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Interview with Saumitra Chandratreya

Robin O'Dell
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Interview with Saumitra Chandratreya 
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, earning a Master of Design in Fashion, Body and Garment. His work manages to be delightfully ethereal yet based on concrete data and mainstream media sources.
Saumitra Chandratreya
Saumitra Chandratreya

INTERVIEW:

Robin: You were born in Mumbai – how does this affect your work?


Saumitra: Mumbai is a chaotic yet disciplined city, the discipline comes from its denizens structuring their lives around public transit. There is a definite rule to living in Mumbai. I find that I use this sense of controlled chaos in my process of making work. I use design strategies in thinking about and executing a concept and that I attribute to growing up in Mumbai. There is this funny story from middle school – for an end of the semester art examination in school, one of the prompts was ‘My Mother’ and my mother worked, and she would take the same train every day to her office. So, I painted a scene at the railway station with my mother’s back towards the viewer, as she was facing the train car she was about to get into. I got a ‘C’ on this piece because I think the art teacher was looking for something more regular. That was daily life influencing my thinking about what mattered the most. Mumbai is a maximal city, and my art practice has included elaborate installations, process heavy works and using unusual materials to make art. Mumbai is a city of alternatives because one has to figure out how to survive among the most brutal competition.

Saumitra Chandratreya
Saumitra Chandratreya
Saumitra Chandratreya
Processed with VSCO with 4 preset
Saumitra Chandratreya


Bengaluru is also chaotic but when I lived there, I was really drawn to its chaos. There is a central market in the heart of the city – ‘K. R. Market’ where the goods and commodities arrive to be distributed all over the city – and I fell in love with the energy of this place when I first visited for a class assignment in undergrad. As a maximalist, I am really drawn to its crowdedness, its overpowering smell of organic and non-organic commodities and it’s grand-ness. For my thesis project in undergrad, I chose to make an experiential installation based on my sensory overload of being in the market. I took several organic commodities sold at the market – turmeric, pepper, jasmine flowers, lotus flowers, marigold flowers, bay leaves etc and I created screen printed scrolls along with the essences of these commodities. The processes I used to make this installation; I still use in my practice.

What are your biggest art influences? Inspirations?


Nick Cave, Sheila Gowda, Nan Goldin, David LaChepelle, Sheila Hicks, Yayoi Kusama, Nari Ward, Frank Llyod Wright, Schiaparelli, Thom Browne, Viktor and Rolf, Alexander McQueen, to name a few.
My inspiration comes from the culture, high and low, forbidden and celebrated. I am drawn to striking images that already exist, objects with personal histories talk to me, and I like making beautiful things that have a message embedded in them.

Saumitra Chandratreya
Saumitra Chandratreya
Saumitra Chandratreya
Saumitra Chandratreya

What are your favorite and least favorite parts of being an artist?


I get to create a microcosm of a world when I make art – I am in my most happy place when I am in my studio making something. Making art gives me a way to connect with my most private parts, it’s a form of meditation to me. It’s my sanctuary and it’s my place of worship. Spiritually, I feel one with the universe when I am making art.
The least favorite part of being an artist, is how unregulated the art world is. I find it challenging because there are no rules, it’s esoteric and an artist needs to wear a lot of hats sometimes simultaneously to make it far in their career.

What changes in St Pete are you seeing?


St. Pete is having a renaissance (THE descriptor this season). I have only lived in the area for 5 years and I can already see how much the city has grown. It is going through some growing pains as it expands vertically. St. Pete is not unique in that sense, but we also need to be cautious about the tradeoff. We are losing the charm of the older parts of the city rapidly and the newer architecture (I find) lacks imagination and is often sterile. We lack in the ‘place-making’ aspect of urban planning. All this growth is also bringing a lot of capital in the region and the art community benefits from that capital. We are in a way cause and effect of this renaissance. We are the engine of cultural expansion and often we are also the first people to feel the negative effects of gentrification.

Saumitra Chandratreya
Saumitra Chandratreya
Saumitra Chandratreya

What would you like to see?


We need more art institutions to provide support for the development of arts and artists in the area. We don’t have a good enough support system to sustain the number of artists and the art market right now. Creative Pinellas, St. Pete Arts alliance, Tampa Arts Alliance, the Gobioff foundation are doing great job of creating that support system, but we need more. We don’t really have a lot of fellowships and residencies in the area that provide an opportunity to the artists to dive deep in their practice. The USF CAM incubator at the Factory St. Pete is a necessary addition. The places like Fairgrounds and Crabdevil offer good opportunities too. But we need more. We need an Artists + arts workers union. ‘St. Pete Supports Arts’ is spear heading efforts on that front which I support. We should also critique the artists in the area more so that we can place our work in the context of the global art practices.

