SPL SPOTLIGHT
Three years ago, renowned ceramicist
Brenda McMahon formed local arts
collective ArtJones, which grew to include 20
professional artists by its third year in 2019,
including luminaries in Florida’s art world
such as master painters Ray Domingo and
Jane Bunker, the aforementioned Waters and
McMahon herself, as well as emerging stars
on the scene like painter Anna Ayres, who
last year was honored with a Creative Pinellas
Emerging Artist Grant.
So, when McMahon opened her namesake
Gallery last May, she found a public ready to
embrace it and an arts community deserving
of such a showcase. “All of these wonderful
creatives descend on Gulfport with open
hearts and creative joy. I wanted the Gallery
A Village of the Arts
Across the street, The Village Courtyard,
an eclectic mix of creative businesses and
entertainment, bustles with the activity of
the recently opened North End Tap House
while local Kava Bar, Low Tide, celebrates its
sixth anniversary in a location that has seen
neighbors come and go in the past few years.
More music emanates from the stage in the
center of the Courtyard, as a young lady in her
early 20’s strums a guitar for the crowd and
the tip jar.
hearted community where you know your neighbors, love to
A full-time ceramic artist for more than 25 years, McMahon
curates a gallery with artwork from local, regional and
“I have always felt that a diversity of mediums resonate
hold the space for Japanese inspired ceramics. Blown glass
sparkles in the windows, while brilliant pastels warm the
walls. Dimensional ceramic wall murals add texture and
volume to the space where mixed media acrylics carry you
into a dreamy waterside landscape.
“All of these wonderful creatives converge in this artist
The Brenda McMahon Gallery is open 5 days a week; Mondays
& Wednesdays it is closed so Brenda can work in her ceramic
studio. Artist Spotlight
13
March/April 2020 StPeteLifeMag.com
Brenda McMahon
Brenda McMahon Gallery
ArtJones, Founder
On a beautiful February
afternoon in 2019, artist Brenda
McMahon was walking through
Gulfport’s popular Tuesday
Fresh Market when she saw a
For Rent sign in the window
of a new building on Beach
looked at the small, vacant retail
space and thought - this is my
the lease on Valentine’s Day and
this May marks the one-year
McMahon is a ceramic artist born in Brooklyn, NY, and
raised in the small beach community of Rockaway Beach. “It
was not unlike Gulfport. Just 45 minutes from Manhattan, it
“When I stumbled upon Gulfport in 2008, I fell in love. I
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