St Pete/clearwater Has The Art Of Florida Holidays
Beautiful beaches and endless sun are what you expect from Florida holidays, world class art collections probably come as more of a surprise. In 2022, Condé Nast Traveler named St. Pete/Clearwater one of the top small US cities with big-time art scenes. Its not an exaggeration, as no fewer than seven art museums make their home here. And in addition to art in galleries, there are annual art festivals, art tours, incredible murals and astonishing local talent, which St. Pete/Clearwater is proud to nurture and show off!
What to see in arty St. Pete/Clearwater
Chihuly Collection And Morean Glass Studio In St Petersburg
St. Petersburgs Chihuly Collection moved to a new space in Central Avenues Edge District in 2016 from a temporary space on Beach Drive that it occupied at least since 2010. The permanent space is the first in the world designed and built to house specific installations by Dale Chihuly, the worlds most famous glass artist.
The collection includes examples of Chihulys best-known themes the Persian bowls, the chandeliers, the glass balls, the garden ornamentation. The Collection is marked by an iconic 20-foot sculpture Chihuly created for the site.
The gift shop offers art glass, decorative glass, books and videos about Chihuly and the studio glass movement he started. Admission to the Collection includes also gets you into to the Morean Glass Studio and hot shop demonstration at 714 First Ave. N., a short walk away.
Open daily. Tickets $20. Discounts for seniors, students, and youth. Children 5 and under and members free. On the web: moreanartscenter.org/chihuly Phone:
The James Museum Of Western And Wildlife Art In St Petersburg
My friends know I call this the cowboys and Indians museum because thats whats depicted in the vast majority of the art in this museum except for the wildlife gallery, which is full of realistic paintings of animals.
Each sandstone block of the museums exterior and lobby was painstakingly numbered where it was quarried, then placed so that the walls look like artistically designed sandstone cliffs.
Collector Tom James spent about $55 million remodeling this building, which the museum shares with a city parking garage.
You wont fail to notice the statuesque and regal bronze statues of American Indians in the museums lobby. There are more upstairs after you pay the price of admission.
My favorite gallery by far is the Native Artists Gallery, where artwork by living American Indian artists is displayed. This artwork is fierce and thoughtful, and, to me, more thought-provoking than the walls and walls of realistic and naturalistic paintings of cowboys and Indians in the rest of the galleries.
The Native Artists gallery surrounds the Jewel Box, a fascinating collection of Native-made jewelry, including several vintage pieces.
The James Museum also has a lively Happy Hour concert series, a high-quality gift shop, and the Canyon Café, featuring a long wooden bar from the early 1900s such as you might see in a Western saloon. The cafe is closed temporarily due to COVID, but you can see the bar at the rear of the gift shop.
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True Nature: Rodin And The Age Of Impressionism Presents Works By The Celebrated French Sculptor Along With Canvases From Some Of His Contemporaries Including Paul Cezanne Claude Monet And And Pierre Auguste
When Auguste Rodin first came into prominence, his work was so fresh, it was shunned by art galleries and critics in his native France.
Although Rodin was enrolled in art classes by the age of 14, he was rejected three times from the esteemed French National School of Fine Arts and did not find major artistic success until he was 37.
But today, Rodin is considered the father of modern sculpture and is credited with moving the genre away from the decorative, into more emotive, interpretive art.
The hallmarks of Rodin’s style his decision not to smooth over or hide signs of his sculptural process and the creation of sculptures from parts of the body like hands were cutting edge in his time.
And over the course of a career that spanned the late 1800s and early 1900s, the artist challenged the notions of beauty.
In art, he said, a thing is beautiful whenever it has character.
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg curator Stanton Thomas says Rodin’s work remains revolutionary.
“People were shocked when they first saw the work of Rodin because they perceived it as a little bit unfinished, Thomas said. The subject matter wasn’t what they expected and rather than change his style to suit what the public wanted, he pushed against that.”
The new exhibition includes nearly forty of the artist’s works, ranging from small scale marble statues to larger-than-life bronzes.
Thomas says one of the challenges in presenting the artist’s work was giving each piece its own space.
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Add Americas Best Beaches To Florida Holidays
Set on the west coast of Florida, St. Pete/Clearwater has no less than 35 miles of white sand beaches. If you want to know how lovely they are, everyone from TripAdvisor to Dr Beach is happy to tell you. In fact, several of the beaches here are regularly voted best in the US and one or two even top the worlds best beaches list.
Our pick of local beaches
- Try Caladesi Island State Park for the beach that bagged number two slot in Dr Beachs list of Top 10 Beaches in the US 2022.
- Long and lively Clearwater Beach has been listed as one of the loveliest in the world.
- If you want a slice of swank with your sand, head to Belleair Beach. Its trimmed with gorgeous waterfront mansions and a favourite with locals.
- Madeira Beach brings the beautiful and is also a near neighbour to Johns Pass for Old Florida style boardwalk buzz.
