Arts In

Audio producer Jessica Tomlinson is also a keyboard instructor at Girls Rock St Pete – and created a vivid sound portrait of this very cool group empowering "women, girls, and gender-expansive folx through fearless expression, artistic experimentation and collaboration to build confidence and leadership skills to transform ourselves and our communities." https://girlsrockstpete.org Published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast Online photo by Marissa Rafalski for Girls Rock St Pete

“I’m a nice guy, really!” laughs Gregory Green. The artist and pacifist teaches at The University of South Florida and is internationally known for his 3D installations of realistic bomb-making workshops and nuclear missiles. It’s art with a political edge and educational aim, seeking to spur conversations about violence - and alternatives to violence - and exploring how information and technology are tools of social change. Gregory Green shares the theatricality behind his work, which includes more than a dozen fully-functional pirate radio and TV stations in the US and Europe, his “Gregnik” re-creation of the first Earth satellite and a three-stage booster rocket that’s ready to launch if you’ve got the rocket fuel. Green tells of wrangling with the bomb squad, designing an installation for filmmaker John Waters’ home, and how he was rated one of the Top 100 Artists in the World before 9/11, and how after 9/11 artwork about violence suddenly became much harder. Green’s work is included in major publ

Eugenie Bondurant is film and TV actor, cabaret singer, teacher, director, international runway model – and part of the heart of St. Pete. At an age when many women actors are struggling to find good roles, she was cast in the pivotal role of Tigris in the last Hunger Games film. In 2019, she started work on a DC comics film called The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and starred with Harry Connick Jr. in Fear of Rain, a national film that was shot in St. Pete, playing a very scary villain and talking Cole Porter to Connick during breaks. They'd already auditioned over 100 guys for that part and couldn't find anyone they liked. When they let Eugenie audition, they rewrote the villain to be a woman.  Then she got a call from the director, who said they'd been doing test runs of the Conjuring film and feedback from audiences was that they wanted much more of her character. So amid the pandemic they actually rewrote and re-shot much of the film to expand Eugenie's character. She got a whole new look, new la

Dancer, choreographer, professor – and inventor – Merry Lynn Morris talks with Barbara St. Clair about her work exploring dance and disability, and how dance companies and educators are embracing a diversity of dancing bodies in performance. Published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast magazine on May 16, 2023 – https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/ Photo by Jim Lennon – Mary Lynn Morris and Dwayne Scheuneman in ML Morris choreography

In a potent conversation ranging through his fascinating career, dancer and educator John Parks talks with Barbara St. Clair about his experiences touring the South with the Jose Limón Company during segregation, his inventive teaching philosophy – and how he helped the undervalued dancers in the movie version of The Wiz go on strike for equal pay and credit. . .  and win. Transcript available at https://creativepinellas.org/magazine/arts-in-john-parks/ Photo by Tom Kramer

Visual artist and creative activist John Gascot talks with Barbara St. Clair about his exploratory series of self portraits, the powerful human rights installation he created during the pandemic and inventing a Diversity Game to help teach kids that diversity and inclusion matters. He shares the vibrant work of the Pinellas Park arts community and the start of Pinellas Park's PRIDE celebration. gascot.com diversityartsinc.com pinellasartsvillage.com – photo by Laurie Elmer

Christina Bertsos shares her passion for sculpting in stone and marble with host Barbara St. Clair – and how her work with fabric and hand-crafted couture influences her creations now. She guides us through the physical hands-on craft of sculpting, explains how you find marble in Florida, and how she got started in stone through a class at the Dunedin Fine Art Center. https://www.christinabertsos.com/

Bach's "Toccata Et Fugue En Ré Mineur" performed on the University of Tampa's Ars Sonora Bell Tower – the first in the U.S. and the largest in the world. Recorded by Kurt Loft, photo by Kurt Loft. Story published in Arts Coast Online on October 7, 2022 – https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/

USF Theatre professor Fanni Green talks with USF English professor Gary Lemons about his aim as the June 2022 guest editor of the Arts Coast magazine – Community Healing through Artistic Transformation. Published in https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/.

Public artist Douglas Kornfeld tells the fascinating tale of how he created vibrant public artworks in New Orleans that became symbols of the city, part of parades – and will hopefully save lives if a major storm hits. Kornfeld talks with Barbara St. Clair about what it truly means to be an artist – and what it means to make work on a monumental scale, along with the logistics of massive installations. He shares how he found his way to large-scale public sculpture and explains how figuring out Photoshop at a time when people barely knew about it revved up his career. You can explore the work of Douglas Kornfeld at http://www.awaka-inc.com/. Published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast Magazine on November 23, 2021. . . https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/

Abstract artist Kirk Ke Wang teaches at Eckerd College and his work is known internationally. His boldly abstract creations are colorful and striking – moving through painting, sculpture, photography, video, conceptual, performance and installation art. “Although oscillating between them, I intend to weave a tapestry of my vision of the world, led by a consistent thread – the fear of inexorable cataclysm.” Still, Kirk Ke Wang’s work often appears joyous. He shares the details behind several large-scale installations, and talks with host Barbara St. Clair about how he grew up in China during the cultural revolution – and learned both visual art and music from professors locked up in a labor camp, using water instead of ink to paint, and playing a keyboard drawn on a table while the professors sang the notes. Published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast Magazine on November 19, 2021. . . https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/

Bestselling suspense novelist Lisa Unger is based here in Pinellas County. Her new book, Last Girl Ghosted, comes out on October 5 and was named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2021 by Crimereads. Unger’s critically-acclaimed thrillers have sold millions of copies and been translated into 30 languages. Her work has been on “Best Book” lists from the Today show, Good Morning America, Entertainment Weekly, Amazon, Goodreads and more. In 2019, she received two Edgar Award nominations, an honor held by only a few authors, including Agatha Christie. Though she writes dark psychological thrillers, Lisa Unger is a warm and down to Earth working mom. Her conversation with Barbara St. Clair is rich in laughter, as she shares how stories and characters reveal themselves to her, and what she’s driven to explore as she digs deep into stories. You can explore Lisa Unger’s work at lisaunger.com

