Art & Culture Features
By the Numbers: The Impact of the Arts
One’s eyes tend to glaze over when reading or listening to a story that involves budgets and economic impact figures, and while the facts and figures may be impressive, most of what has been read or heard has been forgotten by the time the last few sentences are finished. Many of us are just not “numbers” people. However, listening to Cultural Council Executive Director Tony Allegretti’s May 11th announcement about how much the creative sector has affected the economies of Jacksonville and Northeast Florida, it’s easy to stay wide awake.
read moreArt & Wellness at The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
A recent research study out of the University of California at Berkeley suggests that the experience of awe and other positive emotions, such as those felt at an art museum when viewing an inspiring image or experiencing a natural wonder, may have a significant impact on health and immunity. Dr. Jennifer Stellar, one of the study’s authors, backed this up, stating, “Rather than seeing a walk through the park or a trip to the museum as an indulgence, we hope people will view these kinds of experiences as important ways to promote a healthy...
read moreUnmasked: Art with a Heart in Healthcare MOCA Exhibit
What’s in your head? When posed with that question countless images can go through your mind – an office desk piled with projects that need to get done, the Jaguars game that you are looking forward to this weekend, or even something as mundane as the pot roast you are going to have for dinner tonight. When young patients at Wolfson Children’s Hospital were asked the same question, “What’s in your head?” they each answered that question by painting a mask. The masks painted by those children are now on display at MOCA Jacksonville as part of...
read moreIntroducing The Sulzbacher Center for Women and Families
A new campus to better serve the changing face of homelessness They are known as the “invisible homeless.” Families with children have become the fastest growing segment of homelessness, but you might not always see them. They often double up on housing or “couch surf” to avoid living on the streets. To combat this changing face of homelessness and in alliance with its 20th anniversary, the Sulzbacher Center has announced its plan to develop and open a new campus: the Sulzbacher Center for Women and Families. With a new facility, located...
read moreCelebrating La Florida
39th Annual Art & Antiques Show Highlights Florida’s Spanish Heritage Florida’s roots reach deep into Spanish culture and history. Indeed, our shores were the first in North America to be touched by European feet, and those feet were Spanish. In 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon, the infamous conquistador who had embarked on a tireless quest to find the miraculous Fountain of Youth, discovered an “island,” which he named La Florida, in honor of the Pascua Florida, or Feast of Flowers (Easter). His precise landing spot is unknown but was likely...
read moreArt in Bloom
While September heralds autumn’s official appearance, the dog days of summer linger in Northeast Florida. Though humidity and soaring temperatures are not favored by most, there are upsides: gardeners appreciate an extended growing season while those without a green thumb enjoy a colorful floral bounty nearly year-round. Jacksonville Beach’s J. Johnson Gallery begins its fifteenth season with a group exhibition reflecting the fecundity of the First Coast. Bloom, which opens on the eleventh of September with a public reception from 6 to 8...
read moreWomen, Art, and Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise
Opening on October 9, The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens will present a new exhibition that celebrates the work of some of this country’s pioneering women artists. Women, Art, & Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise, on display through January 3, 2016, showcases the collective of southern artists, developed through a groundbreaking art education program that would become one of America’s most successful art potteries of the 20th century. Nearly one hundred and eighty objects show the breadth of Newcomb’s...
read moreThere’s A Sigh: Doug Eng’s Streaming South
There’s a sigh. Ease into your seat, and tuck the dry sack between your knees, just within reach. Water, insect repellent, everything secure. Pull your hat down tight, grab the paddle and shove away from the shore. The water is black silk. Cool. A kingfisher, startled by your approach, lunges from his perch. He darts down, dips to the water, flies away. Blue wings vanish into a ray of sunlight upstream. An errant twig plops. Concentric ripples fan out. Be still, the water follows your lead and lays perfectly flat. You are unstuck. Time,...
read moreMirrored River: Where Do You See Yourself? Riverwalk mural reflects our city
There is a refrain among anyone who has seen the new Southbank Riverwalk mosaic that now spans the sixty-foot wall beneath the Main Street Bridge: it is stunning at sunset. Its creator, local artist Kate Rouh, calls it “the perfect scenario”: the mosaicked wall’s mirror tiles reflect the oranges and golds of the sky as the brilliant cobalt blue of the Main Street Bridge above it glows with orange uplight – complementary colors intensifying each other. The colorful effect pervades the environment, and changes the mural itself. The reflected...
read moreA World of Theatre On Your Doorstep
Theatre is so pervasive that Shakespeare’s words concerning the stage of life take on multiple, deep meanings that flirt with philosophy, social commentary, and pop culture. But when seeing actual performers work their craft, it is such a pleasure and a privilege because it can illuminate, transform, humble, and catalyze an entire audience, or a single audience member. It has been said that in the specifics of one story, there is universality: that the way to telling a moving story is in the details. Here in the Jacksonville area, we are...
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