Local artist Bekky Beukes talked about chaos at CreativeMornings. The event is held each month with a different guest speaker to bring the St. Petersburg creative community together. Courtesy of Rachel Jollie
By Brianna Rodriguez
Over 100 local creatives filled Station House, a co-working space at 260 First Ave. S, Friday for a monthly CreativeMornings meeting.
The group was provided with free local coffee, tea and biscuits upon entry. This month’s hour-and-a-half long meeting consisted of guest speaker Bekky Beukes, a local artist originally from South Africa who spoke about chaos.
“If chaos means creation, as an artist, I’m bound to it,” she said.
Beukes told her story of living in South Africa as a fashion designer yearning to do something different. She came to St. Petersburg in 2014 to pursue art and she creates a variety of work, with a focus on oil paintings.
About halfway through the talk, Beukes had everyone in the room move to a different location to cause chaos. It also allowed for attendees to meet new people and enjoy the talk from a different angle.
“I enjoyed the switching of chairs, it was very chaotic,” said Wytona Bouwens, a senior graphic design major. “I would come back. It was very eye opening.”
USF St. Petersburg graphic design students who are encouraged to attend two art events per semester can use CreativeMornings as one of the events.
Tara Segall, CreativeMornings host and chapter founder, yearned for a CreativeMornings chapter in St. Petersburg after attending one in Atlanta.
“I sort of expected that there would be a chapter here,” she said. “But when there wasn’t, I was really disappointed on a personal level because I wanted to attend.”
Segall waited for about a year for one to start, but when it didn’t happen, she decided to start it herself. She spoke about possibly starting a CreativeMornings “happy hour” for those who prefer to visit the event at night.
The next CreativeMornings event will again take place at Station House at 8 a.m. Oct. 26.
The guest speaker will be Kathleen Taylor, who will lead a discussion about honesty.
For more information visit: https://creativemornings.com/cities/sp
