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FRAN SIMS BEADED HANGING (SHOWN HORIZONTALLY)

Arts & Crafts

Whenever I’ve felt like “running away from home” (from responsibilities, from humdrum, grinding routine) I’ve fantasized about quitting all jobs and surviving by selling homemade art (water colors, photos, prints, whatever) along the side of the road. So far, I’ve not actually done that, but people, indeed, do just that. There’s an en plein air (Fr. open air) oil painter who sells his wares along the Gandy Causeway. He has my admiration.

Locations such as Florida, Hawaii, any beach town, certain picturesque cities (New York, San Francisco, Paris, Santa Fe) seem—for some reason—to foster artists and craftsmen. I think it’s the romanticism of the locale. It brings out the urge to create. (Or perhaps, it’s that romantic locales attract people who like to create things.)

Back in the early 70s, if you mentioned “crafts” one immediately thought of the dreaded macramé wall hanging. Thankfully, crafts have moved beyond that into a plethora of cottage industries—the products of the arts and crafts themselves as well as the supplies for those crafts. Some examples of crafts are quilting, weaving, knitting, tatting, glass blowing, pottery, sewing, and stained glass.

Think about that list for a minute: they’re all time-honored activities aren’t they? Their roots are in pre-history, skills that enabled us as a species to survive the elements. Therein lies the answer to the question that always arises: what’s the difference between “arts” and “crafts”? For me, “crafts” are arts that facilitate survival and “arts” are crafts that make life worth living. To make life worth living is to facilitate survival. It should be clear there’s little difference between the two. Imagine a beautifully hand-crafted wooden boat; it gets you across the river, but it’s a beauty to behold. I believe, there’s really no meaningful difference between arts and crafts beyond the fact that some arts are more utilitarian than others—it’s all still art. Examples are the absolutely gorgeous jewelry designs of a friend of many decades, John Beeman, and the works of Full Blown Glass mentioned in the Inkwatu article on the Creative Clay Folk Fest. They’re all utilitarian; they’re all art.

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FRAN SIMS BEADED CUTLERY AND BOWL

Shows & Stores

Arts and crafts have a long history in all countries, including our own. I’m thinking of beautiful Shaker furniture, Amish quilts, Appalachian dulcimers. And, it’s not just “folk” arts. Tiffany, Steuben, Fabergé…commercial? Of course. Crafts? Yes. Art? Definitely.

The values of arts and crafts found expression in the “official” Arts and Crafts Movement in the early part of the 20th century. Inkwatu covered that movement in the post on the Craftsman House. If you want to see some outstanding, locally produced glass and pottery do check out the Craftsman House and while you’re at it, get a light lunch there.

In another Inkwatu article, we covered the St. Pete Shuffle Holiday Crafts night. I’ve been to two of those so far and have found items to purchase I’ve enjoyed. There are many such venues for craftsmen to locally display and sell their work. One of the biggest and best attended is, of course, the St. Petersburg Saturday Morning Market (Inkwatu article). There are numerous annual events such as the St. Pete Beach Corey Area Art & Craft Fair that just concluded on 1/31-2/1, 2009. For a complete list of Arts and Crafts shows in our part of the country visit Where the Shows Are!!!–over a hundred in Florida, alone. Last year, I attended a private crafts show presenting works of about eight different craftsmen in the home of the artist, Fran Sims, whose beaded jewelry is featured in this post.

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ASSORTMENT OF FRAN SIMS BRACELETS AND NECKLACES

Fran Sims

Fran’s specialty is beading, an ornamental craft. Each piece has a personal history such as the hanging pictured at the top of this post that depicts significant images in the life of the person for whom the item was made, or the stones in the necklaces in the picture at the end of this post, necklaces made of beads created by a women’s project in Kenya. About these beads, Sally Adams, of St. Petersburg’s Buttons, Bangles, and Beads, writes:

These colorful, oh-so-smooth beads are made by African women at a women’s project in Kenya. Although they have had little formal schooling, they are highly skilled at making these beads and, in some cases, are the sole providers for their children and extended families.

