Red Calliope Gallery on Evers is a sophisticated haven where fine art meets indulgence at Rouge Champagne Bar. The gallery is locally owned and operated by Rachel, a self-taught artist, and Mark Dummeldinger, a skilled woodcraftsman. The couple wanted to open an art gallery and champagne bar to establish an art community in the Historic District of Plant City. “I’ve been doing art shows for several years and tried to break into artist communities and realized a lot of the larger art communities around us have well-established art worlds,” said Rachel. “It just made sense to me to stay home and grow the community I wanted to be a part of, which to me meant assembling artists from all art forms and really celebrating the arts.” Since the gallery’s opening in March, Red Calliope has brought the talents of many local artists to the Plant City community.
The gallery recently hosted its Dog Days of Summer art competition. “We decided to have this show and exhibit as a way to foster connections among artists in Plant City,” said Dummeldiner. “We are sitting in a hotbed of talent, and so many of these folks do not have a local outlet. We truly want to grow relationships with this local talent.”
Submissions were made from May to July for the contest. “We have been advertising for The Dog Days of Summer on social media for weeks now as a way of getting the word out,” Dummeldinger said. “Once we established who our participants were, the artwork went before one of our very own local artists and a dear friend of Red Calliope Gallery, Liza Compass, who juried the show and awarded the awards. It’s all a pretty interesting process.”
Dummeldinger was pleased with all the artwork she received from local artists. “That is the really fun part,” she said. “Each artist’s representation of our prompt is so unique and personal. It is a fascinating thing to follow the mind of a creative and try to understand why they chose what they chose to submit. We have acquired a stunning selection of original work for this exhibit.”
Now the time has come to reveal the winners of the Dog Days of Summer. This will be done on Saturday, August 2, from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at Red Calliope Gallery on Evers. “Liza will award $500 worth of cash prizes starting at 5:00 p.m.,” said Dummeldinger. “Hors d’oeuvres will be served, and entertainment will begin at 7:00 p.m. We expect the evening to be an elegant and lovely affair. We encourage the public to attend.”
The Dummeldingers hope the community will come to their gallery to see their new exhibit. “Our hopes are for artists in and around Plant City to come out, meet each other, and enjoy something that Plant City has not offered much of in the past,” said Dummeldinger. “We truly want to grow relationships with our local creatives and offer them a place to have their art seen. I believe that some really beautiful and organic relationships will spring up out of these sorts of opportunities, and I hope to encourage that among our Plant City artists.”
Dummeldinger would like this new exhibit to bring more artists and creators to Plant City. “My heart is for folks to understand the importance of bringing creatives together, bringing unity and a sense of community to our artists,” said Dummeldinger. “I would love to see an arts movement bloom here in Plant City, like in so many other prevalent surrounding communities. I think we deserve a place to thrive, too.”
If you would like to learn more about Red Calliope Gallery on Evers, you can visit their website at https://redcalliope.gallery or call 813-441-4227. The gallery is located at 109 S. Evers St.