How do you find work? How does it find you?


I have been fortunate to be embraced by the art community since I have moved here. So, the work finds me in terms of shows locally via friends and acquaintances. I have had the opportunity to work with St. Cate Fine Arts on other art gigs and I have had the opportunity to teach at the Morean Arts Center, the Pruitt Arts Education Center at the ArtsXchange and I recently facilitated workshops with Calan Rae and Nneka Jones at the MFA. I also have a ‘day-job’ that affords me a lot of freedom to make work in my studio that I am interested in making. I am also a part of a printmakers’ collective – ’24 Hands.’ We are an active collective of Gulf Coast printmakers, and we have several shows coming up.

What are your goals?


I want to have my art all over the world – to have it accessible to people of all walks of life. To make the world a better place through my art and to leave a lasting impact on the art world.

Advice for emerging artists?


Keep it moving – and by that what I mean is to keep working on things in your practice. Develop as many different styles as you can if you have a lot of varied interests. The great thing about an interdisciplinary world is that you don’t have to stick to classical ways of making things. You can twist the rules to make your own unique mark. You can think through making if you have a block. Have at least two things floating around out in the world – that could be proposals for a show, grant applications; fellowship and residency opportunities. You never know who will see your work. •

Dr. Drapkin And The Drapkin Collection

Robin O'Dell
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Dr. Drapkin And The Drapkin Collection

When Dr. Robert L. Drapkin chooses to do something, he does it fully. He is an in-depth collector of art. 

He is also a medical oncology specialist with over 50 years of experience in the medical field, a prize winning body builder, and a healthy aging specialist currently acting as Medical Director at The Institute of Vitality after authoring the books Health Strong: What your Doctor Didn’t Tell You and Over 40 & Sexy as Hell. He and his wife of forty-four years, Chitranee, are residents of St. Petersburg. 

The Drapkin Collection manages to be incredibly specific and yet surprisingly encompassing at the same time. The collection is mostly associated with photography. Collecting for over four decades, he and Chitranee have amassed images that tell the entire history of the medium, from small jewel-like daguerreotypes housed in leather-bound cases dating to the 1840s to large black and white contemporary abstract works, and everything in between. At one point the collection numbered not in the thousands, but in the tens of thousands. More about that later.  

The collection now encompasses not just photography, but also ancient Mesoamerican art ranging from jade pieces to terracotta pottery, and Guatemalan folk art. And what does one do with so much art? Why open a gallery, of course. The Drapkins have a tucked-away gallery in the Grand Central District called From Mayan Hands, which sells gloriously compelling Guatemalan hand-crafted artwork. Dr. Drapkin goes to Central America and hand picks the interesting mix of contemporary native handcrafted items and antiques. Want to learn more? He wrote a book about it: Objects of the Mayan Spirit–Religious Folk Art. The gallery carries everything from simple jewelry to life-sized wooden sculptures. They are only open on Saturdays or by appointment, but it is worth taking an hour out of your weekend to see the offerings, and with several breweries within blocks it’s easy to combine a trip. 

The Drapkins have also been incredibly generous with their art collection and have offered their extensive holdings to be shared in exhibitions throughout the Tampa Bay area including at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), the USF Contemporary Art Museum (CAM), and The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts (FMoPA). The MFA organized an exhibition to Brazil of Drapkin’s ancient pottery hosted by the Oscar Niemeyer Museum in Curitiba. 

Through the Lens of Conflict: Vietnam Press Photographs from the Dr. Robert L. Drapkin Collection has been shown at FMoPA through. This exhibition consisted of eighty-one original Associated Press prints culled from his extensive collection. The photos are the actual ones printed by the newspapers back before there was such a thing as digital photography and they show physical signs of notations and cropping. Never meant to be exhibited or even seen in public, these prints capture the conflict and pathos of this difficult part of American history. Naturally, Drapkin wrote a book about it: Understanding the American War in Vietnam. The collection, exhibition, and book are a good example of how fully Drapkin explores his areas of interest. 

Lest you think the Drapkins are all about collecting, it is essential to point out that they are also equally and perhaps even more importantly generous donors of art. The Drapkins have given thousands photographs to the MFA over the years, and in 2015 they partnered with Ludmila and Bruce Dandrews to gift the MFA approximately 15,000 more photographic objects forming The Dandrew-Drapkin Collection, helping the MFA to become one of the most respected holdings of photography in the Southeast United States. The photographs span more than 100 years of image history and include both famous works of art and vernacular works by unknowns. In addition to these, the Drapkins have also given the MFA ancient Mesoamerican Art and Japanese prints. A gallery was recently dedicated in their name to acknowledge the scope of these gifts. 