The project was started over twenty five years ago, and has supported hundreds of women, who, otherwise, might have been unable to provide this support. They receive fair wages, have excellent working conditions, receive assistance from the project for their children’s school uniforms and tuition, and are provided medical assistance through a weekly clinic on the project’s grounds. The project has been accepted by the World Fair Trade Organization—an accolade for projects in developing countries.

Sims, is currently headed to Tucson for the world’s largest bead show, the Tucson Bead Renaissance Show, where hotel rooms are turned into vendor rooms. Conferences, shows, and events for all of the crafts I listed in the lead of this article abound around the country. Locally, St. Petersburg.com‘s listing for “craft stores” yields 41 entries, from national chains such as Michael’s to many small specialty crafts shops for specific arts.

I recommend an excursion to one of these stores to just wander around and see if something strikes a resonant chord somewhere in your being. Such an experience is what happened to Sims who, while visiting her brother in Alaska discovered the fascination of beading during two days of unrelenting rain. Later, while visiting other cities as part of her profession, she began to visit beading stores in those various locations. And…an obsession is born. That’s how it is with crafts.

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ASSORTMENT OF FRAN SIMS BRACELETS

Beads & Beading

If beading, specifically, interests you, Sims recommends these two magazines:

• Bead & Button Magazine
• Bead Style Magazine

There you’ll learn about the world of beads made from almost every conceivable substance including—but definitely not limited to–crystal, glass, wood, clay, polymer, shell, and metal. Stores, such as St. Pete’s Buttons, Bangles, and Beads offer classes in specific crafts.

There’s simply no excuse not to get out there and have some fun either by visiting a show to view and maybe purchase someone else’s work or by creating and displaying your own. Even though I poke fun at macramé, maybe you’ll be the artist to change my mind about that medium!

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AFRICAN BEADS IN FRAN SIMS JEWELRY

Schakolad

It doesn’t take much, but sometimes you just need a treat, something as a reward for a job well done, or as consolation for something that goes awry. We have a solution at hand in downtown St. Pete: the Schakolad Chocolate Factory (401 Central Ave, St. Petersburg, FL 33701; Tel: 727-892-2400, Fax: 727-898-1960), open Mon through Friday, 8:00 am-5:00 pm and Saturday, 10:00 am-5:00 pm.

As I say, it doesn’t take much, and fortunately, Schakolad will sell by the piece. For me, 2 or 3 small pieces of dark chocolate, maybe chased with a coffee, is all it takes to set the world aright. Of course, they sell in larger quantities, but it’s the quick fix that makes this place special for me.

Also, the fact that you can watch the “choclatitian” (that’s my made up word) pouring liquid chocolate into molds right there is tempting. The smell of the chocolate…it’ll lift any spirit that needs lifting.

Gifts That Will Be Remembered

Ordinarily, I don’t write up franchise shops, but Schakolad is an exception because it preserves a mom and pop atmosphere and attitude that really puts quality and the customer first. Also, it’s a fledgling franchise that has its origins in Florida although the family’s tradition in chocolate goes back several generations to Argentina. You can read the complete story at the website.

If you can’t make it to the store, you can also order direct from the website, but I would encourage you to visit the store to make your selection. The special gifts you’ll see, comprised entirely of chocolate, will give you ideas you hadn’t considered. I remember, after 25+ years, a gift of a solid chocolate miniature grand piano I was given by some friends. Something like that makes an impression.

In addition to everyday occasions such as gifts for your loved ones (and yourself), birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, teacher’s gifts. and weddings, they also create special items for corporate and professional gifts. You might not think of a food item as a corporate promotional gift, but–if the indelible impression a gift makes on memory is a measure–the gift of chocolate brownies a recording studio gave its steady customers one year is still remembered by this recipient. Chocolate is a winning gift for any occasion.