Brandie Dziegiel (pronounced “Diesel”) is a young artist embracing the age-old craft of printmaking. She tells Barbara St. Clair about choosing to get an art degree after serving in the Coast Guard. Brandie shares her passion for the physical craft of cutting away to reveal an image, and how she uses her artwork to process her experiences as a veteran. Growing up in a military family, Brandie moved around a lot. She talks about returning to Florida’s landscape and how the fragile natural world and Pinellas County’s indigenous heritage finds its way into her work. Explore Brandie Dziegiel’s work at https://brandiedziegielart.com/ Arts In is produced by Sheila Cowley. Executive Producer, Barbara St. Clair.

Cora Marshall can express herself in almost any medium. That’s thanks to teaching high school art for many years, where she had to show students how to do everything from drawing to throwing pots on a wheel. In this thoughtful conversation with Barbara St. Clair, Marshall explains how different concepts lend themselves to different artistic mediums. She shares her inspiration for the series she’s created based on newspaper ads hunting for runaway slaves, and another about older people who keep working at difficult jobs on their feet, to survive. Cora Marshall and Barbara St. Clair discuss the fine lines of political art, and her college years at Howard University during the Black Power Movement. Marshall details the artwork she’s created to explore her family’s heritage and history, and a new series designed to find a way out of our current negativity - artwork inspired by children’s faces. Explore Cora Marshall’s work here https://www.coramarshall.com/Artist.asp?ArtistID=47105&Akey=X679CJP9&ajx=1#!asset7

Muralist, painter, designer and all-over creative Daniel Barojas talks with Barbara St. Clair about the art of graffiti, the inspiration he draws from indigenous communities and his own Mexican heritage, experiments with Op Art-style patterns and illusions. . . and the stories behind two murals in St. Pete that are helping keep the city safe. You can explore the work of Daniel Barojas at https://r5imaging.com/ and on Instagram. This article explores his experiments with Chromadepth 3-D glasses - https://creativepinellas.org/analyzing-chroma-depth-and-geology-with-daniel-barojas/.

St. Petersburg Poet Laureate Helen Pruitt Wallace reads her narrative poem "Pink Streets" and shares her memories of this offbeat neighborhood.

St. Petersburg Poet Laureate Helen Pruitt Wallace talks with Barbara St. Clair about growing up in St. Pete’s “Pink Streets” neighborhood and shares poems inspired by her rollicking childhood, the joys and grief of family, and her mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s. With laughter and enthusiasm, she talks about her passion for the sounds of poems, the spark of playing with formal structure and how she’s not afraid to confront politics through poetry. You can explore Helen Pruitt Wallace’s writing at http://helenwallacepoetry.com/ and follow her on Twitter at @HelenPWallace. Helen hosts the Dalí Poetry Series - free and open to the public - typically the second Thursday of the month from September through May at The Dalí Museum. Details here.

Tenea Johnson is a writer of speculative fiction, a poet and musician. In this conversation with Barbara St. Clair she talks about her imaginative stories and novels, and how her childhood in Kentucky shaped her views of life. Tenea shares enticing details from her stories, and how she’s built a sustainable full-time career as a writer. She’s currently bringing printed words to life in multimedia creations. The Knitting Factory, Dixon Place, The Public Theater and others have opened their doors to this new form. Her work has appeared in Mothership: Tales of Afrofuturism, African Voices, Arise, Humanities in the South, Infinite Matrix, Contemporary American Women Poets, Shades of Blue and Gray, Whispers in the Night: Dark Dreams III and Necrologue, among others. She is the author of a poetry/short prose collection, Starting Friction as well as the novels, Smoketown, R/evolution and Evolution. Find out more about Tenea Johnson’s work at http://www.teneadjohnson.com Links to printed and recorded work: http

Suzanne Pomerantzeff - or Ms. P, as she’s known to generations of dancers in St. Pete - shares her love of dance with movers of every ability. For 50 years, dancers of all ages have learned and flourished with Ms. P, sparked by her passion for all of the arts. Many who’ve studied with her at the Academy of Ballet or the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School have gone on to acclaimed professional careers. An award-winning teacher and choreographer, Suzanne shares how her own performance career was cut short by injury, which let her find a path to teaching. She tells us how the Academy of Ballet Arts grew from one rented room to their current home, covered in murals - and explains how vital St. Pete’s own “Fame” high school is, as Pinellas County’s arts magnet. Ms. P talks about how much the classic discipline of ballet and the idea of a ‘perfect body’ has changed and grown. She shares the Academy’s newest success, an adaptive ballet program open to dancers of differing abilities. A seas

Saumitra Chandratreya is an adventurous visual artist whose work is political, but beautiful - and often created from unexpected materials. In this conversation with Barbara St. Clair, he talks about identity, immigration and the inspiration he takes from objects other people overlook or throw away. As he explains, “If I don’t make challenging work, then I’m letting down anyone who is of brown skin and queer, who might be interested in making their voice heard, but don’t have the tools - because I have the tools.” Saumitra Chandratreya’s work was chosen this month for the 2019 Visions of Health Equity project sponsored by the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg. His work will be featured at the Chad Mize Gallery in November. Link to the Foundation For Healthy St. Pete announcement: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/News--Events-and-Resources.html?soid=1120560768999&aid=BfoxUOerk8I Link to Mize gallery website: http://chadmize.com/exhibits.html Find out more about Saumitra Chandratreya’s work at