The collaborative spirit of St. Petersburg’s art community is in full flower with Juicy: A Slice of Florida Life, which debuted Tuesday at the Sightline Gallery, inside the terminal at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport.
The exhibit, and the year-old gallery itself, are curated by Creative Pinellas, the county’s umbrella arts support organization.
It’s a celebration of Florida’s all-important citrus industry, a key step on the state’s historical timeline. Juicy features a series of the stunning, colorful illustrations used on West Central Florida citrus shipping crates in the 20th century.
The 36×36 inch canvases are enlarged photo reproductions of the (much smaller) original labels, all of which are in the collection of Heritage Village, the county-run history center and 21-acre park.
Heritage Village, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2026, partnered with Creative Pinellas, and the airport, to define, refine and focus the citrus exhibition.
As the idea of a collaboration expanded, they decided to bring in a sculptural element.
St. Petersburg glass artist Duncan McClellan introduced the parties to Tucson, Arizona’s Steve Hagan, who creates intricate blown glass fruit slices. So detailed, brightly colored and juicy-looking you can almost taste them.
Hagan contributed several glass sculptures, and fruit-themed, hand-made glass jewelry.
The show also includes glass art from other artists from the Duncan McClellan Gallery. In her Small Fruit series, Stephanie Trenchard sculpts and paints objects in glass then encases them in sand cast glass forms. Artist duo Jason Chakravarty and Jennifer Caldwell’s sculpture Just Bee was created with a combination of cast and flame-worked glass.
And the collaborations didn’t end there. Through a grant from Creative Pinellas, bay area artist Kirk Ke Wang has created an installation celebrating legendary Chinese horticulturist Lue Gim Gong, whose work with cross-breeding different hardy strains of oranges is credited with saving the citrus industry. Lue died in 1925.
The piece, which is being installed on the Heritage Village campus this week, will be formally unveiled July 11, during the Heritage Village All-American 50 at 250 Bash
Airport director Mark Sprague credited Creative Pinellas, which curates and manages the art seen in Gates 7-11 and the public corridor between Ticketing A and B, with providing visitors – particularly in high traffic areas – with glimpses of the real Pinellas County.
“When people think of Pinellas County,” Sprague said, “they think ‘Oh, there’s beaches, there’s resorts, there are all these great restaurants,’ but then they see something like this. And THIS is what Pinellas County is also.”
This content provided in partnership with StPeteCatalyst.com