- Possibly the most famous in the area, St. Pete Beach was voted #1 in the US by TripAdvisor in 2021 and its easy to see why.
St. Pete/Clearwater holds the world record for most consecutive days of sunshine
Discover The Dal Museum
Visit an unparalleled collection of works by renowned artist Salvador Dalí, from iconic melting clocks to imaginative visual illusions and avant-garde symbols. Shop, play, wander and quench your curiosity for all that is Salvador Dalí and beyond. Plan your visit.
The Dalí Museum is a 501 non-profit organization. Gifts to The Dalí directly support our mission to preserve Salvador Dalís work and legacy. Learn more.
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Tour Directory Of The Glass Museum
Discover the magic of glass, where it comes from, how the art is created, the Studio Glass Movement, and the contemporary artists who have taken this medium and turned it into a mission of inspiration, innovation and creativity. Are you looking for things to do in Tampa Bay? Visit our Imagine Museum of glass and Experience Glass Art like never before. Theres a guided tour for every area of interest regarding the collection at IM and the amazing properties of glass. Book your tour today!
Other Art Experiences In St Petersburg City Of Arts
Florida Craft Art, 501 Central Ave. This large downtown storefront offers a rotating display gallery and works by local artists for sale. Upstairs are working artists studios, which are open during Second Saturday Art Walks. Florida Craft Art also offers walking tours of the murals over a four-block area of downtown on Saturdays at 10 a.m.
Murals, throughout the city Visit St. Pete/Clearwater has a list of the most significant murals at . Visitors wanting to know more about a particular mural can download an app from PixelStix that includes many of the citys murals.
Craftsman House, 2955 Central Ave. This gallery, studio and café occupies a renovated Craftsman-style bungalow built in 1918. In addition to an excellent shop where you can purchase works by local artists, the Craftsman House also hosts concerts and other events in the garden.
Warehouse Arts District, 515 22nd St. S. This area south of Central Avenue around 22nd Street includes the McClellan Gallery, the ArtsXChange, where artists create and sell their work, and the Morean Center for Clay, which offers classes and space for pottery artists to use wheels and kilns.
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Sunshine World Record Breaker
St. Pete/Clearwater holds the Guinness World Record for the longest consecutive run of sunshine days, 768 in total. And its not just sunny here, its warm too. Even January, the coldest month of the year, has average daily temperatures of 22°. So if youre thinking winter sun breaks, this is where to find them.
Dali Museum, St. Pete/Clearwater, Florida
Urban Adventures In Downtown St Pete
Nothing if not versatile St. Pete/Clearwater even adds city breaks into Florida holidays. Downtown St. Pete is where youll find the vibrant arts district and fun mural tours, but its also the heartland of indie shopping and eating out. Hit Central Avenue, day or night, for restaurants, bars, local craft breweries and stores selling everything from vintage jewellery to designer clothing.
St. Pete Pier, St. Pete/Clearwater, Florida
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Local Area Attractions To Thrill Your Kids
Outdoorsy and arty St. Pete/Clearwater is also surrounded by brilliantly playful family attractions. Busch Gardens Tampa gives Orlando a run for its money on the theme park front. Kids will love meeting the rescued marine animals at Clearwater Marine Aquarium, and the Alligator & Wildlife Discovery Center at Johns Pass Village on Madeira Beach is another must-do. And young buccaneers in training need to sail the high seas for a couple of hours on Captain Memos Pirate Ship, launching daily from Clearwater Beach.
The Don Cesar, St. Pete Beach, St. Pete/Clearwater
Florida Holidays For Food Lovers
If discovering independent restaurants and eating fresh, local food is one your great holiday thrills, St. Pete/Clearwater is your type of place. Of course, the finest Gulf seafood features high on the menu here, but dont miss the local BBQ. Kids will love the variety of sweet treats, starting with divine gelato. And styles of eating are almost as varied as the food itself. Waterfront restaurants make the most of all that sunshine, but youll also find pretty pavement cafés and smart French bistro. Casual cantina are perfect for families, although theres no shortage of posh spots when you feel like something fancy.
Clearwater Beach, Florida holidays St. Pete/Clearwater
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Family Friendly Hotels And Resorts
Family-friendly Florida holidays are what St. Pete/Clearwater does best, so you wont be surprised to learn that many incredible hotels and resorts are designed just for families. Visit St. Pete/Clearwater makes it very easy to find exactly the right place to stay whether you want a relaxing island resort or a grand Florida icon like The Don Cesar on St. Pete Beach.
Now you know our top 10, go to Visit St. Pete/Clearwater for a million and one more reasons to book a family holiday in this irresistible part of Florida.
Contemporary Glass Art Museum
Imagine Museum features a spectacular collection of contemporary glass art from around the world. Experience the evolution of the studio glass art movement of artists who have turned it into contemporary masterpieces of color, motion, and light.