Dr. Drapkin began acquiring 19th-century photographs in the early 1970s while studying to be a doctor in New York City. At the time few people collected objects of this kind and therefore few dealers bothered. As per the law of supply and demand, photos were still remarkably affordable. Once exposed to the possibilities, he started acquiring what would become one of the most respected photography collections in the country. His criteria: historical importance and visual impact.

In his self-published book, More Than Meets the Eye: The American Tintype, Dr. Drapkin states, “I believe that there is an important dynamic between history and photographs. Each tells us more about the other, and this process is alive and never ending.” It’s the history that hooked him in the beginning and he continues to appreciate the chance to stay creative and learn about new things. 

Dr. Drapkin claims to have slowed down with his purchasing, but is still working on projects that interest him. Drapkin’s slowing down is more like what most of us actually aspire to. His recent activities includes reviewing and researching items from his forty years worth of collecting including photographs from the Civil War, Native American images, 19th-century African American works, Alaska photos from the gold rush, and early hand-colored photography. And he is still the Director at the Institute of Vitality. If his continued output and late-life accolades are any indication of living vitally into old age, it certainly seems he embodies what he teaches. There is, no doubt, more to come. •

Horror Time Video Visit

Paul Wilborn
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Horror Time Video Visit

Excerpt from Paul Wilborn’s novel, Florida Hustle. – Set in the world of cheap 1980s slasher films.
In the opening chapter, aspiring horror filmmaker Michael Donnelly, 17, visits his favorite video store – Horror Time Video.

The wooden front door of Horror Time Video was hidden behind a life-size black and white cutout of Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein. Pushing the door open set off Horror Time’s version of a door chime – a woman’s terrified SCREAM!

Pausing inside the door, Michael sniffed the store’s acrid bouquet of mold and burnt wicks. Ray, the owner, favored ambiance over commerce, so his horror video store was lit by thirty-six candles flickering atop a half-dozen Liberace-style candelabras set on tables around the low-ceilinged room, the tarnished bases gloved in pleated jackets of wax. Stepping from a sun-washed Florida day into this shadowy den, Michael felt like he was nervously descending a basement staircase in The House On Haunted Hill.
God, he loved this place!

He picked up one of the silver, baton-style flashlights Ray provided for customers on a table by the door, the pale beam revealing racks of VHS boxes garish with Godzillas, teen-agers from outer space, and masked slashers waving hatchets or machetes. Poster board knives, dangling from strings, pointed out Horror Time’s various specialty sections, each blade marked with a jagged, hand-lettered inscription: CORMAN, HITCHCOCK, WHALE, 5Os SCI-FI, SLASHERS, VAMPIRES, WITCHES AND WARLOCKS, JAPAN’S FINEST and more.
Michael bypassed the video racks, heading directly to the checkout desk in the back. Ray had called the day before saying he’d located “something I know you’re going to really like. I got it all wrapped up for you.”

Ray Villadonga, a horror film savant, who appeared to be gestating triplets under his grimy T-shirts, was the closest thing Michael had to a friend. Crystal Donnelly had home-schooled her son, and until her untimely exit, she had been his main companion and confidant. Now, except for occasional trips to a mall movie complex or Horror Time Video, where he and Ray jousted for hours over arcane bits of horror movie history, Michael was at the drafting desk in his bedroom, sketching out storyboards for the fright films he was certain would catapult him from Palm Beach to Hollywood.

A toad-like teenage clerk, his cheeks dotted with fresh constellations of acne, hunkered on a stool behind a blood-red counter reading the latest Conan the Barbarian by flashlight. The clerk hadn’t looked up when the door SCREAMED. He didn’t notice the restless customer idling in front of him

“How much for that one?” Michael finally asked, his flashlight focused on the promo poster for the upcoming Slasher High, featuring the screaming face of Dawn Karston, the film’s blonde teenage star.

The clerk’s head made a lazy swivel, following Michael’s flashlight beam to the wall behind the counter. He quickly returned to his comic.

“Not for sale.”
“But I want to buy it.”

Setting his own flashlight on the counter, the clerk closed his comic book with feigned care, taking a long breath before looking up.
“You can want to buy it, but you can’t. It’s not for sale. The movie isn’t out until next week. We got old posters in the corner.” The kid nodded in that direction before going back to Conan the Barbarian. He didn’t see Michael pull a fat roll of cash from his pocket, but his head jerked up when Michael slapped a fifty hard on the counter.

“I want to buy that one.”
“It’s not…”

Another fifty slammed down.
The clerk aimed his flashlight at the bills, just to be sure. Then, setting the glowing baton back on the counter, his hand crept crab-like toward the bills, thick digits fluttering briefly above the face of Ulysses S. Grant. The decision didn’t take long. His hand came down on the crisp fifties, sliding them back across the counter and into the pocket of his jeans.


