The Apelles Palette “Magic Realism”: this is the term used by local artist Pedro Hernandez to describe his unique style of oil painting. Within each piece, you may see ballerinas, insects, couples, and figures from all walks of life, viewed through a soft, dreamy lens. Through the use of color and light, he seeks to…
Susan Antoinette is a St. Petersburg, Florida–based abstract expressionist painter exploring memory, geography, and human connection through layered color, gestural mark-making, embedded poetry, and deconstructed vintage maps. Having lived across the United States—from Wisconsin to Colorado, California, Virginia, Maryland, and now Florida—Antoinette transforms fragments of place into richly textured emotional landscapes that examine how personal…
HowellMarks brings energy, emotion and creative discovery to PAVA’s Cool Art Show Abstract artist Amy Howell paints intuitively, allowing the piece to transform like an evolving puzzle, inviting viewers to personally connect to her art as if listening to music. Inspired by abstract expressionists such as De Kooning, Rauschenberg, and Pollock, her work embodies a…
Whitney Paige is a figurative oil painter and muralist based in St. Petersburg, Florida. She began her career in Miami as a live art instructor, later moving to Appalachia, where she exhibited her work with a variety of galleries—including a pop-up solo show at The Bascom: Center for the Visual Arts. Her work explores the…
In an era dominated by digital images and instant photography, artist Marc Brechwald proves that a simple graphite pencil can still stop viewers in their tracks. At first glance, Brechwald’s work often looks like black-and-white photography. The detail is striking, every wrinkle, reflection, and subtle shadow captured with precision. But lean closer and the truth…
Two major Museum Exhibits After Venus: Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg: May 16 – August 30, 2026Forest Bathing: Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art: June 27 – December 6, 2026 Babs Reingold, a St. Petersburg. Fl based contemporary artist whose work bridges ecological awareness, material sensitivity, and conceptual inquiry. Over several decades, she has developed a…
In her St. Petersburg studio, artist Jo-An Thomas approaches the blank surface with quiet resolve. Before her is rice paper — unforgiving, absorbent, final. In her hand, a Chinese brush loaded with ink. There is no sketch beneath, no erasure ahead. Each mark must arrive fully formed. This is the discipline of Chinese brush painting,…
Few contemporary artists navigate the territory between spectacle and substance as deftly as Jason Hackenwerth. Based in Saint Petersburg, Florida, Hackenwerth has built an international reputation for work that is immediately captivating, art that invites delight while confronting impermanence and transformation. Across sculpture, installation, and painting, his work resists easy categorization, instead it unfolds as…
When we first encountered the work of Vanessa Cunto, the immediate reaction was disbelief—was this truly a drawing and not a photograph? Her art blurs reality -vs- art, inviting inspection, and rewarding curiosity with astounding precision. Every element, from the subtlest highlight to the most delicate shift in tone, reflects an almost microscopic attention to…
Full-time Saint Petersburg, Fl artist Erik Hesson has, over many years, developed and refined a personal artistic style he calls “Linear Perspectivism.” His abstract, geometric approach merges shape and color into a cohesive visual balance—an ordered structure. When did you first realize that art was more than a passion—that it was going to be your…
ARTIST – MOM – HAIRDRESSER – MODEL – SURVIVOR – MENTOR – ADVOCATE Jacqueline Yulick (Jackie) doesn’t invite you in; she leaves the door wide open. In her electric, color-drenched paintings, women stare back at you—not as dreamlike muses or passive symbols, but as powerful presences with stories to tell. “My art is the communication…
In a city where murals battle for your attention and coffee-shop galleries pawn to the Instagram clock, one artist quietly remolds the air—Juliann Rowe, the half-whispered legend reshaping how St. Pete sees itself. A Whisper Becomes a MurmurBy day, St. Pete hums with pastel sunsets and sun-worn tourists. But tucked in its back alleys, Rowe…
Showing at: Brenda McMahon Gallery Calm and Chaos: Paintings by Joe Legrand will be unveiled at the Brenda McMahon Gallery on September 1st 2025, and run throughout the month, and an artist opening featuring the artist and live music will take place on Friday, September 5th, from 6–9 p.m. LeGrand is an oil painter, and the show…
Isac Gres is a St. Petersburg contemporary artist known for bold abstractions that balance vibrant color, texture, and form, creating works that are both visually striking and emotionally resonant. INTERVIEW: Q Your journey from Cuba to the United States must have been transformative. How did your experiences during that transition shape the surrealist themes in your artwork? A…
I was born in New York but moved to Florida where my early formative years were steeped in the sunlight and the botanical diversity of the south. I have always drawn and painted since early childhood. Like all children, I loved it. I just never stopped. My passion, then and now made every moment feel…
The undertone of her work is rooted in the story of love. The journey to find it, revel in it, cherish it, lose it and find it again are all deeply seated. Nature, energy, and the connection between them are injected into her view of the human condition. Her emotionally charged realism is infused with symbolism and…
Patti Suzette, a St Pete-based visual artist and muralist, creates artwork that exudes raw energy and intensity. Her work marries nature with an urban grunge that is representative of the man-made changes to natural habitat. Her work is featured in galleries across major cities such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and Manhattan, NY….
