Arts Annual 8 At Creative Pinellas Features Works By More Than 70 Local Artists

LARGO, FL — Creative Pinellas, the county’s arts agency, is hosting the kickoff for its signature fundraiser, the Arts Annual 8, Friday, 6 to 9 p.m., at the Gallery at Creative Pinellas in Largo.

The exhibit, featuring works by more than 70 Pinellas County artists, will be on display through Jan. 4.

The event comes on the heels of county commissioners voting 5-2 to eliminate more than $1 million in funding for the organization, leading to a reduction in staff and the cancellation of a number of events.

It will also be the final exhibit and event held at Creative Pinellas’ current gallery.

Since its launch, the “Arts Annual has been the place where artists, collectors and community members gather to celebrate the power of the arts in Pinellas County. But this year, Arts Annual is a party with vital purpose: to raise the money we urgently need to sustain our future following a drastic funding cut,” the organization’s leaders wrote in the description of the Facebook event.

Tickets for the fundraiser start at $25 and the goal is “to ensure that our cultural community and Creative Pinellas not only survives, but thrives,” the organization wrote.

The show features music by We’re Sweet Girls, a multi-panel installation by BASK, a curated collection of giftable artworks, limited-edition prints by Tes One and “Chizzy Supports the Arts” sticker packs by Chad Mize, food by Uptown Eats and Bonefish Grill, and drinks from Great Bay Distributors.

St. Petersburg artist James Hartzell called this year’s Arts Annual “bittersweet.”

“It’s been a long term goal to exhibit my work at Creative Pinellas. I’m over the moon excited to be part of Arts Annual as their gallery space [and] community support has been such a source of inspiration over the years,” he told Patch. “It’s a time for celebration for sure as the roster of over 70 artists is so strong, but also bittersweet knowing that the county chose to defund an arts organization that’s done such amazing work over the last decade.”

Artist Luci Westphal, also of St. Petersburg, has a photography-based installation called “Papi’s Gardent” (“Dad’s Garden”) in the show.

Inspired by her father’s death this summer in her native Germany, “it’s a line of concrete construction blocks to which I transferred photos of plants growing out of cracks between concrete,” she told Patch.

Westphal added, “It’s an homage to my father, a social artist and photographer, and his beliefs that all beings should be treated equally with dignity and delicacy. Beauty can easily be overlooked and harmed if we don’t stop to pay attention.”

This year’s Arts Annual, which she called “the event of the year for the arts in our area,” is especially poignant, she said.

“It’s an honor to be showing art among the best of the best artists in Pinellas County. This year the annual fundraiser and group exhibit is even more important than in prior years. It looks to be the last one to be held at the magnificent gallery of Creative Pinellas. Since the majority of the Creative Pinellas funding from the county has been reallocated to tourism instead of art, CP will no longer hold the lease for this gallery, which is on a metropolitan level,” Westphal said. “This year, it’s especially important to attend Arts Annual not just to see the best group exhibit of the year, but also to show support in person and financially (through ticket sales and art purchases) to make clear to the county, your neighbors, the artists, and Creative Pinellas that art and freedom of expression through artist practice matters to you and that you wish for it to continue.”

Creative Pinellas recently presented five ways the community can support the organization following its funding cuts, which include attending the Arts Annual, shopping in its gift shop and gallery, and hosting a fundraiser.