“You want me to roll it up in a tube? Or what?”
“Yes. In a tube. Did my order come in?”
“Who are you?”
“Look under the name Bava. Mario Bava. Where’s Ray? Or Tony? They know me here.”

The clerk searched under the counter and came back with a VHS tape, wrapped in a sheet of lined notebook paper with “BAVA” scrawled on it. Snapping the rubber band that held it and crumpling the paper wrapper, the clerk shined his flashlight on a video box for Bay of Blood – Collector’s Edition. On the cover, a screaming woman, the tops of her breasts breaking the surface of a bloody pool, was about to be stabbed in the throat by a curved blade wielded by an unseen attacker. There, just below the title, was the director’s credit: Una pelicula de Mario Bava.

The clerk lowered the video box and shined his light in Michael’s face.

“You don’t look like a Mario to me. You made these movies?”

Looking away from the light, Michael pushed a hand through his unruly hair. He couldn’t believe this.

“Let’s just say I’m a fan,” he said, reaching out. “Can I have it now?”
The clerk aimed the light back at the blood red cover.

“So who is this Mario guy?”
“He’s the goddamn Fellini of gore!” Michael almost shouted, as he reached out again for the tape. “Can I have it now, please?”
“Hmmm.” The clerk hummed, turning the box over and reading the back. “Never heard of him.”
“How’d you get this job?” Michael barked, his patience gone. “This is Horror Time Video, right? Bava’s the father of modern horror. There’s a knife with his name on it right over there. Friday the 13th was a direct rip-off of Bay of Blood…”
“Yeah, Friday the 13th was cool,” the clerk said, still eyeing the back of the box.
“No. It wasn’t,” Michael shouted. “It was shit. Does Ray know you work here?”
“You mean, Uncle Ray?” the clerk asked, holding the box out to Michael. “Yeah, he knows.” •

Florida Hustle was released in June, ‘22 by St. Petersburg Press, is available locally at Tombolo Books and Book + Bottle.

Bill Edwards Honored with Tampa Bay Lightning Community Hero Award for Exceptional Community Service

Terri Hall
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Bill Edwards Honored with Tampa Bay Lightning Community Hero Award for Exceptional Community Service
Bill Edwards flanked by friends and staff at game
Bill Edwards flanked by friends and staff at game

The Tampa Bay Lightning has named Bill Edwards, Founder and CEO of Big3 Entertainment and Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts, as the recipient of the prestigious Lightning Community Hero Award for his unwavering dedication to enhancing the lives of individuals and families throughout the Tampa Bay area.

This recognition celebrates Edwards’ outstanding contributions to the community, particularly through his expansion and support of the Mahaffey Theater’s ClassActs Program, which serves more than 25,000 schoolchildren annually. Demonstrating his deep commitment to education and the arts, Edwards made the program completely free to all participating students during the 2023-2024 school year, removing barriers and ensuring every child has access to world-class cultural and educational experiences.

“I am humbled and honored to receive the Tampa Bay Lightning Community Hero Award. This recognition reflects the incredible work of many who share my passion for giving back and creating opportunities for others. The Mahaffey Theater’s ClassActs Program holds a special place in my heart, and making it accessible to every child in our community is a step toward inspiring the next generation through the arts. Together, we can continue to build a stronger, more vibrant Tampa Bay,” said Bill Edwards, Founder and CEO of Big3 Entertainment and the Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts.

The Tampa Bay Lightning Community Hero Award recognizes individuals who go above and beyond to contribute significantly to the Tampa Bay region. Edwards’ leadership and philanthropic spirit have been instrumental in elevating arts education, fostering inclusivity, and creating opportunities for young minds to thrive.

In addition to his work with the Mahaffey Theater, Edwards is widely regarded for his broad community impact, including support for numerous local initiatives to improve the quality of life in the Tampa Bay area.

The award was presented on January 9th during a special ceremony at a Tampa Bay Lightning game, where Edwards was celebrated for his dedication and contributions to the community.

For more information about the Mahaffey ClassActs Program or Bill Edwards’ philanthropic initiatives, please visit BillEdwardsFoundationfortheArts.org.

About the Tampa Bay Lightning Community Hero Award

The Lightning Community Heroes Program is the signature philanthropic initiative of the Lightning Foundation and has been lauded for its innovative contributions throughout the sports community. In 2011, Lightning owner Jeff Vinik and his family launched the program as a collaboration with the Vinik Family Foundation and the Lightning Foundation to celebrate deserving Heroes and distribute funding to non-profits throughout the Tampa Bay community.

