The City of the Arts celebrates and appreciates the arts with fun and informality.
A fuss-less, tux-less outdoor “pARTy” honored artists and art-lovers alike in St. Pete March 4. The St. Petersburg Arts Alliance paid tribute to the exceptional talents of poets, actors, muralists and others at the eighth annual MUSE Awards.
pARTy Time
The backyard of the notable Morean Center for Clay hosted the colorful event this year. Home to exhibitions of local, national and international ceramic works, honorees came from all areas of the fine arts world. Literature, technology and visual arts connected honorees and the community.
TecKNOW Art
Merging murals with technology has become an economic game changer. This earned PixelStix CEO and Founder Matthew Walker a new honor of distinction in the area of arts and technology.
PixelStix’s innovative platform embeds technology beneath the layers of a muralist’s work. This gives viewers a gallery-like experience by simply using their smart phones. Cities like St. Petersburg, with more than 700 murals, also collect data from the platform.
Mural mONey
Embedding PixelStix’ wireless technology beneath the artists’ aerosol murals has become a valuable asset for cities like St. Pete.
“PixelStix (technology) gives the city the quantitative information it needs to pursue grants,” Walker said. “One of the ways it becomes really valuable to cities, and why St. Pete has been inspired so much by the technology, is that it shows where the foot traffic has gone to interact with art.”
PixelStix has grown nationally, but remains proud of its Greater Tampa Bay roots.
“We’re from St. Pete,” Walker said. “So much of the technology that we’re building and so much of what we’re doing for the larger arts movement is based on what is here in St. Pete. St. Pete has a mature arts scene.”
Aerosol ARTist and drag ACTor
Those honored on March 4 include Carlos Culbertson, AKA ZuluPainter or Zulu. He was honored for his creativity in traditional media and body paint, special effects and scenic art. The local artist has created aerosol-based murals across Florida.
In addition, actor and well-known drag artist Matthew McGee was honored by the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance for both his stage and drag contributions over the past 20 years.
Many Muses
Gloria Muñez is the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance MUSE literary honoree this year. She is a Colombian-American poet and both an adult and children’s author. Muñez is also an Ambroggio Prize winner, a $1,000 publication prize the Academy of American Poets presents to American poets whose first language is Spanish. In addition, patrons of the arts David and Becky Ramsey were honored for their continued generosity. The MUSE Awards were an energized evening filled with camaraderie, entertainment and elevation of the arts. The SPAA is grateful for pARTy goers whose admission funds annual arts programs, including Second Saturday ArtWalk, the SHINE Mural Festival and after school arts education.
Check out Guide’s photos of the incredible event here!
