ST. PETE BEACH — For those looking to avoid packed parking lots, long checkout lines, and crowded shopping aisles typically found in shopping malls and big box stores during the holiday shopping season, there’s a popular outdoor alternative. American Craft Endeavors will present the 31st annual St. Pete Beach Corey Area Craft Festival on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 6-7, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Corey Avenue in St. Pete Beach.
Admission is free. Visit www.artfestival.com.
American Craft Endeavors is upholding its annual tradition by hosting the St. Pete Beach Corey Area Craft Fair, showcasing contemporary crafts from over 100 of the country’s most skilled crafters at this complimentary community event. Attendees can explore a diverse array of handmade items, including jewelry, ceramics, photography, clothing, and more. National and local-based craft artisans are on hand during this two-day free event. Proceeds from the show will benefit the Corey Avenue Merchants Association and the local economy.
The popular, outdoor craft festival offers a chance for residents to skip the mall and peruse thousands of unique, customizable and creative gift ideas. Pets on leashes are always welcome to join their human companions as they stroll through the festival, which includes a full green market of live plants, handmade soaps, delicious edibles and more. Visitors will find an array of art and craft mediums from nearly 100 exhibitors. Adding to the pleasure of the outing, patrons can meet the artisans behind the works and discover the techniques and inspirations behind each creation.
Among this year’s participating vendors is Catherine Wolf of Oldsmar. Wolf crafts together stained glass into wind chimes, panels and garden stakes to add color and light into every home and garden. Originally from Canton, Ohio, she moved to Oldsmar in 2020 and was taken with the beautiful waters near her new home. She uses the ocean as inspiration in the sparkle and “waves” that she finds best to reflect through the medium of glass.
Tampa photographer Neal Nachman is an award-winning photographer who has spent over 25 years behind the camera. His work has been published in national magazines and is a proud member of Professional Photographers of America. He is the publisher and owner of Full Access Magazine and has covered landscapes, wildlife and a host of noted celebrities and musicians.
Cheryl Grogan, a Tampa resident, also is among the craft artisans taking part in the two-day festival.
According to Grogan’s artist statement on her website: “I pretty much majored in art through junior high and high school. I attended Southeastern Massachusetts University in Dartmouth and then joined the Army for four years in the ’80s. It was a great experience and I lived in Europe for two years and really got to travel and take lots of pics and meet interesting people in between working.”
After her stretch in the military, Grogan relocated to Tampa and finished her bachelor of fine arts degree with a concentration in photography.
“I loved spending time in the darkroom,” she says. “Being a veteran and broke college student in the late ’80s, I got hired by the post office while finishing my degree at the University of South Florida.”
While working at the post office, Grogan started freelancing, painting murals, and showing her photos in galleries. She also started painting again. After testing the waters for a year, she decided it was time to jump ship and head out on her own.
“I have been self-employed for approximately 15 years now,” she says. “I do art shows in Florida now and the southeast. I also paint murals and enjoy commissioned works as well. I paint architecture and cool car portraits.”
Artist Rasa Saldaitis of Pinellas Park was born in 1965 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
“Since the seventh grade, art was one of my specialties and I have loved art ever since,” Saldaitis said in a biography that appears on her website. “By the eighth grade, I was attending art school and graduated top of my class.”
She went on to attend the V. Muchina Academy of Applied Arts University in St. Petersburg, Russia, studying realistic drawing and painting. From 1984 to 1989, she was being trained to be an instructor at Siauliai Pedagogical University in Siauliai, Lithuania.
“During that time, I competed in many art competitions and student art shows,” Saldaitis said. “With my high grades I was very successful in my shows and competitions. I received my master’s degree from Siauliai Pedagogical University in 1989.
She and her husband began exhibiting and selling their artwork in eastern and western Europe, eventually opening their own art studio in 1991 — becoming one of the first private business owners to establish a business after the Soviet Union collapsed.
In 1994, the couple and their two children moved to the United States, first settling in Chicago, Illinois, and later relocating to Pinellas.
Visit saldaitisart.com.
Another one of the participating vendors this year is Denise Fitzgerald. She has lived in the Tampa area for over 35 years. Fitzgerald first started her work with sea glass-inspired art in the holiday season of 2020. She started making gifts for friends and family using sea glass and driftwood. It was a passion for her, but friends and family encouraged her to bring it to the public through craft festivals. She now sources her sea glass from other collectors around the world.
St. Pete craft artist Irina Kovalenko is the founder of Irina Designs and the designer behind all the designs in Irina Designs jewelry and gift collection. Kovalenko was born and raised in Moscow, Russia, and moved with her parents to Toronto, Canada, when she was 16. She studied economics and business and completed her master’s degree in business administration in marketing and finance, but her true passion always lay in arts and design.
Kovalenko loves painting and photography and tried her hand at a variety of crafts including pottery, stained glass, crochet, paper crafts and flower arrangement. She is also a certified interior decorator, web designer and has previous experience in fashion retail. She started designing jewelry in 2007.