The MacArthur Foundation has given its annual “genius” grants, worth half a million dollars each, to 25 lucky recipients. One is Mary Jackson, a South Carolina basket weaver, who is included in the permanent collection of Florida Craftsmen and is a past participant in CraftArt, which takes place on Nov. 22 & 23 at Central [...]

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I’ve been wondering who would address the relationship between investment banks and the contemporary art market. This article in Artnet doesn’t quite provide the sweeping analysis I’d hoped for, but it’s a start. The demise of Lehman Bros. and their track record of visual arts philanthropy is the focus. I’d love to hear something more [...]

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I’m thinking this is good news. The TMA names someone to lead their institution who has a track record of interest in contemporary art. Hopefully we are one step closer to never having to experience another exhibit of Yankees memorabilia again. (But I kid. Curator Elaine Gustafson has done a good job of bringing contemporary [...]

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Thanks to the handful of visual arts people I saw last night at the Creative Loafing Best of the Bay Awards. Personally, I wish the awards ceremony presented an opportunity for each winner to receive their award on stage, but for the two years they’ve been doing the awards show only one visual arts award [...]

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C. Wade Brickhouse, Paper Vessels, 2008. Courtesy Florida Craftsmen.
Most of you probably know the artists’ studios housed above Florida Craftsmen in downtown St. Petersburg as Artspace. I’m told by staff at FC, which owns the building, that a slight reorganization has taken place. The studios will be known as ArtLofts going forward, and the artists– [...]

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On Friday, artists Yoko Nogami and Maria Saraceno appeared on JoEllen Schilke’s WMNF program, Art In Your Ear. Here’s a link to the MP3 online. (The interview with Nogami and Saraceno begins just past the half-way point in the program.)
On Friday, the Dunedin Fine Art Center opened Dreams, a group of five exhibits that includes [...]

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Here’s a link to a short article in The Art Newspaper for anyone interested in the state of satellite fairs during the upcoming Art Basel Miami Beach and other events. Despite the loss of AIPAD and Flow, from what I’ve heard there’s still more going on in Wynwood this year than ever.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, you [...]

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Cosme Herrera. Frost, 2007. (via NYT)
Roberta Smith of the New York Times delivers a sound thrashing to “How Soon Is Now?,” an exhibit of emerging artists at the Bronx Museum of Art, but Cosme Herrera, a former Tampa resident who is represented locally by Paula Ysom Group, escapes unscathed. Check it out>>

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Flight 19 at the Baggage Claim Building at Union Train Station on Nebraska Ave in downtown Tampa. Image from Sir Robert Davis’s blog on tbo.com.
Bad news over the holiday season. Flight 19 has a new neighbor in the historic, restored baggage claim building at Union Station. Highland Properties, a small commercial real estate firm, [...]

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A brief update: Wednesday’s fundraiser at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center for the Imago Art Gallery artists took in over $25,000 in ticket, drink, and auction sales and donations from generous individuals. Wow.
In the crush of leaving for the holidays, I have not yet been able to find out whether the city of Dunedin voted [...]

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Two area artists have won prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants announced earlier this month. They are (drum roll, please…)
Elisabeth Condon, a USF professor represented by Bleu Acier in Tampa

Twisting Fireball Tree, 2006. Acrylic on paper, 22 x 30 in.
and
Brian Haverlock, represented by Greene Contemporary in Sarasota

Mother of Ichthys (detail), 2007. Graphite and oil paint in [...]

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Did anyone read this editorial in yesterday’s Trib?
Dark Hallway No Place For Sassy Photos
The Tampa Tribune, published: November 20, 2007
Things are winding down at the Tampa Museum of Art as it prepares for a temporary move to Centro Espanol de West Tampa, pending construction of its new home in Curtis Hixon Park.
But the impending [...]

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