Tampa Bay Museums

Summer

2010

Photos from Space Exhibit

A Different Version of “Alice in Wonderland”

Founding Families of St. Petersburg

PARKSHORE GRILL300 Beach DriveSt. Petersburg(727) 896-9463

Summer 2010

Cover Story

Featured Museums

The Exhibits to See

15 Coming Soon: The New Salvador Dali Museum

5 Weedon Island Preserve

9 Museum of Fine Arts

13 Salvador Dali Museum

17 St. Petersburg Museum of History

21 Florida Holocaust Museum

7 Photos from Space12 A Different “Alice”19 St. Petersburg’s Founding Families

> 2

Amy BlantonEditor

Layout DesignerWriter

Photographer

Tampa Bay Museums

Letter from the Editor Welcome to the first issue of Tampa Bay Magazine. The idea of the magazine is from my love of history, museums, and art. While I was obtaining my Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications and concentration in Magazine Journalism at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, I was a staff writer for the student newspaper, The Crow’s Nest. One of the beats that I covered was campus and community events. It was then that my love of writing about culture really developed. While covering the beat, I loved going to events that were held at the many diverse museums in St. Petersburg. Some of the museums that I covered are featured in this issue. I consider the museums a very special part of the community and I hope that they are open for may years to come. I was only able to feature a few of the museums in St. Petersburg. There are many more in the com-munity. They are have just as much, if not morre, to offer than the museums that I featured in this issue. I would like to thank you for picking up the first issue of Tampa Bay Magazine. I hope that you enjoy the many aspects of the museums in the Tampa Bay area that I have shared with you in this issue and issues to come. These are just a few aspects of the museums of all forms that are in the Tampa Bay Community. I hope that this magazine makes you want to visit the museums that are featured. To everyone that is visiting or calls the Tampa Bay area home, I hope that you take the time out of your busy lilves to visit these beautiful and unique museums. Again, thank you for purchasing the first issue of Tampa Bay Magazine. I hope that this issue is the first of many. Have a great day!

Sincerely,Amy Blanton

Bay WalkAddress of Bay Walk

St. Petersburg, FL 33701

> 4

Weedon Island Preserve, located at 1800 Weedon Drive NE in St. Petersburg, displays the natural and cul-tural aspects of Florida histroy. Some of the activities at the preserve are kayack and boardwalk trails, exhibits in the Cultural and Natural History Center, as well as educational activities and lectures. This family friendly environment is open from dusk to dawn. Call their of-fice at (727) 453-6500 for more information.

> 6

Space Exhibit Captures Earth’s Scenic Images

On Thursday, April 1, the exhibit “Earth from Space” opened to the public at Weedon Island Preserve. This traveling exhibit is part of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and Air and Space Museum.

The exhibit is made up of photos from different places on the earth. The images shown have vivid details, such as the grasses of the Florida Everglades, the grid system of the streets of San Francisco, California and the before and after images of the deforestation that took place in the Amazon.

About the Exhibit

There are 18 posters of images. They range from dif-ferent areas on earth and focus on different topics. These topics include mountains, oceans, storms, volcanoes, cities, and agriculture.

Some of the colors visible in the images are bright blue, like the oceans of the Caribbean in the “Life in the Caribbean” poster. Some are a deep red and orange, as seen in the “California Forest Fires” poster of the damage done to the land in California as a result of forest fires.

The posters displayed the name of the satellite that

was used to take photos of the certain location on earth, as well as when it was sent out into space.

The Satellites

For example, the poster titled “McCarty’s Lava Flow, New Mexico” was taken by Landsat 7 satellite that was launched in 1999 and is operated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA.

On Display

The exhibit “Earth from Space” will be on display at Weedon Island Preserve until August 31, 2010.

More Information

For more information regarding Weedon Island Pre-serve, go to www.weedonislandcenter.org . If you would like to view the website about the traveling exhibit, the website is www.earthfromspace.si.edu .

Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club

> 8

The Museum of Fine Arts, located at 225 Beach Drive NE, houses everything from antiques of the past to pieces of artwork from the present day. The museum has displayed exhibits of the baroque artwork of Fer-nando Botero, the artwork of Lesley Dill, and Andy Warhol’s Portraits. A few of the exhibits that are currently on display are Turmoil and Triumph: America Works on Paper from the World War II Era; Whistler, Hassam, and the Etching Revival; A Test of Faith: William Blake’s Illustrations of the Book of Job and many more. For the open hours and price rates for the museum, call (727) 896-2667.

> 10

Massey Yacht Sales & Service1110 3rd Street SouthSt. Petersburg (727) 527-2800

A Different Side of Salvador Dali

The film Alice by Jan Svankmajer released in 1988 was shown at the Dali’ Museum on Thursday, Jan. 21.

