MOREAN ARTS CENTER June Bunch Previews Upcoming Exhibits/Events

Artist and musician June Bunch previews this winter's upcoming exhibitions and events at Morean Arts Center.  Winter Classes    February Art Camp   Glass Blowing Experience
JANUARY 
Morean Center for Clay:  The Morean Center for Clay gets fired up with fresh 10/10: Wood Fire Again kiln creations and Berit Hines’  Wondrous Vessels on January 10, from 5-9pm. The fruits of the annual wood firing symposium will be on display in the exhibition 10/10: Wood Fire Again, showcasing a group of potters from all over Florida and beyond. This year’s works come from multiple artists who sacrificed their sanity for over a week during round-the-clock shifts of feeding the anagama kiln’s flame. Through the collective struggle and triumph, marvelous ceramic artworks have been produced for your viewing pleasure. Four kilns, forty artists, and countless logs later have made for one spectacular showcase. Witness not only the variety of artistic styles, but methods of firing. Indulge your senses in the decadent ashy drips of the Anagama; the fiery coal crust of the Train; the slick sheen of the Oil/Salt; and the juicy rind of the Groundhog.
Berit Hines shares her Wondrous Vessels in the gallery that come from coil and slab building, which creates one-of-a-kind ceramic vessels depicting a break from symmetrical objects. Hines manipulates the clay body to emphasize the plasticity and gestural qualities of the material while achieving asymmetry.Though sculptural, many of the objects still retain their functionality.
The exhibitions are free and open to the public from Wednesday to Saturday,10am-5pm. 10/10 Wood Fire Again will be on view through March 7 and Wondrous Vessels will be on view through February 7.
Morean Arts Center 1/16: The Morean Arts Center highlights the National Association of Women Artists, SARTQ Artist Collective, and Rebecca Sexton Larson.
A Journey Through My Imagination is a juried exhibition of artwork by members of The National Association of Women Artists (NAWAFL). Featuring painting, photography, ceramics, glass, and more, this show demonstrates the depth and breadth of work being made by participants in one of the oldest art organizations in the US. NAWAFL, founded in 1889, is the oldest professional women’s fine arts organization in the United States, serving professional women artists of all backgrounds and traditions. It encourages contemporary and emerging artists while continuing to honor the long and important contribution of women to the history of American culture and art.

The Morean and SARTQ Artist Collective collaborate to present Day Dreams, a captivating group exhibition delving into the enigmatic and surreal world of dreams. This exhibition transports viewers to the subconscious, inviting them to explore the complexities, contradictions, and hidden meanings that reside within our dreams. Through a diverse range of artistic mediums—from painting and sculpture to mixed media, photography, and installation—Day Dreams aims to evoke an immersive and thought-provoking experience where reality and imagination intertwine.

Where Leaves Remember by Rebecca Sexton Larson displays an ongoing body of work presented as a sketchbook exploring the relationship between nature, memory, and transformation. Each page functions as both surface and site—a place where recollection accumulates, shifts, and reconfigures over time. Rooted in the premise that leaves, like people, retain evidence of what has passed, the project explores how memory operates as a layered and evolving process. Through drawings, photographs, and text fragments, the work considers how marks and materials record the interplay between permanence and loss. Where Leaves Remember examines how natural cycles of decay and renewal parallel the ways in which human memory is continually rehabilitating through time and experience.

"Coming off the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we're excited to host these exhibitions that encourage calmness, contemplation and meditation,” said Amanda Cooper, Chief Curator at the Morean Arts Center. “Sexton-Larson's work asks that we slow down and think about the connection between memory and nature, between loss and the passage of time. Day Dreams and A Journey through My Imagination are a soothing feast for the eyes with playful imagery and cotton candy color palettes.”

All three exhibitions will be on display from January 16 through March 26. The Morean Arts Center gallery is free and open to the public Monday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm at 719 Central Avenue. For more information, please visit MoreanArtsCenter.org or call 727.822.7872.  

2/14 Artist Jennifer Schumacher Waller uses clay to record moments in-between fixed states. Her upcoming exhibition, In Between, highlights those liminal places, opening Saturday, February 14, with a reception from 5-9pm at the Morean Center for Clay.
Viewers are invited to witness a series where meaning wavers and blurs, and certainty dissolves. 
👉The exhibition is free and open to the public from Wednesday to Saturday,10am-5pm, on view February 14 through April 4. The Morean Center for Clay is in the Warehouse Arts District at 420 22nd Street South. 
WALLER QUOTE “The spaces of transition are places of pause, reflection and perception that reveal the feeling and sense of connection and separation,” according to Waller, who uses clay to capture quiet moments and lived experience, moments of stillness, the space between and the connections that bridge them together. "These records and relationships explore issues of uncertainty loss, memory and place. I am drawn to the presence of what once was there, the fragility of a moment and what we choose to hold onto and release.”
Jennifer Schumacher Waller resides and works in New Orleans, Louisiana. She received her BFA from Louisiana State University where she studied ceramics and photography. In 2023, Jennifer went on to receive a Post-Baccalaureate in Ceramics at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Jennifer held residency at the International Artist Residency Exchange in Saint-Raphael, France and the Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana. She has shown at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as Berlin, Germany, Rhode Island, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oregon and around Louisiana.
About the Morean Center for Clay
Housed in a historic freight train depot in St. Petersburg’s vibrant Warehouse Arts District, the Morean Center for Clay is the largest pottery studio in the Southeast, and one of the largest in the United States. It is one of four venues operated by the Morean Arts Center, a cornerstone of the region’s cultural landscape dedicated to connecting people with art. Home to more than 50 ceramic artist studios, the Center for Clay supports the creation of both functional and sculptural ceramic art, reflecting the Morean’s mission to foster creativity, accessibility, and community engagement through the arts.
2/27 The Morean Arts Center invites the community to Iconic: Hands-On Edition, the fourth iteration of Iconic, a signature event series that reimagines how audiences engage with art. The event takes place Friday, February 27, from 7–10 pm, at the Morean Center for Clay. 
👉Designed as a passport-style journey through creativity, Iconic: Hands-On Edition offers fully guided experiences across multiple art forms in one unforgettable evening. Guests will explore ceramics, drawing, painting, photography, jewelry-making, and glass art, led by talented local artist-instructors. The evening celebrates the Morean Arts Center’s 109th year of connecting people to art through education, access, and community engagement.
👉Participation is part of the art. Attendees are encouraged to dress as their favorite artists for a chance to win the Best-Dressed Artist Costume Award, which includes a complimentary art class. The experience is further elevated with curated bites from local culinary artists, a DJ, interactive art stations, a color-your-drink open bar, and a silent auction featuring works by local artists.

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