Get Ready for the Third Annual SoStudio Tour 

SoStudio Tour 2013 is on Memorial Day Weekend, Saturday, May 25, 1-7pm, and Sunday, May 26, 1-4pm. The 49th Street South Business Association and the Gulfport Merchants Association are sponsoring this Tour, which features studios, galleries, receptions, and demonstrations.

For instance, Jennifer Kosharek (eve-n-odd.blogspot.com) will spray-paint Owen Pach’s van on Sunday at the City of Imagination’s Gulfport Arts Center (GAC). He’s president of Industrial Arts Center Gulfport, which will have ongoing demonstrations of glasswork from many different artists.

The tour hosts many Gulfport classics and some new-to-us artists. Here’s a partial list: Janet Corrigan, Ricca Fischer, Byron Howes, Derrick Johnson, Mary Joyner, Cynthia Linden, Jonathon Schork, Melissa Schultz, Keith Stillwagon, Monika Watson, Catherine Weaver, and Mia Williams.

The $10 Tour Guide will act as your entry into the studios, galleries, and receptions around town. They may be bought in advance during each location’s open hours, starting at the Third Saturday Art Walk May 18, from Domain Home & Gallery, Beach Bazaar, Gulfport Area Chamber of Commerce, and T and Me. On the days of SoStudio, Guides will also be available from GAC and the Longhouse.

City of Imagination will be a part of the tour and will also be a reception host from 1-4pm on Sunday.

Art and the Creative Spirit Sunday, December 10, 2012 at 3pm ($10-$15) GULFPORT ARTS CENTER , a City of Imagination Project
2726 54th Street South, Gulfport , Florida Since the time of the Neolithic European cave drawings and aboriginal rock paintings, the Arts have been an integral part of spiritual expression, evoking the deepest human passions and emotions, as well as our connection to other dimensions. What makes art sacred? What kinds of transcendent states and spiritual realms have artists tried to invoke and evoke? Does the creative spirit lie within the artist, or is it channeled through the artist from a higher power?This episode of Global Spirit seeks answers to these questions by looking at various sacred art forms, and by engaging with artists keenly aware of the spiritual aspect of the creative process. We follow the work and teachings of Buddhist Lama Lhanang Rinpoche and Pueblo Indian sculptor Estella Loretto. Lama Lhanang, who leads a circle of Buddhist practitioners in Los Angeles , creates paintings that depict Buddhist figures and teachings, while Estella sculpts according to the dictates of her Native American spirit and sensibility. Visually engaging and emotionally uplifting, this Global Spirit episode imparts new insights and discoveries about sacred art and the creative spirit from spiritual traditions hailing from parts of the world as seemingly disconnected as Tibet and the American Southwest. 

City of Imagination is proud to welcome Wilson Loria and SOLOS THEATRE PROJECT to the City of Imagination~Gulfport Arts Center.  Wilson will be the Chairperson of Theater Programming for City of Imagination. 

SoStudio Tour 2012 - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - 3:00-8:00 P.M.

Studio tour starting at The Longhouse (2309 49th St S), the City of Imagination-Gulfport Arts Center (2726 54th St S) or the Gulfport Neighborhood Center (1617 49th St S).   Artists' studios in the tour:  Nancy Cervenka, Janet Corrigan, Mark Curtis, Cheryll Grogan, Patricia Hickman, Byron Howes, Derrick Johnson, Cathy Lees, Barbara Nicolazzo, Owen Pach, Carol Pieszchala, Johnathan Schork, Melissa Schultz, Clint Stone, John Shevlin, Frank Strunk III, Monika Watson, Catherine Weaver and Victoria Wnners.   Plus, manyother artists at The Longhouse, City of Imagination-Gulfport Arts Center, the Neighborhood Center, the Industrial Arts Center, and Uniquely Original Art Gallery.  Art, conversation and drinks at every venue!  All that plus food at The Longhouse, City of Imagination-Gulfport Arts Center and the 49th Street Neighborhood Center.  $10 admission.  You can catch the FREE Gulfport Trolley.  Sponsored by So49.org "with a lotta help from its friends."  

Mother+Brothers Exhibit The City of Imagination hosts an opening reception for Mother+Brothers Friday, May 4^th from 6-8 pm at the Catherine Hickman Theatre at 5501 27^th Ave. South.  The exhibit presents selections of written word by Lenora Morris and art created by her sons Lamont and Marquise Russ.  Lenora is a published poet who is working on her second book.  Lamont is a graduate of the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High and the Savannah College of Art and Design.  Lamont currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia where he works as a cartoon animator.  His brother Marquise is a graduate of Nina Harris Exceptional Student Education Center and is currently a member artist at Creative Clay, a St. Petersburg organization that provides art opportunities for people with disabilities.  Come see the work of this creative and artistic family.  The exhibit runs from May 4- May 29^th, 9-5 weekdays.  Opening Reception to meet the artists is on Friday, May 4^th,  6-8 pm,  with light refreshment and cash bar.