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Lesley Peterson is a Toronto-based blogger tripping on travel, art, culture, museums, cities and legendary landscapes. Catch her on Twitter as @culturetripper or contact her at lesley@culturetripper.com. All content by Lesley Peterson copyright © 2009 - Until the Present. All photos by Lesley Peterson except where other credit noted.
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On Hurricane Irma, and art of the Florida Highwaymen
Glued to CNN this weekend, following the progress of Hurricane Irma through the Caribbean and Florida, I was startled to realize that images on the news were mirrored by certain images in the book I’m reading: The Journey of the Highwaymen, by Catherine M. Enns. The Florida Highwaymen were a legendary group of mid-century African-American artists who […]
An ode to classic American diners
Do you collect diners? I do. Their gleaming lines – reminiscent of old Airstream trailers – inspire dreams of the open road. Their association with travel comes naturally as the first diners were mobile lunch wagons. Often they were old rail dining cars, parked by the side of the road, serving as inexpensive all-night eateries. […]
03.05.2014 · Filled under: Architecture, Florida, Food, New York · Tags: Buffalo, EAT, Florida, FUN, road trip!
Greek culture & sponge fishing in Tarpon Springs, Florida
George Billiris oversees his sponge empire from a modest clapboard office on the sponge docks of Tarpon Springs, Florida. He’s also a repository of local history, a past and present that includes links to the legendary sponge divers of Greece. The finest sponges in the world grow in the nutrient-rich waters of the Gulf of […]
ArtSmart Roundtable: Deciphering Dalí’s The Hallucinogenic Toreador
The ArtSmart Roundtable is focusing on painting this month. I’ll be deciphering a mindblowing painting I saw at the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida: Salvador Dalí’s The Hallucinogenic Toreador (1969-1970). Be sure to scroll down for more on the Roundtable and links to my colleagues’ posts. Now, The Hallucinogenic Toreador. The Hallucinogenic Toreador is 13 […]
Art glass inspired by nature in St. Petersburg, Florida
Fluid and luminous, art glass seems naturally inspired by ocean waves, sunsets and seashells. St. Petersburg, Florida, is a hotbed of hot glass. Its growing community of glass artists and glass blowing studios offers many opportunities to explore this magical art form. And much of the work is inspired by the area’s natural beauty. […]
16.02.2013 · Filled under: Art, Destination Guides, Florida, United States · Tags: Artists, Beaches, Florida, GLASS
The delight of Miami’s Art Deco architecture
Surrounded by curving white lines, steel balustrades and porthole-shaped windows, I could easily imagine I’m aboard an ocean liner steaming out to sea. After all, I’m in Miami, the world’s largest cruise port. Instead, I’m on the roof-top Spire Bar of The Hotel of South Beach surrounded by the best in Tropical Art Deco. With […]
01.10.2012 · Filled under: Architecture, Festivals & Events, Florida, United States · Tags: Beaches, CITIES, Florida, HISTORY
Key West for culture trippers
Like Alice passing through the looking-glass, I entered the Florida Keys through a dissolving veil of rain. The summer squall cleared as fast as it had blown in and I spent several sunny days exploring Key West’s unique architecture and thriving arts scene. There’s always something raffish about a port town. With its strange past […]
28.08.2012 · Filled under: Architecture, Art, Destination Guides, Florida · Tags: Artists, Books, Florida, hemingway
Life lessons from the Papas: Hemingway Days, Key West
It’s a sea of red berets outside Sloppy Joe’s Bar in Key West, Florida, headquarters of the Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Society and their annual running of the bulls. A bwip-wip from a motorcycle escort parts the crowd and, to the tune of Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy), the fist-pumping Papas roll out. Earlier that day, […]
Miami Dreams
Miami was a dream in which I was a mermaid, drifting in the humid strata between sky and sea, living like a mermaid on raw (or nearly raw) fish: a sugar cane tuna lollipop at OLA, shrimp tiraditos at Sra. Martinez, smoked marlin tacos and myriad ceviches here and there. The sunfaded splendour of South […]