Covivant Gallery & Studios' opening season show
"Czar of Bizarre & Strange Girls"
Saturday, September 14th
7pm-midnight

Covivant Gallery & Studios will open its doors again for the '02-'03 Season to present Johnny Meah, Kathie Olivas, and Kym O'Donnell. This show will present works inspired by carnival life, side show acts, and vaudevillian theatre.

Live neon sword swallowing show: 9pm ($5 show admission). DJ Cynthusia from Baydomain.com will be spinning after live show. $0 admission between 7-8pm.

*A portion of the art sales on September 14th will be donated to the Tampa International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. Festival dates are October 3-13. For more information go to www.pridefilmfest.com.*

SHOW DURATION: Saturday, Sept.14-Sunday, Sept. 29, 2002

LOCATION: 4906 N. Florida Ave. (Just South of Hillsborough Ave)

PHONE: 813-928-4661

EMAIL: www.covivant.com / cmackin1@tampabay.rr.com

GALLERY HOURS: Saturday & Sunday 12-5pm (Hours of operation only apply to the dates of the show)

Czar of Bizarre
Born in Bristol, CT in 1937, Johnny Meah began his art career at the tender age of 9, when his father, an editorial cartoonist, took him out on the fair and exposition circuit as "The World's Youngest Portrait Artist." He spent a summer vacation with the celebrated Zachinni Family, traveling with the King Bros. and Cristiani Circus. Johnny's first full year of circus trouping began in 1954, when he joined the Hunt Bros. Circus as a clown, an occupation he still pursues on an occasional basis. "Clowns and art are almost synonymous - good clowns, like good art, touch all the senses and emotions."

From the late 1950's to the present, Meah painted approximately 2,000 canvases. Amazingly, however, very few of the old banners survived the indifference of time, and the ones that have are generally revered by collectors as representative of a truly unique art form. "They were generally regarded as disposable advertising in the 40's and 50's. It was not uncommon to see old banners used to catch oil leaks from trucks or to cover equipment deemed far more important than the banner itself. 'We'll buy more' seemed to be the attitude."

In the 1970's, a few people who recognized banners as a true slice of Americana started collecting them. By the mid-1980's, banners became scarcer and private collectors bartered their treasures back and forth, driving the value of the canvases higher and higher.

In the fall of 1988, while clowning with a small circus in Texas, Meah was contacted by a Chicago gallery owner whom he had met earlier in the 1980's, when the owner was searching for banners to sell to the growing number of enthusiasts. He suggested that a market was emerging for new work by Meah, one of the last living American banner artists.

For more information go to www.czarofbizarre.com

Strange Girls

Kathie Olivas

Olivas has been making art in the Tampa Bay area for almost 10 years, graduated from the University of South Florida in 1996, has gained great recognition locally, and is now focusing on national opportunities. Her most recent out-of-state endeavors include her participation in The Circus Show at C-PopGallery in Detroit, and she is now preparing for an exhibition at Tin Man Alley in Philadelphia in September.

Olivas' current body of work focuses on elements of nostalgia and identity. The children portrayed in the "Misery Children" series, are specifically targeted toward individuals closest to her and how she perceives them through their own personal struggles. The elements of childhood are a common thread throughout Olivas' work, as a symbol of where things begin and how one chooses to tell their own stories.

For more information go to www.circusposterus.com

Kym O'Donnell

O'Donnell was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and lived in Sarasota for 10 years before moving to Tampa in 1996. O'Donnell attended both Hillsborough and Manatee Community Colleges where she began her training as a photographer. She is a member of Experimental Skeleton (an art research group in Tampa), and has exhibited in several shows from sHOTEL at the Tahitian Inn to Odzaci, Yugoslavia. Her photographs are featured in International collections, she was selected for Art of Cocktails in 1999, and has been invited back to Covivant for a second showing.

The images in the "Carnytown" series grew out of my proximity to the show communities of Sarasota and Gibsonton and were informed by influences both cinematic and historical. The majority of the series were originally presented at Covivant Gallery in September of 2000, and strove to evoke the transient aura of an otherworldly 1930's travelling carnival.

The September 14 engagement of "Carnytown" will feature the original cast of characters, as well as several new acts.