To commemorate the anniversary, the Gainesville Arts Market and Gainesville Art Scene are hosting an expanded event that will include local musicians, artists, crafts, vendors, food trucks and beer.
Nothing pleases Celino Dimitroff more than seeing a steady stream of customers—typically UF architecture students and local artists—browsing his SoMa Art Media Hub and finding what they’re looking for.
After all, that’s why Dimitroff and fellow artist Charley McWhorter decided to open their retail space at 601 S. Main St. one year ago this month.
“I think this is a wonderful store, and it’s something Gainesville has needed—a resource for arts supplies,” said Roz Miller, a longtime resident and abstract artist.
To mark the store’s first anniversary, SoMa Art Media Hub is throwing a party in the form of a larger-than-usual Gainesville Arts Market today from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. in the shaded parking area behind the store. There will be live music from five acts, food trucks and more than 30 artists and vendors offering their work—from T-shirts and jewelry to visual art and Henna tats.
Dimitroff said the event is as much a celebration of the South Main Street (SoMa) renaissance as it is an anniversary.
“There was a time only a few years ago when people were scared to come down here for the Artwalks,” he said. “They wouldn’t go south of St. Francis House.”
Today, the neighborhood surrounding the SoMa Art Media Hub is alive with art-related activity. A block north is the Civic Media Center, the Food Co-op and Wild Iris Books. Across Main Street is the Freewheel Project and LEJ Pretzel. The SoMa Art Media Hub shares the same block as the Acrosstown Repertory Theatre, the old Baird Hardware Building and the Poole Building, new home to the Sequential Artists Workshop.
“South Main Street has always been my space to be exposed to art—real art, underground art,” Dimitroff said,
Dimitroff, 57, said that he, Chris Fillie and a handful of other artists started George’s Meet and Produce, where the Civic Media Center is now. The former meat market became an art consortium.
“Where Wild Iris Books is now was my bedroom!” Dimitroff said.
Later he opened a place called the Story House in a former church on Southeast 5th Avenue. All types of artists, including filmmakers, sculptors, dancers, painters and puppeteers, shared their talents there. The building would later become the Church of the Holy Colors, which closed in early 2015 to make way for a new downtown fire station.
I’m really impressed by the quality of the materials they sell.
— Lars Hardmann, UF architecture student
However, the SoMa Art Media Hub carries on the tradition of supporting local artists, but as a retail space. The store carries a large inventory of fine arts materials, including sketchbooks, stretched canvases and paintbrushes, as well as a full line of architecture class supplies.
On a recent evening, UF architecture students Lars Hardmann, 21, and Christina Batroni, 20, stopped by the store with UF freshman Anthony Callue to purchase matte board, foam core and veneer. They first heard about the SoMa Art Media Hub through flyers posted in the school’s architecture building.
“I’m really impressed by the quality of the materials they sell,” said Hardmann, a sophomore from Venezuela.
“If we don’t find something, he [Dimitroff] will try to order it,” added Batroni, a sophomore from Haiti. “He’s very nice and helpful.”
In addition to serving customers, the SoMa Art Media Hub is also a gallery. Each month, an artist is invited to display works on the walls. The artist for February is painter Milan Hooper, whose images of animals have a whimsical quality.
“It’s just expression in color,” Hooper said. “I enjoy taking paint and moving colors around and making something without trying to get in every detail.
Hooper, who paints houses for a living, doesn’t get technical in explaining his work.
“It’s hard for me to tell people what my art’s about. I’m just doing what I can,” he said.
Hooper, 54, a resident of the downtown Duck Pond neighborhood, said he is grateful to Dimitroff and McWhorter for opening SoMa Art Media Hub.
“I think what they’re doing is really great,” he said. “It’s filling a void. There’s not anything like it in town. For a while, we didn’t have a place where you could talk to people about art.”
He added, “They call it a hub, and it’s more than just art supplies. It’s a happening thing going on with art.”
Hooper’s show at SoMa Art Media Hub continues for another week. After that, his paintings will be on display at Persona Vintage Clothing and at Flaco’s Cuban Bakery.
Beginning next Friday (Feb. 26), during Artwalk Gainesville, the work of Gainesville artist Kana Handel will be displayed for a month at the Soma Art Media Hub. She will be followed by Troid Brett, Ed Rowe, John Westmark, Sara Morsey and Christine Cambrea.
“I want to focus on really great local artists,” Dimitroff said.
Dimitroff is an artist himself. He specializes in small, lighted sculptures crafted from found and familiar objects such as ceiling fans and discarded computer mouses. Some examples of his “post-industrial highlights” work can be viewed at SoMa.
“Essentially, I make things out of junk,” he said.
Dimitroff said he likes the way things are evolving in the local arts scene.
“Gainesville is one of the most creative cities I’ve ever lived in,” he said. “In the last five or six years, there’s been a lot more recognition of visual artists.”
The SoMa Art Media Hub also has grown organically in the past year.
“When we first opened, no one knew about us,” Dimitroff said. “Now, every day, new people are walking in.”
The Gainesville Arts Market on the third Saturday of each month not only draws attention to SoMa but also to the artists who display their work and to the musicians who perform.
Today’s musical lineup includes Mark and Barbara Armbrecht (Middleground) at 11 a.m., Chuck Martin at noon, That Guy Named Frank (Kolosky) at 1 p.m.; New Trap at 2 and Ray Steele and Friends at 3.
Dimitroff and McWhorter will also be there to celebrate.
“Two artists owning an arts store,” Dimitroff said. “How perfect is that?”
— Noel Leroux
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SoMa Art Media Hub
601 S. Main St.
Gainesville, FL 32601
Phone: 352.792.6554
Hours: Monday through Friday 8 a.m.-7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
For further info, visit the SoMa Art Media Hub website.
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