Ybor Gallery, in the Performing Arts Building, Palm Avenue at 15th Street, Tampa (813-253-7674). The 27th annual Juried Student Art Exhibition begins with a reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, April 20, and continues through May 23. An extensive range of media is featured at this show, including black-and-white photography, digital imagery, graphic arts, painting and sculpture. All works were created by students in HCC-Ybor's Visual and Performing Arts curriculum. Hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Mainsail Arts Festival, the 26th annual event, takes place Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22, in North Straub Park. This juried show features works in 12 categories, including ceramics, fibers, metal, glass and mixed-media. Throughout the weekend, visitors can check out art at more than 200 booths, enjoy plenty of delicious culinary delights and hear tunes by Pocket Change, The Cigar Store Indians and The Thrusters. Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission's free, and the park's at Fifth Avenue and Bayshore Drive Northeast in St. Petersburg. Call 727-892-5885.
Monthly Saturday Stroll, in the Gulfport Art Village, takes place from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 21. Gulfport galleries are open late for visitors to pop in and inspect items like pottery, jewelry, sculptures, glass, collectibles and more. The village's latest attractions include Hula Hula, which specializes in tropical art, antiques and accouterments, and Beyond the Sea, which highlights shell mosaics and coastal art. This month's entertainment comes courtesy of acoustic folk trio Liaison. The village is just south of 28th Avenue on Beach Boulevard (55th Street) in downtown Gulfport. Call 727-321-0830.
Szilage Gallery, 600 Ninth St. S., St. Pete (727-896-5504). One, featuring a new work by JSG Boggs, begins with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, April 21, and continues through May 31. This show features a piece by Boggs that will later appear at the prestigious Pierwalk, at the Chicago Art Fair. The gallery's second outdoor installation, Possible Transportation to East Indiaman Ridge, continues through May 31. New York artist David Greg Harth, a regular on the Tampa Bay art scene, is the sole artist in this show. Harth's works run the gamut of media, from photography and film, to digital art and site-specific installations.
Tampa Gallery Association Third Thursday Event, otherwise known as an evening of extended hours, takes place on April 19. In their continued efforts to hip everyone to the local art scene, many members of the association offer extended hours (5 to 8 p.m.) on each month's third Thursday. Some hot spots include the African Art Gallery and Museum, Artsiphartsi, Brad Cooper Gallery, Gold Dragon Gallery, Old Hyde Park Arts Center and Studio Gallery on Azeele. Call 813-875-0511 for a complete list of participating venues.
USF Teaching Gallery, in the Fine Arts Building on the USF Tampa campus, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa (813-974-2301). Behind the Mask: Africa in Tampa begins Monday, April 23, and continues through May 18. This show addresses and explores the many misconceptions and stereotypes about Africa and its people, the impact of the culture on our country, and the African communities in Tampa today and in the past. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Ongoing
531 Central Fine Arts, 531 Central Ave., St. Petersburg (727-822-2787). Perceptions of the Heart, a one-man show by Jacques Ousson, continues through May 9. This French artist shares impressionistic oil paintings, pastels and more depicting landscape scenes from his home on the Loire River in the village of Ousson. A reception for the artist takes place from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, April 20. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. Visit www.531central.com.
Art Expo Gallery, 355 Corey Ave., St. Pete Beach (727-360-2953). Mixed Millennium, featuring mixed-media abstract-expressionist paintings by Nan Griffin and Kas Turner, continues through April 30. These two women, who have studied together, approach the abstract canvas with their own unique styles. Griffin's textural canvases offer an interesting contrast to Turner's vibrant studies of Cayo Costa's Gumbo Limbo tree. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
Centre Gallery, in USF's Phyllis P. Marshall Center, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa (813-974-5464). Crossroads and Echoes, a multimedia exhibition, continues through April 27. This show includes works inspired by the artists trip to Paris last summer. Audi Banny, Rebecca Brice, Kandra Jones, Duncan Neal and others have contributed everything from paintings to sculpture to photography. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
