21 May 2016
Holley and Jim had gotten us tickets for a walking tour of Central Avenue arts district. It’s a lot edgier than the beach front of downtown St. Petersburg with lots of kinky and kooky stores, restaurants, and the home of Florida CraftArt located at 501 Central Avenue.
The tour was to start at 10 am and we were promptly welcomed into the Florida CraftArt store for a quick look around at what was available for purchase by local artists. The tour was led by the executive director of CraftAft, Diane Shelley. She normally doesn’t do the tours but she was training someone, so we benefited.
A lot of the tour was built around the block of 6th St and Central. It was scheduled for demolition (the entire block) and development but then the bottom fell out of the real estate market. It sat undisturbed and vacant and falling into disrepair until someone had the idea of asking the landlords of the buildings to offer the space for artists to live and paint for 1/2 of the price of their rent. They agreed and it took off.
The CraftArt building was the first to have a mural. It was completed in 2012 and it still looks in excellent shape.
Once the idea took off (and eventually backed by the mayor and city hall) other buildings were painted. Most of the murals are not done with regular paint from paint stores but from either auto or airplane paint sources. Much of it is spray can (Diane would tell us the number of cans used on a particular mural) or done the old fashioned way by brushes.
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Artists began clamoring for space and many became nationally known for their work. Eventually, organizations got involved and AARP has actually sponsored several artists and projects. One of which is to give AARP members ideas about second careers in life.
Donnelly is a name that kept appearing. He’s done several in the 6th Street/Central Avenue area. One of his more famous is the one below.
Most artists don’t use their real name. The reason is most started doing graffiti when it was illegal. Instead, they used street names as Pale Horse and BASK.
Diane says much more is planned for the area and now the area has become far more upscale because of the murals. The city has now sanctioned the idea and even touts it on advertising for St. Petersburg.
The tour was hot and sweaty but CraftArt provided water. I suspect as the summer gets into high gear, the walking tour will begin much earlier. This is well worth the time and the price of the ticket. On the whole, Miami Design District probably has better art, but this is more diverse, scattered through the 6th St/Central Ave area and probably better known.
