The continuing development of St. Petersburg has cost it one of its very best artists.
Steven Kenny, whose “surrealist baroque” paintings, fanciful oils depicting human figures in (sometimes unnatural) natural settings, is leaving town after 10 years. St. Pete, he believes, has lost a lot of its charm.
“The Procession,” Steven Kenny (2021)
Kenny and his wife, artist Diohn Brancaleoni, have purchased a farmhouse near rural Floyd, Virginia and will depart mid-summer.
“The St. Pete we fell in love with 10 years ago – when the 600 block was all groovy and stuff, that’s all gone obviously – and with all the development that’s happening, it’s really changing,” Kenny says. “I think nobody would disagree that in the last 10 years it’s changed drastically.”
Kenny is quick to point out that the city isn’t getting “too big,” exactly. “Because for the arts, and the artists here, that’s such a good thing. But it doesn’t have the same character that it did 10 years ago. And that’s why we came, so we’re kind of looking for that again and seem to have found it back in Virginia.”
The couple lived in Virginia for a period before relocating to St. Pete in 2012. They’ve been living in historic Kenwood, in a bungalow with a carriage house studio out back.
A few years ago, Kenny explains, they began talking about moving out. When Asheville, North Carolina – their first choice – proved too expensive, they focused on Virginia, where they had bunked in the late 1990s. “We miss it quite a bit,” he says.
The town of Floyd “has got a great music scene, and arts scene, lots of hippies running around. It’s just really cool. And the place we found is not far from there.”
“Sunrise,” Steven Kenny (2013)”
Music has always been an important presence in Steven Kenny’s life. Inspired by early prog rock album covers, from bands such as Yes and King Crimson, he earned a BFA in illustration and went to work – he designed covers for Journey, Heart and others, and created memorable package artwork for Celestial Seasonings Herbal Tea (nine box covers of animals and flowers), Microsoft, AT&T and others.
But working as an illustrator, he found, was less than satisfying.
Enter fine art. Today, Steven Kenny’s oils are in galleries all over the country, and are prized by collectors.
He admits he can create his work anywhere – the only essential locale is his fertile imagination.
“St. Pete has been really, really good to me in that sense,” he says. “It took a while to re-calibrate myself once I got here after moving from the north. But moving back to Virginia, to a much more rural environment, is going to be probably better for me.”
He is, to be clear, not leaving with anything resembling a bitter taste in his mouth.
“As far as what St. Pete is doing to nurture other artists, I think there’s a really wonderful foundation here with St. Pete Arts Alliance, Creative Pinellas and lots of other venues for artists to maybe make a name for themselves. I think there’s a lot of support in place, which is a great thing.”
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