New Morean art-making space aims to be center for creatives A Class Act

BY MARCIA BIGGS

St. Pete’s arts community has one more feather in its cap. The Morean Workshop Space, a 9,000-square-foot event space created solely for art media workshops, opened in early December. “It’s the last piece of the puzzle,” says Beth Morean, the St. Pete Beach artist and philanthropist whose financial support and business acumen helped establish the Morean Arts Center, including the Chihuly Collection and the Morean Center for Clay.

The workshop space is Beth Morean’s new baby, an idea she nurtured during the pandemic when she purchased a run-down auto repair shop in a historic building along the Pinellas Trail. It was just a stone’s throw from the Morean Center for Clay, in the heart of the city’s thriving Warehouse Arts District.

“It’s was a horrible mess, there must have been thousands of auto parts from end to end … it took a year just to clean it out before construction could begin,” she says. Today, the completely renovated two-story building offers windows that allow plenty of natural sunlight to fill the first floor workspace. There are plenty of tables and seating, kilns for firing, a full kitchen, and rooms for rest and relaxation upstairs.

In this solo venture, which is not under the umbrella of the Morean Arts Center, Beth Morean is hoping to fill the void for much needed space that will allow up to 200 students and professionals to come together from one-day classes to multiweek retreats to learn, share and be inspired.

Case in point, in January a Wood Fire Workshop brought some 25 participants from across the country to a two-week workshop with three of the nation’s leading experts in the technique of wood firing. A three-day workshop in early February brought in leading experts on techniques for surface work on pottery and ceramics and a Summer in the City series of summer camps for adults is slated for this summer.

But the workshop space is not just for potters. “There’s a shortage of space for large arts workshops in St. Petersburg,” says Morean. “This space is open to all media, not just clay. Any organization is welcome to use the space.”

Private collection

During a recent tour, casually dressed in jeans and a sweater, Morean shared a glimpse of her private ceramics collection she recently installed in a gallery space which is not open to the public. The historical collection dates from the 1930s and “many pieces are extremely important,” she noted.

All are by renowned or favorite potters, many she knew or knows personally. Some are painted Japanese figures, others are raw and organic forms. In one corner, a 10-foothigh Nude Woman sculpture oversees the gallery like a sentinel. Morean can name the artist behind every piece and describe how it was created.

A bookcase and cabinets along one wall holds smaller pieces like mugs, figurines, bowls and teapots. “These are from famous artists or presenters who have visited the Morean over the past decades,” she says. She points out three panels on the wall, adorned with swirls and explosions of color. “That’s a Don Wright triptych that was influenced by Hubble telescope images,” she says. “Don lived in Arizona and was a master kiln builder, a master in wood firing.”

Creating a legacy

Beth Morean has a knack for being a visionary and a risk taker.

Originally from the Detroit area, she moved to St. Petersburg in the 1990s for family business (her father William Morean co-founded Jabil Circuit), got married and had two children. When she signed up for pottery classes at Suntan Arts Center, she met Valerie Scott Knaust, who eventually became longtime director of the Morean Center for Clay and now the Workshop Space. Scott Knaust introduced Morean into the arts community, she said, and Morean found herself drawn to the art of pottery and those who created it.

She gifted $1.2 million to help purchase a new building for the struggling St. Pete Arts Center, which is today the Morean Arts Center. In turn, she served as a board member, participating in fundraising, operations, and making and teaching pottery art. “I’m a business person and soon came to realize we needed to be a 501(c3), but also needed a sustainable source of income,” she says. “You can’t rely on grants and donations.”

She reached out to her friend, world renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly, to convince him to open a permanent collection in St. Petersburg. Morean purchased 18 installations of his work to display in the gallery which opened in 2010, the only permanent Chihuly Collection in the United States.

It was part of her long-range business plan to raise money for the Arts Center. “That allowed us to create a space that would charge an admission and give us a sustainable amount of money every month to pay our bills, offer classes and scholarships,” she explains.

One of Dale Chihuly’s requirements was public education through an interactive hot shop and classes in glass blowing. The gears started turning in Morean’s head. “We (Morean Arts Center) had a tiny clay facility at the time and I said let’s turn that into a hot shop and I’ll find us another building we can devote to clay.”

At that time the Historic Seaboard Train Station on 22nd Street S. was for sale. The old freight depot circa 1926 was sitting vacant along the railroad track surrounded by blight. Nevertheless, Morean bought it and renovated it. It opened in 2009 as the Morean Center for Clay with studios for up to 50 artisans, classes open to the public, exhibit and event space.

“At the time there was nothing in that district,” she said, “It was a rough crimeridden area to be in. I knew we had to turn things around. I called Duncan McClellan who was working in Tampa at the time, encouraged him to come over to the warehouse district in an effort to revitalize the area. He bought the warehouse just a few blocks away.”

Today, the Warehouse Arts District around the Morean Center for Clay and the Morean Workshop Space is a popular destination for locals and tourists, known for its murals, brewpubs, galleries and working artist studios. There are still industrial companies here, but others have moved in like the massive 3 Daughters Brewery and Five Deuces Galleria, the ArtsXChange, and more recently, a high-end restaurant, The Urban Stilllhouse. The Factory complex nearby is nearly three city blocks of event and gallery spaces, including the Fairgrounds St. Pete.

With the arts now firmly established in the Warehouse Arts District, Beth Morean clearly feels a sense of accomplishment as her contributions over the past few decades have paved the way to making the Sunshine City a City of the Arts, as well.

The Morean Workshop Space

The Morean Workshop Space is at 2025 3rd Ave. S. in St. Petersburg; to learn more go to moreanworkshopspace.org.