CHANGING LANDSCAPES
Hot Glass Studio at Duncan McClellan
Gallery in the Warehouse Arts District.
Public art is also part of the city’s new three-story, $78.5 million
police department, located within the boundaries of the
Edge District. Gladiolus and Shield, two larger-than-life sculptures
by St. Petersburg artist Mark Aeling stand by the front
door and inside the two-story glass-paneled atrium lobby. A
third sculpture by another local sculptor, Catherine Woods,
titled, “Community DNA," was installed in late summer. The
building itself is also impressive, with many “green” features,
such as a solar photovoltaic roof with 1,450 solar panels on
the parking garage.
WAREHOUSE ARTS DISTRICT
The city’s Warehouse Arts District is rapidly transforming from
a once run-down industrial section of town it into a highly
sought after destination for glass blowers, sculptors, craft furniture
makers, painters, metalsmiths and other artists. More
than 200 artist studios and arts-related organizations are now
located within this unique 1.5 square mile corner just south of
downtown.
Well-known glass artist Duncan McClellan took a risk when
he moved into the district almost a decade ago and converted
an old tomato packing plant into a glass art gallery,
hot shop and outdoor community event space, complete
with gardens and dozens of tropical fruit trees. His artist compound
is a now popular destination during the city’s Second
Saturday ArtWalk, when artist studios and galleries stay open
late to welcome visitors. More recently, he and his team of
artists have launched the DMG School Project, which brings
a mobile glass hot shop to school children in the Tampa Bay
area.
The dream of bringing affordable
artist studios to the Warehouse Arts
District came to fruition several years
ArtsXchange, which recently completed
Phase 2 of its build-out. A member artists’
gallery was added to the campus,
an outdoor courtyard for future events.
A small warehouse, converted into an
additional artist studio, now brings the
total number of available artist studios
to 29.
But it’s not just artists who are seeing
the potential of the Warehouse Arts
District. Developers are knocking on
doors and locally owned businesses are
moving in, bringing the next wave of
change to this eclectic part of St. Pete.
“We are growing in terms of
both businesses and the arts—they
strengthen each other,” says Diane
Bailey Morton, executive director of the
Warehouse Arts District Association. A
former trial lawyer and general counsel for C1 Bank, Morton
Arts District even further. And it’s working.
Faced with rising rents in its previous location in the heart
of downtown, Daddy Kool Records, a long-time St. Pete landmark
and one of the few remaining independent music stores,
turned to the Warehouse Arts District for a new, expanded
space. When it was time to add a second location for Black
Crow Coffee, a popular home-grown St. Pete coffee shop,
co-owners Deana Hawk and Greg Bauman chose this part of
town for their expansion.
Locally owned Three Daughters Brewing Company has
been thriving in the district for some time, and so has Brick
Street Farms, an indoor commercial boutique urban farm
that grows organic leafy greens year-round. Soon to open is
American Freedom Distillery, a craft spirits distillery co-owned
by several former Green Berets who were part of an elite team
known as the “Horse Soldiers”, some of whom were portrayed
in the movie, 12 Strong.
American Freedom Distillery is currently partnering with
Mark Aeling, president of the Warehouse Arts District and
owner of MGA Sculpture Studios, to create a monument commemorating
9-11. Aeiling’s statue Rise St. Pete, symbolizes
“remembrance and renewal” and will include a beam from
the World Trade Center and a 25-foot-tall wing made from
copper recovered from a recent renovation of the Statue of
Liberty. It will be placed at the entryway to the Warehouse Arts
District next to the ArtsXchange. When completed, it’s sure to
bring even greater attention to the area, further cementing St.
Pete’s reputation as a city of the arts.
14 'BURGLIFE | Living, Working and Playing in St. Petersburg, FL