The Other “Alice in Wonderland”

Svankmajer’s Alice was shown to compare the film’s surrealism with Salvador Dali’s interpretations of Alice and Wonderland.

Surrealism is the art form of subversive activity to look at the unconscious and dream imagery as a way of creating a sort of alternative world.

Dali’s “Alice in Wonderland”

The exhibit showchased Dali's watercolor paintings of his perception on Alice in Wonderland.

"Disney's version is very sweet, where Svankmajer's is very irrational, almost like a dream, and it goes back and forth from Alice to dolls,” said Peter Tush, the Curator of Education at the Dali' Museum.

While the exhibit is on display there is a showing of the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland and Svankma-jer’s Alice.

"It's great seeing them back to back because they are so different," Tush said. "Hopefully it leads people back to reading the original."

According to Tush, Alice in Wonderland is loved by everybody, but it is a pretty, little horrifying story.

"Characters like the caterpillar and the mad hatter are not friendly, but Disney found a way to tone it down and not be so terrifying,” Tush said.

Svankmajer's Alice shows a child’s response to a terrifying world. “ Svankmajer was able to see it from a child's point of view that even though it seems sinister,” Tush said. “Her response is very different because for her that's what's happening and it’s keeping her from being bored.”

The Director of Alice

The director of Svankmajer’s Alice is considered to be one of the last acting people associated with Surrealism.

“[The director] considers himself to be in the lineage of Surrealism because he worked with the Czech Surrealist group," Tush said.

The book, Alice in Wonderland was written by Lewis Carroll and was later made into an animated movie by Walt Disney.

"I think he (Dali') was very comfortable with the work of Lewis Carroll and how irrational the world becomes," Tush said.

The Exhibit at The Dali

This exhibit opened in November and will be taken down April 9. "Dali' was hired to make a illustration booklet of 'Alice in Wonderland' and discussed it with Disney back in the late 50s or early 60s,” Tush said.

The paintings used for this exhibit are bright and happy, unlike most of the paintings by Dali’.

On Wednesday, Feb. 3, there will be a coffee talk at the museum on Dali' and Lewis Carroll.

The entrance fee to the Dali' Museum is free to USF St. Petersburg students, but students have to show USF student I.D.

> 12

The Salvador Dali Museum, located at 1000 Third Street South, is a treasure for St. Petersburg. It’s considered to house the world’s most com-prehensive collection of Dali’s artwork. Besides housing some of his art-work, things such as showing Surrealist films, hosting coffee talks with the curators and other events take place at the museum. The tours of the mu-seum are very intriguing. Besides talking about what moved Dali to create each piece of artwork or what he was going through at the time, the also mention interesting things that you can see in the paintings that are dis-guised by the naked eye. They are called hidden images and they are very intriguing. These are just a few of the great things at the Salvador Dali Museum. For museum hours and tour information call (727) 823-3767.

> 14

Coming Soon: The New Salvador Dali Museum

T he Salvador Dali’ Museum, located on 1000 Third Street South, has been in the Downtown St. Petersburg area for almost 30 years. It sits beside the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus. Construction is taking place of building a new Dali’ Museum. It will be bigger, have a more artistic design to the structure, but will resemble the original museum.

Protect the artwork

Another aspect of the new museum will be a safer home for the artwork and,in my opinion, will be located at a more desolate location. When a hurricane occurred near the current museum the artwork would have to be taken down and moved to a safe in the basement so that it would not be harmed by the damage of wind and rain. According to the Salvador Dali’ Museum, the new museum will have the artwork on the third floor. The new museum will be built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, 165 mph winds and will protect the artwork above the 100-year floodplain. The walls will be 18-inches thick of concrete and steel. The new museum will hold the largestcollection of Dali’s artwork, outside of Spain, and it will have plenty of room because of the spacious display.

Learning Spaces

Another aspect of the new museum is that there will be space for more learning opportunities. The new Dalí building will be 66,450 square feet. It will provide space for school groups, visitor orientation and classrooms, temporary exhibitions to complement the Dali collection, an indoor/outdoor café, and a rentable community room. Also, there will be a theater used to play films such as Dali’s Un chien andalou. Overall, these new additions to what the origional museum offered will be a great opportu-nity for the Tampa Bay community and visitors to the area a chance to know and understand more about this great artist.

A unique feature about the new museum is the architectural design of the structure. Dali’s fascination with science and math can be viewed in his artwork. This combination of art and science is also shown in the design of the structure. An example is the spiral staircase what the origional museum offered will be a great opportunity for the Tampa Bay community and visitors to the area a chance to know and understand more about this great artist.