In St. Petersburg where sun-soaked walls double as canvases and creativity spills onto every corner, one figure has persistently left his mark. Chad Mize, with an unmistakable style and determined vision, has become the bandleader of the St. Petersburg art scene. If this city has a patron saint or guiding hand, it would be him:…
of the Photographer as Photo Laureate The persons asking and answering the questions are both photographers, the former Photo Laureate and current Photo Laureate of St Petersburg. To make a portrait of what it means to be practitioners of this way of seeing, its degrees of perspective, they have agreed to opposite sides of the…
Stop. Look. Appreciate. The biophilia hypothesis is the belief that humans are genetically predisposed to be attracted to nature. It states that all humans inherently love the natural world, or as artist Luci Westphal puts it, “that we are of and long for nature.” The term comes from Greek and translates to “love of life.” Psychologist…
My name is Victoria Kudryavtseva, I am engaged in artistic ceramics and painting on natural silk and cotton (batik). My creativity is a very exciting process to me! It’s like magic, when the white material begins to live and glow in my works and emotions. My creativity is very diverse, I paint all types of…
Saumitra Chandratreya is an award-winning fiber-based installation artist currently based in St. Petersburg with a studio located at the ArtsXchange in the Warehouse Arts District. Born and raised in Mumbai, India, he received a BFA in Textile Design in Bangalore (Bengaluru) and attended graduate school at the esteemed School of the Arts Institute of Chicago,…
Technique and Style Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in art? I’ve always been interested in art. I remember during summer camp one year one of the councilors told my mom that she felt I had talent and skill in art and hopes that it’ll be something…
John Taormina Born in 1978 in Massachusetts, John Taormina made St. Petersburg, Florida his home 15 years ago. What drew him initially to the city was its affordable living and inviting weather—two stark contrasts to the high cost of living in his native New England. At the time, St. Pete’s art scene wasn’t the dynamic…
The last time you were at the Salvador Dali Museum and you saw the dripping-clock bench in the Avant-Garden or the Rainy Taxi inside the gift shop, did you ever wonder who designed them or who was responsible for creating them? Would it surprise you to know that they were from the mind of an…
One of the highlights of art happenings in the Tampa Bay region is when area museums join forces to produce the Skyway exhibitions. 2024 marks the third iteration. For this version, five area art institutions are simultaneously presenting artwork by artists that live in the Tampa Bay region. It is always a wonderful journey seeing…
While titles, names, monikers, etc. are used by humans to attain an understanding; a comfort, a grasping of a person, place, or thing, they are not necessary. While there will always be those who categorize and pigeonhole, doing this tends to auto-generate feelings and preconceptions. I was going to do a traditional interview here but…
More and more often these days the Tampa Bay region can claim artists who are internationally esteemed. Kirk Ke Wang has established himself not only locally, but significantly throughout the world. His paintings have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Museum of Art in Beijing, and the Dr….
Vlasta Smola has made art the fabric of her life. After moving to the United States to receive her MA in Communication Arts, she had a brief corporate career in marketing and graphic design. Her true passion was rooted in the fine arts, however, and before long she found her painting aspirations reignited. In St. Petersburg,…
Jim Kammerud has always been an artist and storyteller. He wrote and directed several Disney movies, and animated and storyboarded on many others, like The Peanuts Movie and Space Jam (the original and the sequel). He’s raised five kids and married the best girl in the world. Now he’s living in Saint Pete and returning…