Try to picture St. Petersburg without the art you are so accustomed to seeing everyday. Imagine this city without the Salvador Dali Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, and all of the signature murals. St. Pete would become just another city on the map, instead of being one of the most artistic cities in the country.
Sometimes the citizens of St. Petersburg get caught up in their lives and forget how lucky they are to be living in such an artistic place; I know I do at times. Then I’ll have these moments when I’m driving in St. Pete with my friends, and I’ll see a beautiful mural, a center where you can take art classes, and an art gallery all within five minutes of each other, and I’m reminded of how extraordinary this place truly is.
The fact that USFSP is walking distance from all these arts-related places is so unbelievably cool (oh, I live two minutes away from the Dali? No big deal). There’s no doubt that many USFSP students are taking full advantage of living in an arts-driven community. In fact, we have many art-based entrepreneurs right here at USFSP. Take students Emma Stone and Miteau Francois for example.
Emma is freshman who has her own photography business. Emma has been photographing for the past five years but officially opened her business about two years ago when she began taking senior pictures at her high school.
“I absolutely consider photography an art form. Any form of art, I believe, is a way in which a person is given the chance to express themselves…We all have something inside each of ourselves that we wish to share with the world. To open up to art…is something that each person should at least try to do at some point in their lives,” she added.
Photo courtesy of Emma Stone
Miteau Francois has a fashion company called Simply Steez, which I’m sure most of you have heard of since a lot of USFSP students wear his clothes around campus.
Miteau says having a fashion-based business is the best of both worlds.“I’m a business major, so I wanted to create my own brand, so why not create something that I love, something that I’m passionate about?” said Francois.
To the critics who say fashion isn’t art, Francois implores them to open their mind. “Art is an expression of yourself…whatever you do is art,” says Francois.
Me interviewing Miteau Francois
Check out Simply Steez’s website, http://simplysteez.com/
USFSP is showing its support for arts-based entrepreneurial students like Stone and Francois through events like Art After Dark, which is hosted by the University Student Center. Art After Dark is a week-long program whose purpose is to connect the USFSP community to the St. Petersburg art community through different art-based events.
Warren Buchholz, the Multimedia Program Coordinator at USFSP’s University Student Center, was one of the people responsible for this event.
Buchholz said the main reason for the USC hosting this event was to connect St. Peterburg’s art community with the USFSP community. “Downtown St. Petersburg is one of the most thriving art communities in the U.S., yet USFSP is not involved with it. So by getting outside community members to come in and show/talk about art, we hoped to begin to expose our campus to art and to fuel conversations,” said Buchholz.
On why he believes the arts are important to the USFSP community, Buchholz says, “The more we can become exposed to something, the more we begin to understand and respect it, which then delves deeper into the importance of artistic place holding and allowing artists to exist within communities where gentrification is beginning to happen. If we can find ways for artists to live/work in their own communities, then our city will continue to thrive economically.”
Trying to picture St. Petersburg without its arts is something I just can’t do. Thankfully, I don’t have to. However what I can, and should do, is appreciate and explore the arts community in St. Petersburg more. I only have two more years here in St. Petersburg, so I’m going to take all the time I can get to fully utilize all the amazing things this beautiful city has to offer.
HCXOXO,
Kelli Carmack
Profile picture courtesy of: https://www.google.com/search?q=st+petersburg&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&…