The west coast of Florida has a number of great outdoor art shows throughout the fall, winter, and spring seasons.  For St. Petersburg, our premier outdoor art event is, unquestionably, the Mainsail Arts Festival.

Held on the waterfront in downtown St. Petersburg, this year’s Mainsail will be the 35th instance of this show!  That’s pretty remarkable, but you can be certain that it’s no accident.  I’ve been attending the show since the very first one, and I can tell you that the planning that goes into this event is phenomenal, as are the artists who exhibit in this venue. It’s a juried art show, so there is intense competition just to be allowed to exhibit in the show.  That means that the public gets a chance to see the best of the best, all in one place, and in a gorgeous outdoor St. Petersburg setting!

This year’s show will take place this Saturday and Sunday, April 17th and 18th, at Vinoy Park, located just east of the Vinoy Hotel on the Tampa Bay waterfront.  There will be over 200 artists, covering a wide range of media, including Ceramics, Fibers, Glass, Jewelry, Metal, Mixed Media, Oil/Acrylic, Photography, Sculpture, Watercolor and Wood.

The show is free to attend, and you can go just to enjoy, or you can go with the idea of finding your next treasure.  Mainsail is truly a wonderland of creative energy, and it shows in the works that are exhibited.  If you have kids, you can bring them by the children’s art tent, where they’ll have a chance to do interactive activities and get in touch with their inner artist.

One final note – a new Mainsail Arts Festival poster is created each year for the show.  This year, the poster is the work of Duncan McClellan, an amazing glass artist who I have the good fortune to know.  (And, even more good fortune, I have one of his beautiful creations at home, and I get to enjoy it every day!)  Duncan’s work is well-known and very highly regarded throughout the country.  He will be exhibiting his glass works at the show this weekend.  And he is a great example of the caliber of art and craft work that you can expect to see at the show from over 200 artists.

If you need more information, please check out the Mainsail Website.  Then, get out and enjoy our beautiful weekend!