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Fundraising Art Show Will Help Upgrade Silver Meteor

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 17, 2007

TAMPA - One of Ybor's newer art galleries is hosting a fundraiser for one of the older ones.

For the second year in a row, 5 Art, an artists' collective that runs an alternative gallery in Ybor Heights, will hold a one-night art show and sale to benefit Silver Meteor Theater and Gallery.

From 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday at Silver Meteor, 2213 E. Sixth Ave., the festivities will include light refreshments, music from disc jockey Brian Taylor and art created by many local artists, including Mark Cannariato, Edgar Sanchez Cumbas, Dave Galbraith, Allen Hampton, Carolyn Kossar, Daniel Mantilla, Michelle Rainey, Ariel Baron Robbins and Julie Weitz.

A $5 donation is suggested, with proceeds going to the theater/gallery.
Silver Meteor is named for the passenger train that ran from Tampa to New York on the tracks a few feet from the gallery's front door, owner Michael Murphy said.

'Now that train is called the Silver Star,' he said.

Murphy and his father, John, opened the gallery in 1995 with an exhibition of paintings by Tom Keeney. Since then, Silver Meteor has been an Ybor staple for alternative visual and performance art.

It's a venue for the annual Ybor Festival of the Moving Image and has been home to Hat Trick Theatre Productions, which staged several shows there this year. Its next, 'Pavilion,' by Craig Wright, will run from Nov. 16 through Dec. 2.
Silver Meteor sits on a narrow spit of street between 22nd and 23rd streets. With its aging look and its windows blackened to keep the light out for theater and film productions, the nearly 100-year-old building could almost be mistaken for a derelict house. But it just needs a few upgrades.

Enter 5 Art leader Tracey Midulla Reller, artist and visual arts professor at Hillsborough Community College.

'I'm from Tampa, and some of the earliest shows I went to as an art student were in Silver Meteor Gallery,' she said. 'And it needs to be supported.'

She soon got her collective's members on board.

'At that time we didn't have our own space so we were working with a group of different venues,' she said.

Murphy also owns the building next door, where art was formerly displayed but which hasn't been open in some time.

'The very long-term goal is to fine-tune the theater building - the 'black box' - and then get the other building up and running,' Reller said.

Although hanging visual art in a 'black box' is a challenge, it is not a deterrent to Reller. Saving the Silver Meteor is primary.

Murphy 'has projects that have no rules, and they are completely out of the box,' she said. 'There's total creative license and it is the most honest alternative space in Tampa.'

Last year's fundraiser netted enough money to repair the roof.

'This year, I hope to be able to get central heat and air,' Murphy said.

For information, call Reller at (813) 340-9056 or Murphy at (813) 300-3585, or visit www.five-art.com.

Gallery Focuses On Hispanic Art

TECO Public Art Gallery, 702 N. Franklin St., hosts an exhibit through Nov. 1 that celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month.

Aptly called, '6 Artists,' the exhibit presents a world view from the perspective of six artists who hail from four Latin countries: Cuba, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.

Ligia Bello of Venezuela expresses her dreams, hopes and loves through the vibrancy of her acrylic paintings and collages. Also from Venezuela, Gustavo Briceno adds textural elements to his somewhat abstract landscapes, including one painting in which he uses the Tampa Electric Co. logo.

Colombian artist Carlos Camargo calls himself a 'fire worker,' referring to the iridescent colors in his paintings. Aurora Heuple, from Mexico, does floral diptychs and detailed mythological paintings. The artist known simply as Reume, from Cuba, creates oil paintings that reflect the suffering of the common people. The sixth artist, Jose Soleda, is from Mexico.

Call coordinator Ana Maria Mendoza at (813) 727-6408 for information.

It's Fright Night At Art After Dark

If you're dressed as a frightening Halloween creature when you arrive at the Tampa Museum of Art on Friday, you could leave with the Best Costume award.

From 8 to 11 p.m., Art After Dark With Starbucks presents art and entertainment with a trick-or-treat theme. Music will be performed by Everise.

Admission is free for museum members and $10 for nonmembers.

Call the museum at (813) 274-8130 for details.

Correspondent Esther Hammer can be reached at (813) 835-2108 or ehammer@tampatrib.com.

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