Exceptional Students Create Exceptional Art Exhibit
“These Masks We Wear” Debuts in the Warehouse Arts District
St. Petersburg, FL (February 25, 2019) – The Warehouse Arts District Association (WADA) is excited to announce an upcoming exhibition created by students with disabilities attending Pinellas County Schools. The artists chosen and represented in this exhibit attend one of the four Exceptional Student Education (ESE) center schools in Pinellas County: Calvin A. Hunsinger School, Nina Harris ESE School, Paul B. Stephens ESE Center, and Richard L. Sanders School.
The March exhibit, “These Masks We Wear” premieres on Saturday, March 9th from 5-9pm in the Tully~Levine gallery at the ArtsXchange and explores the idea of identity and facade. Each mask is created by a student using paint, clay, and paper mache utilizing mixed mediums of their choice like photography and graphic design. Through personal investigation and reflection, each work of art creates a statement about how the artist is seen in various communities that relate to family, peers, and social networking.
“These Masks We Wear is a student-led, visceral, visual concept meant to evoke the spirit of imagination with endless possibilities for the viewer, ” says Zach Thompson, Art K-12 Instructional, Sanders Exceptional. Thompson is an accomplished artist who has exhibited around the world and now teaches special needs children the power of art to transport and heal as some of them might have difficult lives outside of the school hours.
The cultural ideology of mask-making dates back to our humble beginnings as a community/colony, whether it be for ceremonial praises to the gods, reasons for war, entertainment, or just sheer pleasure of make-believe. Identity, as a social construct and concept, tends to coexist between what is objective and subjective perceptions when pertaining to the human condition and all that entails within community.
Exhibit is free and open to the public during the March ArtWalk happening throughout downtown St. Petersburg.
“These Masks We Wear”
Saturday, March 9th, 5-9pm, Free Admission
Tully~Levine gallery at the ArtsXchange
515 22nd Ave S, St. Petersburg, FL 33712
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About the Warehouse Arts District Association
The Warehouse Arts District Association (WADA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit arts organization dedicated to building and sustaining a vibrant arts community within and around the Warehouse Arts District in downtown St. Petersburg. Spanning from 1st Avenue North to 10th Avenue South and 16th Street to 31st Street, the Warehouse Arts District includes the Deuces Live Main Street and is comprised of a thriving community of over 300 businesses that support both the artistic outreach of the organization and the community revitalization. WADA employs a broad spectrum of tools, including marketing, advocacy, community stimulation, and educational programming to support the success of artists and community. The Education Center will serve all citizens, particularly those in the Midtown area, with accessible health, wellness, and art classes. For more information, please visit, warehouseartsdistrictstpete.com.
About the ArtsXchange
The ArtsXchange, a project of the Warehouse Arts District Association, is an artistic enclave with over 50,000 square feet of warehouse space that is being renovated into affordable working studios, galleries, classrooms, and performance space. ArtsXchange tenants are from all mediums with most spaces doubling as galleries open to the public on the Second Saturday of every month and a focus on providing arts education to underserved populations. For more info please visit, warehouseartsdistrictstpete.org/ArtsXchange.
WADA Instagram Page: @warehouseartssp
WADA Facebook Page: @WarehouseArtsDistrictStPete