Art & Culture
2023 Shop Local Gift Guide
Retail is back in full swing, so shopping for gifts during this holiday season will likely feel super festive. It remains crucial to our beloved independent local businesses that we give them support as they continue to rebound from the pandemic. In thinking of things to make your dearest people smile, let’s try to shop our values and make our community smile, too. Each year, Arbus Magazine presents our Shop Local Gift Guide so that you can see what locally owned businesses are offering and be inspired to enjoy gift shopping. Enjoy browsing...
read moreTHE WISDOM OF PEARLS
By Laura Riggs Legend has it that Cleopatra and Mark Antony had a bet as to who could host the most expensive dinner party. During dinner, Cleopatra crushed up a natural pearl, dropped it into a glass of wine (some say it was vinegar), and drank it. The estimated value of the pearl was equivalent to 60 million sesterces, or 1,875,000 ounces of fine silver, or $9,375,000, making her the winner. In the Hindu faith, another legend says that Krishna, the embodiment of Vishnu, the protector, plucked the first pearl out of the sea to give to...
read moreFlorida Theatre Restoration Sets Stage for Next Century
By Lorrie DeFrank Photos by Lily Snowden it’s showtime again at the Florida Theatre and competing for top billing is the building itself. Restored to its original magnificence, it’s set for a 50-year encore—at the very least. In preparation for the historic landmark’s 100th anniversary in 2027, a major—but not final—phase of the renovation was completed while it was closed from July to October this year. Patrons attending The Rocky Horror Picture Show on October 28 were the first theatergoers to see the transformation. But...
read moreThe Character-Driven World of Illustrator & Designer Stephen BaileyThe Character-Driven World of Illustrator & Designer
How to Remain an Artist Once We Grow Up By Sheri Webber Seeing Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” requires a trip to the Louvre. Works by Pablo Picasso can be viewed in Spain or at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and visiting Michelangelo’s “Moses” involves a plane ticket to Rome, Italy. Bringing home a masterpiece—Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi,” for example—might save on plane tickets and museum admissions but could cost up to a cool $450 million. Not too many art collectors can swing that kind of cash, but what if it was...
read moreWhere the Heart Leads: Art With A Heart In Healthcare’s Origin Story
By Sheri Leonard Webber Equal parts compassion and creativity, Art with a Heart in Healthcare (AWAHIH) has served more than 100,000 patients at hospitals and clinics across Jacksonville. Founded in 2001, its origin story is as heart-driven as the art experiences it provides. “Well, it started with my cousin,” says Lisa Landwirth Ullmann. Lisa and her coursin Lori Guadagno, inseparable throughout childhood, found themselves living 1,200 miles apart as adults. “At the time, she lived in Vermont, and I visited in July of 2001. We were...
read moreDay Dreamers
Exhibiting at MOCA Jacksonville thru January 14th, 2024 Where does your mind wander when you daydream? Everybody enjoys envisioning who they hope to become, activities they aspire to do, and places they wish to explore. In fact, daydreaming can be a useful tool for relieving stress and a welcome respite for children and teenagers confined to the hospital. This collection of artwork offers insight into the imaginations of 20 pediatric patients receiving medical care from Wolfson Children’s Hospital. Whether they picture themselves as a...
read moreDragons & Pagodas
By Janet Reagor Sixteenth century Europeans envisioned the Far East as mysterious—even mythological—a fascinating and wonderous place inhabited by strange creatures, marvelous flora, exotic people, and incredible architecture. With travel nearly nonexistent, the few who visited offered sparse bits about culture, art, and lifestyle, leaving Westerners to let their imaginations soar. As Chinese marvels trickled into Europe in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a stir began. Then around 1603 the Dutch East India Company captured a...
read more30th Anniversary Pearl issue Timeline
The ABC’s of 30 Years ofthe Arts, Business, and Culture Introduction by Wayne W. Wood Design by Natalie McCray Since its auspicious beginning three decades ago, Arbus has been acclaimed for its striking covers and creative content. The nearly 300 covers of Arbus have consistently been works of art unto themselves—resplendent graphic compositions by mostly local artists that not only show off the depth of our homegrown talent but also serve as eye-catching invitations to explore the stellar content inside the magazine. No other local...
read moreNatalie McCray-Krauz on Creating the Arbus 30th Anniversary Cover
By Madeleine Peck Wagner a whisper gathers more attention than a shout Sometimes, and always when least expected, my phone buzzes and in comes an image of wit and inventiveness that makes my day. That this image will often inflame my own imagination is, I think a testament to artist, art director, and designer Natalie McCray-Krauz’s extraordinary ability to transform the most mundane of objects into objects of desire and veneration. The whole she creates is always more than the sum of its parts. Recent...
read moreA New Public Art Installation
Honoring the Arlington Community By Melanie Young Just as the eyes are the window to the soul, the entrance to a college campus is a window into the community that lives, works, learns, and plays there. For Jacksonville University (JU), that window recently became even more emblematic of the university’s relationship with the Arlington community. At the site of the turbo traffic roundabout welcoming drivers and pedestrians to campus—the nation’s first such traffic configuration which improves traffic flow, access and, most importantly,...
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