A Different Look

A unique feature about the new museum is the architectural design of the structure. Dali’s fascination with science and math can be viewed in his artwork. This combination of art and science is also shown in the design of the structure. An example is the spiral staircase that

This new addition to the Tampa Bay art com-munity will be worth the wait!

connects the third floor gallery. The new Dalí Museum was designed by the renowned architect Yann Weymouth of HOK architectural firm and will be constructed by the Beck Group.

The new location of the museum will be next to the Mahaffey Theater, located at 400 1st Street South. Con-struction on the new location of the Salvador Dali’ Museum has been taking place since December 12, 2009 and the projected opening will be December of 2010.

Help Build the New Museum

If you would like to make a donation to the con-struction of the museum, you can visit the website www.salvadordalimuseum.org , mail in the donation, or stop by the museum and place the donation personally.

I, personally, can not wait for the new Dali’ Museum to open its doors. I think that the new location is a great spot for the museum because it will be right down the road from the Museum of Fine Art and the St. Petersburg Muse-um of History. Overall, I believe that change can be a good thing and I hope that it will be good for the St. Petersburg Salvador Dali’ Museum.

> 16

The St. Petersburg Museum of History, located at 335 Second Avenue NE, is home of the first commercial flight in Florida. It carried mail from the Albert Whitted Airport to in Tampa in 1914. The pilot was Tony Janus. There are quite a few interesting artifacts and antiques housed in the muse-um, such as a two-headed calf and a mummy. Upstairs of the museum are collections of photographs and documents. Here you can search for pho-tographs of what buildings and areas of town looked like from almost any year. If you live in a old-fashioned home in St. Petersburg, you could even search to see what your house originally looked like. These are just a few unique features. For museum hours and ticket prices, call (727) 894-1052.

> 18

St. Petersburg of the Past Joins the Future

The St. Petersburg Museum of History is taking on a project that will share the families and community of the past with the people of the present.

The St. Petersburg Museum of History is encourag-ing people to tell their story of what St. Petersburg was like when they were growing up during the 1920s and 1930s and their favorite memories of it. The reason why the Mu-seum is doing this is for their Founding Families Project. The project will be in video form on display at the Museum and it will share with the community the stories that are gathered through interviews.

The Project

In the beginning, the committee of the Founding Fam-ilies Project wanted to start by interviewing the relatives of the Founding Families that are on the memorial at Pioneer Park. They did not know that through word of mouth and a little bit of advertising would turn the number of interviews into a broad range of community members of the past.

Once the ads were put into local newspapers, the interviewing list changed from 30 to 250. The challenge that the committee is facing now is to schedule all of the interviews.

Once someone notifies the Museum, through a phone call or signing up on the Museum’s website, they are asked to fill out a basic form with their contact information as well as when their family first moved to St. Petersburg, preferably their ancestors. Then, depending on the year, an interviewer for the project will call them.

Organizing the Information

“What we are trying to do now, because there are so many people, is to have them fill out a pre-interview sheet that says how far back their family goes, because we are finding families that go all the way back to the 1880s, five and six generations,” said Connie Kone, President of the Board at the St. Petersburg Museum of History. Kone continued by saying that those stories were a top priority because the family members were elderly and that they wanted to capture their stories.

After a large amount of stories are gathered, the edited versions of the video interviews will be put in kiosks

throughout the Museum. The stories are going to be di-vided into decades as well as by the person’s name so that they can be easily accessed.

The Mission

The Museum’s mission is to collect, preserve, and to communicate the history of St. Petersburg of Pinellas County in the state of Florida. The Founding Families Project was created to share stories and memories of what is was like to live and grow up in St. Petersburg when it was beginning to transform into the metropolitan city that it is today.

By having the Founding Families Project available to the community, the St. Petersburg Museum of History is doing just that, preserving the memories of the past and sharing them with the community of the present and future.

Durty Nelly’s Irish Pub149 1st Avenue NorthBay Walk Midcore BuildingSt. Petersburg, FL

> 20

The Florida Holocaust Museum, located at 55 Fifth Street South, honors those that have died and survived the Holocaust. One way to tour the museum is through the self tour option. Through this option the visi-tor presses the number of the exhibit that they are in front of and informa-tion regarding the peice will play on the headset. There are artifacts in the museum, such as a box car that Jews traveled in to the main concentration camp called Auschwitz, and other items such as letters and childrens cloth-ing are on display. Besides the regular exhibits that the museum houses year-round, there are touring exhibits at the museum. A recent touring exhibit was DARFUR/DARFUR. It was a multi-media and photo collection exhibit about the genocide in Darfur. A upcoming touring exhibit is Andrea Keys Connell: Ceramic Sculptures. It will be on display from May 22 thru Au-gust 15. For more information about the museum, their hours and ticket prices call (727) 820-0100.

> 22

Fresco’s Waterfront Bistro (727) 894-4429