The Essential Role of Parks to Jacksonville’s Well-being
Parks are more than just green spaces in a city—they are crucial components of a healthy, vibrant community. For the Blue Zones Project Jacksonville, parks play a central role in promoting well-being and longevity. Ninety percent of Americans spend most of their lives within a 20-mile radius of their home, this is known as the Life Radius model. When parks exist within that radius, communities can have access to more spaces to make...
Just Face It
Bu Chris Flagg It was the early days of the pandemic, back in 2020, when professionals the world over were confronted with the stark reality of working from home for the foreseeable future. In my home office, away from the defined parameters of a regulated schedule, my workdays had become long and borderless. The soft edges between day and night contrasted with my sharp, relentless focus on a computer screen from early morning well...
Sarah Crooks: A Circular Way of Being in the World
By Hope McMath Photos by Toni Smailagic Sarah Crooks is one of our region’s most enduring and endearing creatives, combining her experiences as a maker, healer, educator, and environmentalist. She is a multidisciplinary, ecofeminist artist. “An ecofeminist is someone who supports all of life,” Crooks explains. “It’s really breaking down hierarchies and looking at a circular way of being in the world. That expresses itself through my...
Frank Stella Jacksonville Stacked Stars
Frank Stella has produced an extraordinary body of work over the past six decades and continues to explore the expressive possibilities of visual space. “Jacksonville Stacked Stars” is a brand-new work of art created by Stella for the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville’s Project Atrium and is a beautiful response to the museum’s 100th anniversary year. Throughout his career, Stella has returned to the star as motif,...
A River Runs Through It(Part 1)
For anyone traveling over the bridges of the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, it can sometimes feel like we are separate from the river that weaves its way through the city. A 2021 Public Space survey found that only 19 percent of Jaxsons go to the riverfront often to enjoy greenspace and the outdoors. Limited areas for residents to access the riverfront or interact with nature have restricted opportunities for the city to have the...
Ford Motor Company assembly plant
Jacksonville, Florida was honored for nearly a hundred years to be home to one of industrial architect Albert Kahn’s “automotive cathedrals” before it was demolished in June 2023 by its owner, Amkin Hill Street, LLC, just one year before the building would have reached its century mark in 2024. The Jacksonville Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant, on the bank of the St. Johns River just north of the Mathews Bridge, was constructed over...