Forging a Bold City One Sculpture at a Time
Probably most famous for the photograph that appeared in national news during Hurricane Matthew, “Spiritualized Life” was created by Charles Adrian Pillars to honor those lost during World War I. The piece was privately commissioned by the Citizens Committee in 1920 and unveiled in Memorial Park on Christmas Day, 1924. It is one of the first pieces of public art in the city and still stands as one of the most iconic sculptures in Jacksonville.
Statue of Limitations
The ongoing process of racial reckoning that’s been taking place around the country over the past few years has occurred on many different fronts, be it the classroom, the pulpit, or the streets of hundreds of cities from coast to coast. This process has peaked (so far) with the social protests we saw sweeping the nation after George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Locally, there were protests here in Jacksonville, St. Augustine, the Beaches, and beyond.
It was Crooked. It was Blurry. It was Mad.
Local author Tim Gilmore, Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) English professor, historian, and creator of jaxpsychogeo.com, knows a lot about bizarre, local lore and our city’s most idiosyncratic characters. Virginia King is certainly one of those—she spent decades feverishly documenting 1960-80s Jacksonville by word and photo, ultimately writing some 8,000 pages by hand in an effort to “capture the city,” as Gilmore puts it. Gilmore wrote a book about King in 2015, titled The Mad Atlas of Virginia King, that has now been adapted into a play by the same name.
Chosen by Jane: A Rallying Cry for Excellent Arts Education
Chosen by Jane is a memoir of the life of Jane Condon, visionary principal who developed Douglas Anderson School of the Arts and LaVilla School of the Arts to nationally ranked status. The story carries the reader through her childhood in Jacksonville, graduation from Robert E. Lee High School, and stellar career in education.
In Pursuit of Humanity
In the fall of 1958, young humanities professor Frances Bartlett Kinne came to Jacksonville for a one-month teaching engagement at Jacksonville University. Three years later, she became founding dean of the Jacksonville University College of Fine Arts, bringing to life the advice she often gave students to “go out and make the world a better place.” Kinne served as dean of the college until her appointment as president of Jacksonville University in 1979 and remains a steadfast supporter of the college, even beyond her death in 2020 at age 102, through her bequests.
Stanton College Preparatory School Produces Award-winning Authors
It may be coincidence that two Black female writers who are receiving recent national recognition for their books graduated from the same high school. However, it may be part of the school’s legacy, and it’s interesting to draw lines between the two writers.
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