The Tampa Bay Lightning Community Hero Award recognizes individuals who quietly and selflessly perform extraordinary service to improve their communities. Each award recipient exemplifies dedication, impact, and the spirit of giving back. At each of the Lightning’s 41 regular season and playoff home games for the past thirteen seasons, the Lightning Community Hero program has been honored to celebrate a local Hero and donate $50,000 to a non-profit charity of their choice.

About the Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts
Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts supports performing arts programming at the Duke Energy Center for the Arts—Mahaffey Theater. Our mission is to educate, engage, and entertain everyone in our community through culturally diverse performances. We present inspiring arts education programs, community outreach initiatives, live mainstage performances, concerts, and special events for the enjoyment of the entire community.

Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s much-traveled musical Road Show at freeFall

The Artisan Magazine
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Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s much-traveled musical Road Show at freeFall

Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s much-traveled musical Road Show is directed by freeFall Artistic Director Eric Davis and is the fifth Sondheim musical produced by the company.

The show, set in the early part of 20th-century America, features Robert Teasdale (freeFall’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater) and Joey Panek (Award-winning actor and broadcaster) as brothers Addison and Wilson Mizner, respectively, telling the boom-and-bust true story of men and women in late nineteenth century America as they grab their piece of the American Dream. From panning for gold in Alaska to building the city of Boca Raton in Florida, both were driven by the need to succeed – at whatever cost. Unfortunately, this left them with a trail of debts, disastrous relationships (including their own as brothers) and unfulfilled dreams. The cast also includes Drew H. Wells (freeFall’s OZ: A New Musical) as Hollis Bessemer with Greg Austin, Sara DelBeato, James Putnam and Julia Rifino in the ensemble.

Musical supervision and direction are by Michael Raabe, costume design by Eric Davis, lighting design by Dalton Hamilton and set design by Tom Hansen. The production will feature a 4 piece band with sound engineering by Nathan Doyle. 

Since its founding, freeFall has presented four Sondheim shows including The Frogs, Into the Woods, Sondheim on Sondheim and Assassins. This 5th addition to the roster is reminiscent in style to last year’s smash hit production of Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You. Mr. Rosewater (also starring Robert Teasdale). 

Originally written in 1999 when a workshop production was presented of it in New York under the title Wise Guys, starring Nathan Lane and Victor Garber and directed by Sam Mendes, it was subsequently revised as Bounce in 2003, when Hal Prince directed it in Chicago and Washington, DC. It then became Road Show when Doyle directed it at the Public Theater.

Stephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics) is widely acknowledged as the most innovative, most influential and most important composer and lyricist in modern Broadway history. For more than 50 years, Sondheim set an unsurpassed standard of brilliance and artistic integrity in the musical theatre. His accolades included an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards (more than any other composer) including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, multiple Drama Desk awards and a Pulitzer Prize.

John Weidman (Book) has been writing for the musical theater as a librettist, book writer, and legal advocate for almost thirty years. He is the son of librettist and novelist Jerome Weidman, the co-author (with George Abbott) of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Fiorello!. John has written three scripts in collaboration with Stephen Sondheim, those for Pacific Overtures (1976), Assassins (1990), and Bounce (2003, variously titled Wise Guys and Road Show 2008). With choreographer/director Susan Stroman he co-created the Tony Award-winning musical Contact in 1999. He has been nominated three times for the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical, and three of the shows for which he has written the book have won Tonys for either Best Musical or Best Musical Revival. From 1999 to 2009 he was president of the Dramatists Guild of America.

freeFall Theatre brings Sondheim and Weidman’s Road Show to the stage for 5 weeks. Road Show opens February 14 and closes March 16, 2025. The space  is located at 6099 Central Avenue in St. Petersburg. Subscriptions and single tickets are now on sale and can be purchased at freefalltheatre.com or by calling 727-498-5205. All matinees at freeFall are at 2pm and all evening performances are at 7pm. Tickets are $55 ($25 for youth under 18 and for all seats to previews) or included with your $29/month subscription.

Located in West St Petersburg, freeFall Theatre Company is one of Tampa Bay’s most exciting professional theater companies. freeFall was founded in 2008 and moved into its current space at 6099 Central Avenue in 2011. freeFall presents a varied range of classical and new works that are bold, daring, and presented in ways that invite, entertain, and challenge audiences. All freeFall productions are produced and presented locally using acclaimed theater professionals from across the country including many that make Tampa Bay their artistic home. In addition to a full season of shows, freeFall also presents an award-winning series of cabarets, concerts, and special programming as part of their Tandem Series.

freeFall Theater

The Palladium at St. Petersburg College Announces Inaugural Creative Fellowship Festival

The Artisan Magazine
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The Palladium at St. Petersburg College Announces Inaugural Creative Fellowship Festival

Historic Downtown Theater Cultivates Diversity and Artistic Expression Among Local Performers

The Palladium at SPC proudly presents the inaugural Creative Fellowship Festival, a three-night celebration showcasing the talents of current and past Palladium Creative Fellows. The festival will take place from February 6 to February 8, 2025, offering a diverse lineup of performances that highlight the innovation and artistry nurtured by the Creative Fellowship program. Each evening promises a unique experience, from evocative dance works to captivating jazz performances and modern operatic artistry.

