Tampa Bay Times

There’s a timeless appeal in browsing a museum or strolling through an art gallery.

But people are busy. They don’t always have time to sit, to analyze, to appreciate. They’re running into a shop for a quick latte, they’re downing beers with friends after a hard week at work.

Wouldn’t it be nice to experience art, kind of … accidentally?

Look around. More and more restaurant, bar and coffee house owners are hosting painters, photographers and sculptors, offering the stark walls of their facilities as a commission-free gallery. Local artists get exposure and make sales. Shop owners get free decor, plus a slate of fresh customers who may be friends with the artists.

It also opens unexpected eyes.

“Some people find the gallery scene intimidating and don’t go in because they feel uneducated about art or pressured to buy,” said Coralette Damme, a.k.a. the Crafty Hag, an artist and printmaker who has shown work in several coffee shops around town. “Those venues may be harder for an artist to get their work into, as well.”

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TBO.com

Chef Ferrell Alvarez runs into it all the time at his Café Dufrain restaurant on Harbor Island: Customers who don’t know or care how much of their meal is made with local ingredients.

They usually have never heard of Pasture Prime Farm in Summerfield, the source of his restaurant’s pork and beef. They don’t know that the greens come from the Urban Oasis vertical grow farm and Sweetwater Organic Farm in Tampa. Or that the chickens the restaurant uses are raised without the hormones used by large-scale industrial farmers

To educate Tampa Bay-area foodies and the dining public, Alvarez started The Local Dirt, a magazine he hopes to use to spread the gospel of locally grown food.

The free quarterly publication, which has a circulation of 20,000 copies for its inaugural issue, will appear in groceries, health food stores and other shops starting today.

Alvarez shares publishing duties with Ty Rodriguez, general manager of Café Dufrain, and Cathy Hume, co-owner at Urban Oasis. None had prior publishing experience, so they collaborated with Fourthdoor Creative Group, producers of local publications, including Blu, South Tampa Magazine and Vue.

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Tampa Bay Times

A few years ago, Ryan Iacovacci moved to Sulphur Springs, a neighborhood with a reputation for drugs and crime, and he vowed to change it. He was an idealistic, radical University of South Florida student who believed in grass roots advocacy. For him and many others, such advocacy comes not by way of marches or protest but through something everyone loves: Food.  Iacovacci is the founder of the Birdhouse Buying Club, where members pool their money to buy organic or local produce that’s unavailable or too expensive at grocery stores. Right now, the club is made up of about 40 of Iacovacci’s friends and acquaintances but, in time, he hopes to expand it into Sulphur Springs and transform the neighborhood.

He wants to change Sulphur Springs’ nutritional habits, create jobs, stop kids from selling drugs and empower them to turn wasted neighborhood oranges, kumquats and mulberries into money.

“We are working to build a sovereign food system that has the strength to resist economic shocks and make more affordable local fresh food,” he pledges.

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Suncoast Arts Fest (SAF),
presented by Wesley Chapel Nissan
The Shops at Wiregrass, Wesley Chapel
January 21 and 22

Into their 7^th year, SAF continues to grow and evolve, adding more surprises and features you won’t want to miss! This year’s event will bring back the popular, tried and true street chalk artists, speed painter, Tim Decker (on stage this year!), fantastic music, great eateries, and amazing visual artists to line the streets of the Shops at Wiregrass. The event begins at 10 AM Saturday January 21, with the Time Bandits opening on stage with their own style of classic rock and blues.  Artist tents will line the streets, bringing new artists and returning favorites, in all media and a full range of prices, promising something for everyone.

Don’t forget to catch the Emerging Artist Exhibit and see for yourselves the amazing artistic talent being nurtured in our very own Pasco schools.  Speed painter, Tim Decker, will be doing a show-on-stage each day at 12:30 PM.  Tim has generously offered to donate one piece of his art each day to be raffled off by Suncoast Arts Fest volunteers to benefit the Arts for Kids.  Tickets are $2 each or 3 tickets for $5.

Entertainment continues with area schools bringing their talented performing students to entertain you, and ends the day with Josh Lamkin and Automatic Heat. Youngsters will be entertained with art projects, face painting and more.  This is truly an event for the whole family!

On Sunday, SAF kicks off the day with the first Suncoast Run for the Arts(!) a one-mile  fun-run/walk event  scheduled for take-off at 9 AM.; organized by  Big Dawg Runnin’ Inc. Everyone gets a ribbon!  There will be awards, T-shirts for those who registered before January 12, and a pancake  breakfast immediately following the run will be provided to our runners; patrons may also purchase breakfast for $5.

There will be more talent from area schools, another Tim Decker speed painting performance, and the Sol Caribe band will conclude the entertainment, closing the 7^th Suncoast Arts Fest at 5 PM.

This event is fully handicapped accessible, and parking is free.   For more information about the Suncoast Arts Fest Weekend event and our mobile apps program go to www.SuncoastArtsFest.com, scan the QR code and follow the directions.  Watch for updates by following the Suncoast Arts Fest on Facebook, Twitter and our very own blog! 

The Suncoast Arts Fest is a production of The Fine Arts of the Suncoast, Inc., a Florida not-for-profit 501(c)(3) with the mission to “promote cultural awareness in Pasco County;”  supported in part by Pasco County and the Tourist Development Council.

Proceeds from the event go to “Art for Kids “ and help supplement funding for arts education in schools.