DUNEDIN, Fla. — This month, a Pinellas County artist is using her latest exhibit to give back to a local nonprofit that helped expand her career.
Fran Fallia has had several showcases throughout Tampa Bay, but she is especially excited about her current exhibit on display at Stirling Art Studios and Gallery in Dunedin, “Old World, Tin and Metaphor.”
A portion of every painting sold will go back to a place that’s dear to her heart, where she got her start in Tampa Bay: The Beach Art Center in Indian Rocks, which was devastated by Hurricane Helene.
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“It’s the largest exhibit I’ve ever put on. It's a solo exhibit, over 100 pieces,” said Failla.
When Failla moved from New York to Tampa Bay in 2017, she was looking for a loving, accepting, encouraging place to further her art career, and she found all of that and more at the Beach Art Center.
“It was tremendous, it was so much fun. I was just very well greeted,” said Failla.
Failla started out taking classes, then teaching workshops, before she eventually landed her paintings in dozens of shows across Tampa Bay.
“Within the past four or five years, I’ve pretty much hit the ground running. ‘I’m going to do this.' And the career has taken off immensely,” said Failla.
However, Failla always credits much of her Florida success to the Beach Art Center, which is why she was so devastated to see the damage caused by Hurricane Helene.
“Terrible, terrible. It was like, ‘Oh my gosh.' This is a second home for me, and it was wiped out,” said Failla.
Beach Art Center Board President Lynda Hamlett said it’s been a challenging year, trying to rebuild while also maintaining their programs.
“This gets emotional for me because it is so difficult to look at it in the condition that it’s in now. Literally, walls are open from one end to the other,” said Hamlett.
Failla decided the best way she could help was by going back to where it all began: a mutual love of art.
“When I was mounting this exhibition, I was like, ‘If I sell work here, oh my goodness, I can give them such a big portion to help them with the rebuild,' and that’s what I’m going to do,” said Failla.
“It’s hard to explain when somebody feels that strongly about your organization, when she has so many options and places where she could have done this, so again it’s reciprocal. We love her,” said Hamlett.
The exhibit, “Old World, Tin and Metaphor,” is currently on display at Stirling Art Studios and Gallery until June 29 with a special grand opening reception on Saturday, June 14 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“Hopefully it pushes the one that’s sitting on the fence, saying, ‘Gee, I really like that art, but I don’t know,’ to say, ‘Yeah, let’s do it. It’s for a really good cause,'" said Failla.
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Welty's mobile home lost its roof during Hurricane Milton. She said it was the only one in the Buena Vista community to get totaled by a tornado.
