FINE ARTS MUSEUM OF ST. PETERSBURG FLORIDA – a creative source, especially if you are old!

I like museums, but not for the reasons you might think. I have spent 60 years going to museums and have been overwhelmed by the shear volume of items and my lack of ability to be selective in my  viewing. I have been to art museums, archeology museums,  and science museums. I have been to big museums and tiny museums.

Museums have become a blur; they are useful, however; especially if you are studying something –  you can see how in idea or a concept developed over time. You can get new ideas and make new connections to old idea; which is especially rewarding to an old person.

These days, I go to museums with altered goals. I am interested in the creative side of museums and the ways in which they present new ideas and spark creativity and imagination. I am interested in new connections to my distant past. I  like large international museums because they have great cafes and almost always serve local wine. In fact, I usually start with the cafe.

Our recent trip to Indian Rocks Beach led us to the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida. It has all the art basics; a chronology from various schools with representative samples; including two Georgia O’Keeffe’s, which I appreciated, coming from New Mexico.

First, the Cafe . It is simple,  pleasant, and worthy of the museum. It is located in the entrance hall and the food is great. With our menus, we received a plate of scones. They were so good, we asked if we could order some to take with us. We received an additional free plate of 5 scones, three of which we took with us.

Scones at the museum.

The menu gave us a variety of choices and allowed us to share a plate; a requirement for couples of our age.

Since I had a Bank of America credit card, my entry into the museum was free; next time, I will have my wife bring her card, so we can both get in free. Old people are cheap, even when they don’t have to be. Bank of America Credit Cards give free access to about 150 museums the first week of the month  through its Museums on Us program.

Once inside, I did a quick run through, checked out the Georgia O’Keeffes and then went looking for the special exhibits, which I found more interesting and which touched some dormant part of my imagination.

The first was Selfies which was a collection of self photographs that preceded cell phones. Interesting.

The exhibit that got my attention was outside the museum, where Haider Ali, an artist from Pakistan, was painting a Prius. The exhibit,   Live car painting by Haider Ali, reminded me of Espanola, NM where the City Council recently declared Espanola as  the “Lowrider Capitol of the World.”

Prius by Haider Ali

Having gone through Espanola many times, and having been amazed at how stock cars could be modified and painted, I was surprised to find an artist from Pakistan painting a Prius in St. Petersburg, Florida. My first thought was that he should go to Espanola, some Sunday.

Finally, there were signs on lawn. An interesting idea that could be copied anywhere. Intriguing, because the only part that required skill, was coming up with the idea; everything else was done by volunteers.

Lawn signs.

The bottom line is that I enjoyed the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, for all the wrong reasons, but which gave me something to take away.

THINK OLD!