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Museum Of Fine Art In St Petersburg
Any discussion of St. Petes art scene is incomplete without a mention of the grand dame on the bay, the stately Museum of Fine Art, which opened in 1965.
I describe this museum as a mini-Met, a small version of New Yorks Metropolitan Museum in its scope. Theres a little of everything in this compact museum:
Ancient artifacts from Mesopotamia ancient Hindu, Buddhist, Greek and Roman sculpture and pottery African masks and sculptures a bit of Japanese and Chinese art, artworks from the European Renaissance, Dutch masters, naturalists and Impressionists, Tiffany glass, 17th century decorative furniture pieces, modern American art, photography and quite a bit more.
The collection is large and whats on display changes frequently. Museum curators use one gallery to highlight parts of the collection that arent always seen.
Unlike the real Met, the MFA is not large. You can see the whole thing in an hour or so or spend longer and become more familiar with everything in a gallery or two.
I love this museum because the collection is excellent go for the Monet, stay for the three Georgia OKeefes, dont miss the Dutch flower paintings, take in a bit of Asian or African art as a bonus but it is never overwhelming and rarely crowded. One recent evening, I had most of the galleries to myself.
Museum of Fine Art St Petersburg
City Of Art: Museums In St Petersburg
The Dali Museum put St. Petersburg on the art world map way back in the 1980s, but three new art museums in St. Petersburg each built to house extraordinary private collections of a specific kind of art have turned this Florida city into a destination no art connoisseur should miss.
The newest addition, opened in September 2021, is a five-story free-standing museum devoted entirely to the American Arts and Crafts Movement of the 1890s to 1930s. The movement honored hand craftsmanship and natural materials over machine-made objects, and the items in one-of-a-kind museum represent the best of the art of craftmanship.
The museum houses furniture, tile works, pottery, lamps and more from the collection of pharmaceutical magnate Rudy Ciccarello, who spared no expense to create a world-class museum. Like the Dali, this museums architecture is a work of art itself, with a showy spiral staircase, an exterior ovoid that creates an oval gallery on each floor, and art deco skylights.
The citys next-newest museum, the James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art, also boasts a stunning architectural feature: A rippling sandstone exterior and lobby created from 4,406 unique stones quarried in India. The James Museum opened in April 2018 to house the outsized collection of paintings, jewelry, prints and sculpture related to the American West owned by Tom James, chairman emeritus of Raymond James Financial, and his wife Mary.
St. Petersburg is indeed a City of Art.
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The Dali Museum In St Petersburg
This museum began with a collection of Dalis paintings that owned by A. Reynolds and Eleanor Morse of Cleveland, Ohio, who began collecting Dalis works in 1942 and became friends with the artist and his wife, Gala.
St. Pete beat out large, well-established art museums by promising to keep the Morses collection intact. It included at the time 93 oil paintings, 200 watercolor and drawings, and 1,000 prints plus a 2,500-volume library on Dali and surrealism, some films and other objects by Dali.
Since the museum opened in 1982, it has continued to acquire significant Dali works. A new building for the expanding collection opened in 2011, with a freeform geodesic dome known as the enigma built into its side and a spiral staircase based on the Fibonacci sequence.
The view from the enigmas second-floor windows overlooks St. Petersburgs marina.
The museums permanent collection takes visitors through a retrospective of Dalis life and work, with examples from each period. A favorite of most visitors is the large oil painting called Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln.
Up close, its difficult to see Lincolns face, but stand back far enough almost to the other end of the museums long gallery and you will see the large pixel-like blocks of color transform into the image of Lincoln.
The Dali Museum
St Pete/clearwater Is The Greatest Outdoors
The great outdoors is seriously good fun in St. Pete/Clearwater. You can island hop to discover secret beaches. State Parks are the places to spot wildlife, explore unspoiled wildernesses and reconnect with nature. There are glorious waterways where you can kayak and canoe in the company of dolphins and manatee. And if you like your natural beauty a little tamed, this is the area where gorgeous gardens grow and invite you to explore.
Outdoor adventures you have to try
- Hop to Honeymoon Island State Park and wander walking trails, laze on silvery sands and meet the local gopher tortoise. Then catch the ferry on Honeymoon and sail to Caladesi Island State Park for some time on the #2 Best Beach in the US.
- For a wonder-filled two mile kayaking trail, visit Fort de Soto Park. If kids are too young to paddle a boat, theyll have great fun paddling their toes in the warm, shallow waters here.
- Spend a day at Weedon Island Preserve and mix outdoor adventuring with learning about the areas Native American history, indigenous culture and natural diversity.
- Feel like walking? Hit the between Tarpon Springs and St. Petersburg. Its 75-miles long, but you can do as little or as much as you like. And if you dont want to hike, you can bike instead.
St. Pete Dog Bar, Central Avenue, Downtown St. Pete
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