Cover: Imagination Squared!
Called “a license to create,” “joyful,” and “the best art project ever created in Jacksonville,” the Imagination Squared Project might just be the art project that elevates Jacksonville’s creative class and, by extension, the hundreds of non-artists who participated, to a national level.
Originating as a speculative conversation between artists Christina Foard and Dolf James, Imagination Squared evolved into a creative response project designed to engage Jacksonville’s artist community. Five-by-five inch square wooden surfaces were issued to anyone wanting to participate. For the purpose of the project, an artist was defined as any person who turned in a completed square. “The whole idea was to be as non-judgmental as possible…there were points where we could’ve exerted more control, but we always went back to the experimental nature of the work,” explains James.
Foard, who manages the Arts in Medicine program at Shands Hospital, talks about the way art heals: how, when art is introduced in a hospital setting, there is a significant shift of focus. Instead of a concentration on pain, loneliness, or isolation, the process of creating can help people relax and markedly reduce anxiety. Adult patients access their imagination and problem-solving skills while remembering how to have fun with materials. All people can access their inner creativity.
Referencing her Shands experiences, Foard says, “One hundred percent of the time, in patient settings, the experience [of creating] is transformative: it shifts attitudes, opens feelings of hope and relevancy, and fosters new ideas. Art is a connection to others.”
When expanded to an entire city, the result is a spontaneous outpouring of support and work. People tell stories of hosting “Square Parties” during the submission period; students have organized around creating pieces in concert with classes, and an often-overlooked segment of the population surged to the forefront: “There is this pocket of sixty-ish women whose works blew my mind…they’re thinking along the same lines as their nineteen-year-old counterparts,” Foard notes.
Ideologically, Imagination Squared touches on issues long ingrained in the art world. Ideas of hierarchy, of what is and isn’t art, who gets to make it, and size. “Doing anything at this scale almost guarantees that it will have an impact,” explain James and Foard. “The individual works lose their singular importance, and become a part of a greater whole.” For those who don’t create art regularly, or within a formalized structure, this is an opportunity to make something unique, but also be shielded from potential negativity. For professional artists, the challenge is one to the ego and self-perception: to define one’s entire oeuvre within a single piece. Or, to break free of that constraining idea, create something satisfying, and participate with the community at large.
As Jacksonville grows and works toward becoming a modern metropolis–fusing creative practices with more traditional businesses–projects like this speak to the spirit of a city, a populace poised for its own creative response.
Imagination Squared Expanded
An offshoot of Imagination Squared is underway for the popular Riverside Arts Market (RAM), held each Saturday practically year-round.
Dolf James and Doug Coleman, chairman of the RAM steering committee, realized that the Imagination Squared project could be the basis for a weekly "salon" at RAM. “The decision was made to remove all the barriers for artists: no application fee, no booth rental, no tent...just pay a small exhibit fee and create art using the 9"x9" wooden squares we provide,” explains Coleman. The cost is $36 for two squares and exhibit fee for four weeks per work of art. Prices are set by the artist.
“A wall of art by hundreds of local artists being seen by thousands of visitors at RAM each Saturday showcases the diversity and talent of our art community and can benefit the artists financially,” Coleman says.
The Riverside Arts Market is located under the Fuller Warren Bridge on Riverside Avenue, next to Fidelity Federal, which has lots of parking available for RAM visitors. Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. www.RAMArtGallery.com.
Imagination Squared, at MOCA Jacksonville
Sept. 1 – Nov. 14. 333 North Laura St., 366-6911.
(www.imaginationsquared.com)
Generous support provided by: Julie & Michael McKenny,
Jacksonville Orthopaedic Institute, Betsy Lovett,
Arbus Magazine and Douglas J. Eng Photography.
