Art & Culture Features
The Great Fire of 1901 Jacksonville’s Day of Destiny
By Wayne W. Wood Most people in Jacksonville have heard about the Great Fire of 1901, but few know the story of how it all started. It began on Friday, May 3, 1901. Not much was happening in Florida’s largest city, population 28,000. The weather report had not changed for weeks—hot and dry. In the LaVilla suburb west of town, workers at the Cleaveland Fiber Factory were taking a break for the noonday meal. Located diagonally across from where the Ritz Theatre is today on Davis Street, this large factory had a 200-foot-long elevated...
read moreOutside Looking In The Paintings of Amer Kobaslija
“I think it is about looking closely around you and responding with a sense of urgency. Not imposingviews but implicitly reflecting.” ~Amer Kobaslija When you see the world through the eyes of the artist and feel their connection to the place or the people depicted, that is when they capture your attention. Hyper detailed and often layered with meaning, Amer Kobaslija’s work is inherently documentary, though not always literal. With clear mastery of both Western and Eastern traditional painting styles,...
read moreWHERE THE RIVER LEADS
Downtown Jacksonville’s Parks & Trails as Living Works of Civic Art Jacksonville’s city center is in the midst of a generational design movement —one that treats parks and trails not as passive green space, but as active civic infrastructure and works of public art. Across the Northbank and Southbank of the St. Johns River, landscape architects, engineers, artists, nonprofits, philanthropists, and public officials are composing a connected urban experience rooted in movement, belonging, and wellness. For arts and business leaders alike,...
read moreWhitney Oldenburg: left behind
Edited by Amber Sesnick, Director of Communications, Arts UNF Photos by Elisabeth Bernstein A dynamic emerging sculptor who grew up here in Jacksonville but is now working out of New York, Whitney Oldenburg has cultivated a deeply reflective practice examining the relationships we build with everyday items. Her exhibition “Whitney Oldenburg: left behind” is on view through April 19 at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville. MOCA’s team had the pleasure of speaking with Oldenburg, the 2025 recipient of the Eden Arts...
read moreSmall Businesses With a Big Mission
There are a variety of health and wellness facilities and businesses in Northeast Florida. Degree Wellness offers an effective range of recovery and wellness services such as cryotherapy, infrared saunas, IV drips, and compression therapy in one luxurious space with private suites. Be Still Float is a wellness center that aims to help those suffering from anxiety, stress, pain, and incontinence through float therapy, emsella, MLS laser therapy, and massage therapy. Row House in San Marco provides full-body group fitness classes that are...
read moreCover Artist: Jennifer J. L. Jones
Jennifer J. L. Jones, (b. 1971 in Alexandria, Virginia), is an acclaimed American artist whose artwork captivates international audiences with her exploration of beauty and energy. Raised in the historic, coastal tidewater region of Virginia and beneath the rocket-lit skies of Florida’s Space Coast, Jones creates contemporary paintings that echo the grounded rhythms of nature and the boundless wonder of discovery. Her work weaves layered abstraction with refined glazing, building luminous, organic patinas that echo memory, emotion, and place....
read moreGold Star Restaurants
This annual list features top-notch, locally owned eateries that are favorites of Arbus staff, friends, and readers. Our list is based on more than the quality of food—it is service, consistency, atmosphere, hospitality, and value. Places that make you smile with their sense of community, indefatigable restauranteurs, and excellent food. All are worth visiting for an exceptional meal and a unique regional experience.
read more35 Years of Art Ventures at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida
By Laura Jane Pittman If you have visited the Jacksonville REI lately, you may have admired the North Florida park posters displayed near the check-out counter that are modeled after 1930s-era national park posters of old. These are the brainchild of Kathy Stark, a local artist who was recently recognized with the 2025 Ann McDonald Baker Art Ventures Award by The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida. A Jacksonville native, Stark has specialized in fine art, mainly oils, watercolors and acrylics, of North...
read moreEnhancing Education With The Arts
The arts play a pivotal role in education. Involvement in the arts supports a student’s social and emotional learning and empowers them to succeed inside school and out. Not only do arts programs motivate children to come to school, but they also help reduce stress, sharpen communication, and fuel social and emotional development. Jacksonville is fortunate to have a wealth of arts education programs across all art forms that allow our students to not only learn how to express themselves in the classroom but support their future career growth....
read moreSuccess in Love & Art How Creative Couples in Jacksonville Achieve Both
Compiled by Cinda Sherman Love and marriage are two of the most perplexing subjects ever debated in human history. For instance, the Greek philosopher Plato declared, “At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.” Yet the curmudgeonly English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge said, “The most happy marriage I can picture would be the union of a deaf man to a blind woman.” So, what makes a relationship work? The answer, to most, is self-evident: Relationships are work, period. They are risky investments that can bring about life’s most astonishing...
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