Chocolate Festivals

The Schakolad company has had several Fontainebleau Chocolate Festival winners. There are a number of chocolate festivals every year. The Colorado Chocolate Festival has a page listing many of them, but that’s not the only list. No one list seems to be definitive, but if you search on Google for “chocolate festivals,” you’ll get about 2,500,000 hits.

Hawaiian Chocolate

One festival is special for me, because it’s near where my sister lives, on the Big Island (the Island of Hawaii), the Kona Chocolate Festival. Chocolate probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Hawaii, but chocolate is from the seed of a tropical plant, the cacao plant.

My favorite Hawaiian chocolate is grown and manufactured–all in the same location–by the Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory. It’s just at the south end of Kailua-Kona, HI (Kona, for short). They have tours at the farm (it’s a cacao farm and a chocolate factory) and although they do sell some samples there, they prefer you do your shopping at one of the places on the islands that carries their products. In Kona, that’s the Kailua Candy Company. What a magnificent store. An enormous factory section that is visible to the customers plus every possible fresh chocolate confection you can imagine. I can hardly wait to return there. If the notion of Kona intrigues you, the best site to learn more about it, is the Kona Web. Also, please check out my sister’s blog, Lava to Lilikoi in which she documents her gardening on the Big Island as well as other items of interest. I’m hoping she does a post on the Kona chocolate scene!

The Snell Arcade

Schakolad, in downtown St. Pete, is in the Snell Arcade, a building with a history going back to the mid 20s. It’s style can only be described as Baroque. I’ve never seen anything like it. “Gingerbread” doesn’t even cover it. I love it. Some friends have a condo in one of the upper floors that rivals anything I’ve seen in New York City. When you’re at Schakolad, take a few minutes and explore the arcade, its arches, and tile inlays. I’m so glad someone had the vision to restore it. The Snell Arcade Architect of Record is a young architect, instrumental in the revitalization of downtown St. Pete, Timothy N. Clemmons, who, incidentally, turned me on to one of my favorite, authentic Chinese restaurants in St. Pete, ABC Seafood…but, that’s for a later post.

In case you’re too young to remember when the word arcade was associated with architecture and not electronic games, an arcade is a passage through a building from one area to another. Long ago, when downtowns had many department stores, there were often arcades, mid-block, that were a way to get to a parallel block without making the trek around a complete city block. These arcades were cozy affairs because for a brief moment you were out of the elements and they were usually filled with their own little specialty shops that gave these passageways a magical charm. (Think Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley.) You see vestiges of the arcade concept in subways, tubes, and metros where underground arcades connect stations and house magazine stands and convenience stores.

A parting note: check out Virtual Chocolate. It’s a website where you can send e-greeting cards that are chocolate themed!

Old on top of new

Once, when visiting the Roman Catholic cathedral in Mainz, Germany, I learned—and could easily see—that it was a place of worship in continuous use from the 800s right up to the present. Renovation upon renovation over the centuries juxtaposed vastly different styles of architecture: Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, and 19th and 20th century restorations.

At this point you’re probably thinking I’ve put the wrong pictures with the wrong text. No…it’s simply that this human trait—rebuilding upon earlier sites—applies equally to ancient cathedrals and contemporary tourist traps! There’s a reason for this that’s part of the concept of “power of place,” also the title of a great educational television series. Places do have power. This particular piece of real estate, John’s Pass, has, because of the power of its geographical position, been attracting people–and renovations–for hundreds of years.

History

Check out the history of John’s Pass and the person for whom it’s named, John LeVeque, a pirate who gave up pirating to become the first retiree to settle on Madeira Beach!

Painted around the northern end of the pass between Madeira Beach and Treasure Island, is a series of shops and restaurants, tied together with a picturesque boardwalk, called John’s Pass Village & Boardwalk. True, it’s a tourist trap, but it’s a very good one!