“Our mission with this program is to provide artists from diverse backgrounds with the space and resources they need to flourish and share their distinctive voices with our audiences. As a longstanding beacon of artistic expression, the Palladium is dedicated to supporting emerging talents in their creative journeys, says Paul Wilborn, Executive Director at the Palladium.

FESTIVAL DETAILS:

Thursday, February 6 at 7:30 PM
Sadie Lehmker – The Forget-Me-Knots The Palladium Creative Fellowship Festival – Night One:
Experience the power of movement and memory as Palladium Creative Fellow and choreographer Sadie Lehmker presents The Forget-Me-Knots. Inspired by personal and familial experiences with Alzheimer’s and dementia, this poignant dance work explores how memory is lost and rediscovered, posing the question: How do we remember, and what changes in the re-remembering?

The evening will open with a performance of Imperfect Joys by Creative Fellowship alumni Helen Hansen French and John C. O’Leary, setting the stage for a night of profound artistry.

Ticket link: https://mypalladium.org/events/creative-fellowship-festival-sadie-lehmker-the-forget-me-knots/

Friday, February 7 at 8:00 PM
Bryan Hughes & Crew – The Great American Songbook The Palladium Creative Fellowship Festival – Night Two:
Bryan J. Hughes and “The Crew” bring the timeless elegance of The Great American Songbook to life, featuring classics from Bennett to Basie and Sinatra to Dorsey.
Joined by Palladium Creative Fellowship alumni James Suggs (trumpet), Alejandro Arenas (bass), John C. O’Leary (piano), and Jean Bolduc (drums), “The Crew” delivers a night of sensational melodies and stunning arrangements that celebrate jazz’s enduring legacy.

Ticket link: https://mypalladium.org/events/bryan-hughes-the-crew-the-great-american-songbook/

Saturday, February 8 at 8:00 PM
Jason Hackenwerth – Sparrow’s Dream: A Journey of Transcendence The Palladium Creative Fellowship Festival – Night Three:
The festival concludes with Sparrow’s Dream: A Journey of Transcendence by multidisciplinary artist Jason Hackenwerth. This modern opera features a cast of wearable art forms brought to life, portraying an extraordinary evolution of the soul. Audiences will be mesmerized by the interplay of stunning visuals and compelling narrative as the characters navigate the temptations of unconscious desires and the revelations of transcendence.

Ticket link: https://mypalladium.org/events/creative-fellowship-festival-jason-hackenwerth-sparrows-dream-a-journey-of-transcendence/

About the Palladium Creative Fellowship Program
The Creative Fellowship program supports emerging and established artists by providing resources, space, and opportunities to create and showcase their work. The program reflects The Palladium’s mission to bring the arts and community together, fostering creativity and innovation while celebrating the transformative power of performance.

Tickets and Information:
Tickets for the Creative Fellowship Festival are now available. For details and reservations, visit mypalladium.org or call the Palladium Box Office at (727) 822-3590.

Crafting Dreams in St. Petersburg

John Curtis and Mary Knosh
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Crafting Dreams in St. Petersburg

“Don’t act your age in retirement. Act like the inner young person you always have been.” – J. A. West

In the vibrant Artist Enclave of Historic Kenwood MJ and Mike Baker, both in their sixties, have not quite mastered the art of settling into an easy retirement. Instead they are quietly shaping the artistic tapestry of their community. A pair of dedicated artisans, they have transformed their own backyard into a haven of creativity with separate studios for her textile work and his stained glass masterpieces.

MJ’s love affair with textiles began in the fifth grade when her mother taught her the art of sewing. She began making her own clothes, then much later, rag rugs, and pop-up puppets with clay heads. She still has the little lamb she made for a nativity scene. Mother’s wisdom: “Take something flat and make something practical” sparked a lifelong passion for creative projects, a creativity which has become more boundless with age. She evolved into costume design for school plays, the Renaissance Festival in Michigan, and several productions at Tarpon Springs Theater. MJ remarked that “Making art that allows people to comfortably move on stage is a challenge!”

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Mike discovered his love for stained glass when he and MJ supervised her high school students on study abroad trips in Germany. During time off he began sketching stained glass windows in churches and castles, one of which even found a permanent home in the halls of Lansing Community College. After retiring from GM in 2010, where he helped robots do their magic, he took his first stained glass class.

