Now we come upon the months of love and luck – of the Irish! We’ve got a sampling of some of the new and original art to discover in St. Pete in the new year.  

Galleries

ArtLofts: Valentwe’en 2023: Kiss of Death. 10 5th Street South, second floor. Opening reception February 11, 5-9 pm; 12-4 pm Saturdays and by appointment through February 28. Brandybstark132@gmail.com.

This marks the 8th annual holiday combining concepts of second Halloween with gothic romance. This year, the show features those sexy, powerful, and predatory paranormal creatures: vampires! The opening reception is during Second Saturday Artwalk.… Read More

The Northeast Journal’s longtime contributor and resident historian, Will Michaels, was honored by the Tony Jannus Society at their annual banquet, Saturday, November 12 at the Vinoy Hotel.

The Special Award was presented to Will, president of the nonprofit Flight 2014, Inc, in recognition of his instrumental efforts to bring the Benoist Airboat back to St. Petersburg through a life-size monument at the St. Pete Pier, near the exact spot of Tony Jannus’ famous flight in 1914. Will is one of five people to receive this prestigious award since the society was founded.

In addition to preserving the legacy of Tony Jannus, the Tony Jannus Society also offers financial assistance to college students pursuing studies in aviation and conducts an annual essay contest for high school students to encourage careers in aviation.… Read More

Strolling around the Old Northeast, you’ll see a wide variety of ferns. But some ferns might surprise you from one day to the next – or even one moment to the next. One is the pleopeltis polypodioides or “resurrection fern.” The other, mimosa pudica, looks like a fern, but is actually a perennial weed. Both exhibit strange behaviors. 

The resurrection fern is unique for a number of reasons. First, it’s an epiphyte, or air plant, which means it grows not in the soil, but on the sides of trees and houses. It gets its name because during dry periods, this plant will wilt and turn brown, losing up to 97% of its water.… Read More

It started with an angel. No, not a real angel –  a folk angel. More accurately, a folk-art angel.

Emily Kleine met Tash Elwyn at Emory University. “We had no money,” Emily recalls. “He was a cold caller for Ray Jay, and I worked for a nonprofit [Atlanta Preservation Center].” Emily was headed toward the world of historic preservation – in St. Petersburg, she’s known for her work with Preserve the ‘Burg – and Tash was still wet-behind-the-ears in the finance world (he’s still with Raymond James, now as vice president).

The one thing they knew about each other? “We liked art,” Emily said.… Read More

As my husband and daughter ride their bikes to the closest SunRunner stop every Tuesday evening (read more here), I find myself lamenting the loss of St. Petersburg’s streetcar system, a line of which once ran from Coffee Pot Bayou to downtown, along Locust Street, passing our house on 17th Ave NE. I frequently come across references to the trolley, or streetcar line (terms used interchangeably here in St. Pete and elsewhere), when I’m researching historic homes in newspaper archives. Proximity to the line was a popular selling point for houses, and phrases like, “three blocks from car line” abound in old real estate advertisements.… Read More

With just 43 seats, Studio Grand Central could be considered a little theater, but “intimate” and “engaging” are better descriptions for this unique venue, home to the Off-Central Players theater company, a “professional arts organization committed to providing instruction, development, and theatrical storytelling for St. Petersburg’s diverse community.”

The building located at 2260 1^st Avenue South was home to the Andi Matheny Acting Studio for ten years until siblings Ward Smith and Karen Riffe bought it in February 2021. The property, already complete with theater seating and lighting, had come on the market just a month before. The brother-and-sister team had been talking about the prospect of starting up a theater in downtown St.… Read More