The Mainz tie-in is that the John’s Pass extensive renovation and expansion is nearing an end. Much of the old remains but there is much that is new. The integration of styles is excellent. I was pleased to see that almost all of the charming character of the Village & Boardwalk has been preserved and that the expanded number of new stores are all good, interesting ones featuring quality merchandise.

Friendly Fisherman

The big red fish and faux lighthouse seen in the first photo advertizes the Friendly Fisherman, a restaurant with an entire wall of windows overlooking the John’s Pass waterway. Whenever I go to John’s Pass, I always eat at the Friendly Fisherman. I’m not there for haute cuisine–nor will I find it there! I’m there for the view and the wonderful nostalgia their menu evokes. Locals and tourists alike enjoy this place because it’s the kind of eatery you remember from when you were a little kid visiting Florida from up north when you would get those seafood combination platters with different kinds of fish and shellfish piled high, all deep fried…plus, of course, fritters!

Hubbard’s Marina

This shot HAD (!!!) to have been staged for some earlier professional photographer and then left for us, amateurs, to see and use; if not, if it really was simply an incomplete part of the construction I discovered and capitalized upon, then I was very lucky. Pictured, through a full set of shark’s teeth, is an exterior wall of the expanded Hubbard’s Marina, one of the flagship attractions at John’s Pass.

Past and Present

I was a little saddened to see that the kite store is no longer there (above is an old shot of its interior). It was a riotous festival of color in its own right, but it also reminded me of pleasurable times spent wandering through San Francisco’s Chinatown Kite Shop. Happily, a favorite bit of Floridiana kitsch is still there! Tucked behind the end of the boardwalk is a little cottage diner. Pictured below is its earlier (ca. October 2000) colorful incarnation, followed by its present, albeit somewhat faded, manifestation.

I’m glad John’s Pass is still there and has lost none of its charm. The spirit of John LeVeque lives on.

Thai-rific has grown from a tiny shop offering only tropical plants and a few Thai gifts to a full-service florist and gift shop covering several buildings and greenhouses. They now offer non-tropical as well as tropical floral selections in arrangements created by their highly experienced designers.

They still fill individual requests such as my lei order, of course, but their growth now allows them to handle large weddings and other social events. Part of their recent physical expansion includes a bridal consultation room (see below) with ornate imported furniture covered with hand carved Asian scenes in bas-relief.

They still offer an extended line of tropicals, all of which are grown on the premises. It’s extremely relaxing to visit Thai-rific just to walk through the greenhouses. The sounds of hidden running water and the refreshing ions and clean air from the growing plants makes your cares a distant memory.

Pandy and Peter, owners of Thai-rific, are proud of their achievement and chances are one of them or their family will show you around and tell you about the flowers and items. The entire atmosphere is welcoming. It really is close to the emotional experience of an actual visit to Thailand.

In addition to the floral business, they also have a wide selection of Thai gifts and souvenirs, including imported clothing and smaller home furnishings, such as mirrors, hangings, and decorations.

There are also traditional Thai cultural icons such as this ox-cart out front of one of the buildings. I’m sure this ox-cart is not for sale, though!

However, definitely for sale, are another part of traditional Thai culture: real spirit houses. Personally, I do think that places have spirits. For a western discussion of this, read Care of the Soul, by the psychologist and former Catholic priest, Thomas Moore. Even if only taken metaphorically, honoring the spirit of love in a home has to be of some benefit! Objectifying that honor in a spirit house makes perfect sense to me.

In addition, Thai-rific has a selection of authentic Buddha sculptures and altar accessories. Buddhists do not use Buddha images for decorative purposes, but reserve them for devotional use in small altars in their homes and businesses. This is true, not only for Theravada Buddhism (the form of Buddhism in Thailand and Sri Lanka), but also for Mahayana Buddhism (found in China, Japan, and Tibet).

Whether you need a gift or flowers for a wedding or birthday, or just need to get away for a few minutes, I guarantee you won’t leave a visit to Thai-rific empty handed. You’ll leave refreshed with increased peace of mind.