Largely self-taught, his sun catchers evolved into church windows and his favorite, the Safety Harbor Library where his depictions of children’s book characters cast vibrant reflections across the carpet as the day progresses. You can spot his stained glass finials gracing the tops of the utility poles on some of the streets in Historic Kenwood.

Their artistic endeavors have profoundly influenced their daily lives and creative processes. Working side by side in their studios they provide each other with constant artistic feedback. MJ’s coiled rope baskets incorporate tiny stained glass pieces for added ornamentation. Two very different mediums, one which is solid and reflects light back to the viewer; the other which is solid but lets light flow through to achieve its effect.

MJ’s Kawandi Quilts are her focus at present. African, and meaning traditional, they come from people who have little by way of materials, but cover their dirt floors with rags stitched together in beauty. Just what mother ordered.

Mike would like to create more Frank Lloyd Wright inspired pieces as well as stained glass windows for churches and public institutions. Stained glass is “God’s light shining through us.” Amen. •

“Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.”
Fred Rogers

POETICA

The Artisan Magazine
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POETICA

Ask Me for my Pronouns


Ask me
for my pronouns?
It’s what we do
these days.


The question
brings up a tangle
of old yarn,
thoughts
I never planned
To mess with
again.


I learned pronouns
women used to say:
they, theirs, different from those
common in the public sphere
he, him, his,
pronouns crowned
by church and school.


Some brave souls always
pinned her and hers
on bits of life
they could control,
spit out me and I
despite themselves.
They paid a price.


I learned which
pronouns struggle
for success.
Not much was mine
until we got loud
and louder,
until ours earned
a little respect.


If the world
wants command
of your pronouns,
say no. Grab your
handle
and swing.

Ekphrastic Spin


I
Evening silk sky
conservatory path
the wine bar, statues,
frescoes on the walls
programs in hand
we stand together
matrons in brocade,
men in suits, a couple
in torn jeans.
House lights dim
to a string of fireflies,
first notes
rise, ultimately drive
toward the mounting cries
of Dido’s Lament.


II
Once more
under open sky
life postponed.
Tier on tier
we rise
on our toes,
sway cell phone lights
to guitars’ pluck and slide.
A tumble of drums score
the metal heavy band.


III
Four in black.
They bow. In the nave
where candles burn,
a flute climbs
silver spirals
through the air.
Violins reply.
The cello underlines
its saraband.
The hour flows
like a running stream.

Dance to War

1. Rehearsal of Gravity
I saw them dance
Peter Martins
Suzanne Farrell
not knowing
what I was
looking at.
Simplicity
streamlined style
vocabulary of speed
nuance of music
the modern approach.

2. Adagio of Protest

First, the music
material shaped
by certain tools
extended lines
of the body
techniques obscure
to me
a dance master’s
tools of the trade
provides
poetic ensembles
story ballets
period notations
a history of ballet
bends
our weight.

3. Grouped on the Ground

Stranger, fleeter
entirely believable
phrase of movement
translates to war
battle lines visible
attack, retreat
submerge
dance among spent shells,
in fields of mines, explosive
jumps, deep pliés
A drone in flight
communicates
dissonance surreal
knowing this,
each of us
vulnerable and daring
tilt to save ourselves
from falling,
jagged
angular steps
processed.

Antonia Lewandowski

A New York City native, Antonia Lewandowski moved to Florida in 1989. From 2003 to 2022 she taught writing at St. Petersburg College. Nominated for two Pushcart Prizes, her poetry collection, Tangled, was published in 2023. In 2024 Antonia received a arts grant from Creative Pinellas and produced a spoken word exhibition, “A Walk among Words.” She lives in Largo with her husband and their two dogs.

Florida Museum of Photographic Arts

The Artisan Magazine
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Florida Museum of Photographic Arts

Member’s Show Winners 2024

1st Place, Nature: Clarke Kwangwari, Wooden Waves
1st Place, Nature: Clarke Kwangwari, Wooden Waves
1st Place, Conceptual: Katy Walters, The Women
1st Place, Conceptual: Katy Walters, The Women
1st Place, Documentary: David Decker, High Seas on the Third Coast
1st Place, Documentary: David Decker, High Seas on the Third Coast
1st Place, Portraits and People’s Choice: Mahu Kamal, Murgi Wala
1st Place, Portraits and People’s Choice: Mahu Kamal, Murgi Wala
1st Place, Abstract: Anthony L Guinn, Northbound
 1st Place, Abstract: – Anthony L Guinn, Northbound
1st Place, A-I Enhanced: Jim Miller, Down On Ghetto Street
1st Place, A-I Enhanced: Jim Miller, Down On Ghetto Street

https://www.fmopa.org

Three Book Stereo, My Rosy Periwinkle Remix

Thomas Sayers Ellis
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Three Book Stereo, My Rosy Periwinkle Remix

