The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art in St. Petersburg is opening its galleries for free this Sunday, Nov. 8, for a day packed with live basket weaving, Hopi carving demonstrations and sold-out hoop dancing performances honoring Native American Heritage Month. The celebration runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the museum, located at 150 Central Ave., and organizers describe it as a hands-on chance for visitors to meet the artists keeping these traditions alive today.
According to Bay News 9, the event marks the museum's first Native American Heritage Month celebration, featuring free admission, live artist demonstrations, storytelling and family activities. Museum admission and all galleries will be free throughout the day, according to the same report. The exhibition Kay WalkingStick and Hudson River School had its opening reception Friday, Nov. 6, before the Sunday celebration.
Weavers, Carvers and Dancers Take Over the Galleries
Seminole artist Jessica Osceola is scheduled to spend the full day, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., demonstrating sweetgrass basket weaving and giving informal in-gallery talks, per The James Museum's event listing. California basket weaver Kimberly Stevenot will demonstrate in the galleries from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., then lead a children's art activity in the classrooms from 2 to 5 p.m., the museum notes.
Two Hopi katsina carvers will also be on hand offering live carving demonstrations and interacting with guests from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., mixing their own pigments as they work, Bay News 9 reports. The museum's own listing spells the carvers' names as Cory Ahownewa and Makwesaw Chimerica, while Tampa Bay Beacons rendered the first carver's name as Corey Ahownewa in its own coverage of the event. Visitors will be able to ask the carvers questions and learn about Hopi culture directly from them, according to Bay News 9.
Hoop dancers Tony Duncan and Lowery Begay are booked to perform at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., but both performances have already sold out. The museum's event page notes that limited walk-ups will still be available on the day of the event for those hoping to catch the show.
A 150-Year Conversation Between Landscapes
The celebration's timing lines up with the opening of Kay WalkingStick and Hudson River School, an exhibition pairing the contemporary Cherokee artist's landscape paintings with 19th-century Hudson River School works. Stacey Stockdale, director of education and public programs at The James Museum, said the exhibition spans more than 150 years of conversation, according to Bay News 9. The museum's own exhibition description adds that the pairing celebrates a shared reverence for nature while galvanizing discussions on Indigenous land dispossession and its reclamation.
The works on view at The James Museum trace back to an exhibition developed by The New York Historical, which paired WalkingStick's landscapes with highlights from its own 19th-century Hudson River School collection in a show built from more than 40 works, according to The New York Historical. That institution says the exhibition grew out of close collaboration between WalkingStick and senior curator Wendy Nālani E. Ikemoto.
Stockdale told Bay News 9 she's excited for people to experience the art hands-on, framing the celebration as a chance for visitors to engage directly with traditions still being practiced rather than viewed only behind glass. Museum officials say grant funding helped make the celebration possible by covering supplies and bringing Native American artists from across the country to the Bay area, per Bay News 9's reporting, with that same funding covering museum supplies for the community day and travel costs for the participating artists.
Part of a Larger Push to Open the Galleries
Sunday's celebration anchors the museum's fall Community Days lineup, a series aimed at opening the galleries and programs to more people across the Tampa Bay area, according to 95.5 WQYK. The funding behind that accessibility push traces to Art Everywhere, a Pinellas County grant program that awarded $350,000 to close to 30 artists and arts organizations, as reported by From Common Ground. Visit St. Pete-Clearwater funds Art Everywhere using tourist development tax revenues, while Creative Pinellas administers the grant program, the outlet notes.
Beyond Sunday's festivities, James Lavadour's painting Like Rain will remain on view at the museum through August 2027 on loan from Art Bridges, giving visitors another reason to return after the hoop dancers and carvers pack up for the day.
