Art & Culture Features
Storytelling in Words & Paint
By Jim Draper My earliest childhood memories find me sitting in a stuffy, smoke-filled, mid-Mississippi living room. Lining the walls sitting on a hodgepodge collection of brought-in chairs was a collection of ancient relatives. Over the pings of silver forks on china plates and the clanks of ill-fitting teeth on caramel cake, I listen to their stories. The tales were mythic, colorful, dramatic, and sensual. Good bulls and big trees, goat butts and stupid mules, turned-over boats and big fish, untimely deaths, and champion flowers. Always the...
read moreNewBeginnings for a Treasured Tradition
WJCT’s mission is: “To provide programming and services that celebrate human diversity, encourage joyful learning, and promote civic participation, all to empower citizens to improve the quality of their lives.” That mission has been met and exceeded for more than six decades, with ever-increasing participation and support of the North Florida community. Recently, dramatic federal and state funding cuts to WJCT and affiliates have necessitated and resulted in greater community support than ever before for the vital programming it...
read moreCreative Haven A Conversation with the Wall Street Journal’s Noli Novak
Interviewed by Sheri Webber From Hallways to Galleries Q: Congratulations on your new space. What makes this gallery different from other artist collectives? A: Thank you. Many collectives operate like studios with long hallways and closed doors. While those workspaces are useful, they don’t allow art to be properly displayed. We wanted to do something more intentional. From the beginning, we committed to creating not just individual studios but also two dedicated gallery rooms where exhibitions could be presented professionally. Our...
read moreCover Artist: Casey Matthews
Although a native of San Antonio, Texas, Casey Matthews has considered the Southeast her home for over 30 years. She studied art and art history at Texas Christian University and the University of Alabama. Her many subjects are approached with light-hearted enthusiasm and delivered with singular verve and style yet are introspective and spiritually enlightening. For Matthews, it is important not to become complacent and not to be afraid of challenge or risk. Her artwork is a direct outgrowth from her life events and past remembrances....
read moreThe Liminal Space Between Presence and Remembering
By Vanessa Harper When I first laid eyes on Caitlin Flynn’s body of work, I felt transported in time. Some paintings took me to the rustic beaches of old Florida or Cape Cod in decades past, while others open like a doorway to what comes next. Her work suspends you between memory and imagination and captures fragments of a shared nostalgia with scenes that feel like they belong equally to someone else’s story and to your own.Caitlin’s art is reminiscent of influential 20th-century artists like Wolf Kahn, Joan Mitchell, and Mark Rothko,...
read moreThe Art of Music When Creativity Heals
By Brooke McKinney Artist & Communications Manager for Art with a Heart in Healthcare Art and music are more than creative outlets—they are essential parts of the healing process. For pediatric patients at Wolfson Children’s Hospital (WCH), the arts offer a powerful way to express emotions, process challenges, and rediscover joy during medical treatment. In collaboration with Art with a Heart in Healthcare (AWAHIH), young artists have transformed wooden guitars into vibrant visual interpretations of their favorite songs,...
read moreProject Atrium: Muralists in Action Dustin Harewood & Shaun Thurston
Local artists Dustin Harewood and Shaun Thurston have teamed up to lead the creation of a mural inside the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville. Their collaborative installation, part of the museum’s ongoing Project Atrium series, is more than a mural—it’s a living process, unfolding over weeks in full view of museum visitors. Harewood and Thurston have both contributed to the development of Jacksonville’s now vibrant mural scene, which even a decade ago looked quite different. Think back to 2010 or 2015 and you might remember...
read moreFrench Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850 – 1950
Courtesy of the Harn Museum of Art In honor of the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida’s 35th anniversary celebration, the museum is presenting “French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850 – 1950.” The exhibition showcases 56 works, including paintings, drawings, and sculptures, from the Brooklyn Museum’s esteemed collection of European art. The Harn’s presentation of “French Moderns” will also feature Claude Monet’s “Waterloo Bridge,” on loan from the Lowe Art Museum,...
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PHX JAX: A Springfield Protopia
Phoenix Arts & Innovation District By Sherry Magill The Road to Utopia runs through Jacksonville. Not the 1945 comedy featuring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, but rather a 2024 documentary film featuring the repurposing of Springfield Warehouse District into a regenerative community. This Road to Utopia is found on Food Matters TV via Prime Video and highlights the Phoenix Arts & Innovation District (PHX JAX), south Florida developer Tony Cho’s Jacksonville dream and prototypical demonstration project. A native of a...
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