The Chihuly Collection presented by the Morean Arts Center will be closing its doors on Beach Drive August 1, but not without one last exciting experience for art lovers.
Ya La’ford presents ECHOES: Universal Signals, a new large-scale interactive installation and new body of work highlighting the relationship between light, sound, and space opening Friday, July 22. La’ford is a painter, installation, muralist and a social practice artist, as well as a professor who exhibits her work nationally and internationally. Her acclaimed, large-scale paintings are layered with richly textured paint and embedded with thick, painterly geometric lines interconnecting through space and color. La’ford resides in St. Petersburg, but divides her time between the local art scene and that of her birthplace, Bronx, NY.
Andy Schlauch, Executive Director of the Chihuly Collection “is thrilled to showcase La’ford’s work as our last temporary exhibition in the Chihuly Collection on Beach Drive. It’s the perfect way to celebrate the local art community before moving to Central Avenue. ECHOES will be an extraordinary and unexpected experience for Chihuly fans.”
ECHOES: Universal Signals is a solo exhibition of golden infused geometric labyrinths on mirror, canvas and sculpture. This exhibit references La’ford’s signature linear and cyclical geometric labyrinths as a journey to explore metaphysical relationships between light, sound and space. The interactive sculpture installation scales the wall and highlights LED luminaries with an embedded sound instrument and mallet echoing vibrant and hollow tones when struck. The exhibit also includes an audio element featuring St. Petersburg poet laureate Helen Pruitt Wallace.
La’ ford “looks forward to showcasing this new body of work at the Chihuly Collection. It’s an opportunity to reach a different demographic of art enthusiasts who may otherwise never come across my installations.” “My work reflects my cultural hybridity. As a first generation American, I move between my Caribbean heritage(s) and all communities to try to find a universal language”, La’ford continued.
Opening Night Reception
Friday, July 22
6-8PM
FREE and open to the public (ECHOES only – no admittance to the main galleries)
400 Beach Drive, NE – St. Petersburg, FL
Thank you to Smith & Associates for sponsoring this event.
The Chihuly Collection will be open with normal business hours through July 31. The relocation will start immediately, with a Grand Re-Opening scheduled for October 2016 on Central Avenue.
The new location, 720 Central Avenue, will be adjacent to the Morean Arts Center and will include an exhibition space and approximately 4,200 square feet of outdoor space.
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Dale Chihuly’s passion and support of children’s art education was a prime reason for choosing St. Petersburg as the home for the Chihuly Collection. All net proceeds stay local to St. Petersburg to help support and sustain the educational programs at the Morean Arts Center.
The Morean Arts Center, with roots dating back to 1917 as the Art Club of St. Petersburg, focuses on an innovative, community-oriented approach to art and art education. The mission of the Morean Arts Center is to connect people with art and to contribute to the economic development of the region. Operating under the Morean Arts Center includes the Chihuly Collection, Glass Studio & Hot Shop and the Morean Center for Clay.