I’ve been crate digging again, not for records, not for books, not for green turtle steaks but for a graveyard plant, the ephemeral flow of lush lore. Florida in words, images of Florida, praise songs for Florida. So, hats off to the local records stores that also sell books and the books stores that also sell records. Hats off to the crocodiles’ eye, the Floridians who take in more sunken treasures than they can harbor, surviving like ageless seashells. Anything can be read: tea leaves, real estate ads, a patch covering an eye. I’m no Lit Tommy-Come-Lately. I rarely entertain one artform at a time. The triple matrimony of bookworms, shutterbugs and vinyl junkies is neither new nor radical. The age of ideas confined by borders is over. Needle to groove, this turntable is a platter of mangroves, a 33 1/3 rpm page of roadside produce, the scratchy skip of black wax caused by rock reef. Reading is a river not a rainbow, so I offer a non-streaming playlist, a bundle of rods with a hatchet through it, the first three book review meant to be sung––to play and record, fast forward and rewind all at once, heads spinning like a disco ball of maduros, my rosy periwinkle remix.

Track 1: “The Key Lime,” a brilliant shrub of a poem. Track 2: “A Game of Anagrams,” a listening party favorite for theme park lovers. Track 3: “Woman with Car from St. Petersburg Alligator Farm,” kills gator, knits a gator skin purse, packs a pistol. Track 4: “Trouble with Miami,” a bluesy lament on the temptations of paradise, a tinge of resentment, poetic voyeurism meets the sun blocked wings of Icarus. Track 5: “God’s Hint,” because “Wreck ashore! Wreck ashore!” sounds like Wrecka Stow / Record Store, an unintentional reference to Prince’s, “If you wanted to buy a Sam Cooke album, where would you go?” Track 6: “Caged Baboon, Circus Winter Quarters,” kills me softly, makes me wish it would rain.

The books are Florida (2000) by Walker Evans, Florida Poems (2002) by Campbell McGrath and Key West Tales (1993) by John Hersey. Photographs, poems and short stories, my rosy periwinkle remix. Evans deserves a soundtrack. McGrath, a mixtape. Hersey, several live mashups. Play mode on Shuffle, but first, because book covers are faces, let’s have a look at those lighthouses! Rising, setting, or stuck like a promise waiting to be peeled, the orange on the cover is the citrus offspring of the sun, a slave to the sky. Like a cover song, the paperback cover of Key West Tales is far more oceanside than the hardcover. A beached fish tank: ironstone picture regurgitates nymph, bellboy watches. A fleet of surf foam, no Spoonbills along the thrift shop shore. Moby nears. For Walker Evans, the J. Paul Getty Museum has chosen large vacationland lettering for the title. The cover image, taken in Sarasota in 1941, is of a trailer in a camp. Anyone who has confronted the Tamiami timeline from Tampa to Miami has felt this portmanteau of tones, my rosy periwinkle remix. It’s explorer-boring but honest, a pour-over. The color graphic suggests a View-Masteresque adventure the black and white photograph cannot deliver, but this was when the west coast of Florida was predominantly gray noir.

Track 7: “Because this is Florida.” If you desire an insurrection or a bar brawl, this be the villanelle for you, a pop-up Mason-Dixon line for the readers who don’t dance and the dancers who don’t read. Track 8: “Amends,” a war-torn Jefferson Davis, poker face in tow, survives an assassination by sapodilla fruit. Track 9: “Antebellum Plantation House,” Hardworking manager, an industry plant, a female vocalist and male backup singers. Track 10: “Hemingway Dines on Boiled Shrimp and Beer,” braggadocious mic drops where there should be caesuras. Track 11: “To End the American Dream”. Favorite brushstroke, “Just pat it.” Favorite chewy doggerel, “Such beauty should be given back to the sea intact.” Track 12: “The Florida Poem”. I’d roadie for this opus. It’s widescreen. A rewarding coastline, no pink hotels.

No Name Pub no mistake, no other dancefloor offers a wilder reading experience than Florida. If you like eavesdropping, the boom box normalcy of tropical drama, this midnight special of Greatest Hits is for you! The exotic wallflower of tattoos fades from skateboards like played-out stickers, my rosy periwinkle remix. Neon blooming nature, plaster front yard birds, and beaches named for cities named after places from Classical Literature. Naturally stubborn, only Florida can question Florida. In fact, it claps back like a glossy fingernail half submerged by tides whenever it’s blamed. “Florida: It’s here and it’s for sale!” says McGrath. Buyer beware. Worth determined by the waters of the back country where the language is loyal to the land, my rosy periwinkle remix. •

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