The Art of Noticing and Talking
Language and Literacy are Everywhere. By Kim Kuta Dring, Director of Learning and Engagement at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens Who doesn’t love a great story, especially those with interesting scenes that span time frames and cultures to bring far-off places and modern-day perspectives to life? Stories surround us everywhere, and we can experience them not just through the written word, but through the places we go and...
Filling the Calendar with The Arts
Post-pandemic, arts in education goes full steam ahead. For anyone who has ever uttered, “There’s nothing to do tonight,” that person is not looking hard enough. Jacksonville is fortunate to have strong fine arts offerings and even more fortunate because it begins in the schools and is supported by the Jacksonville Public Library, patrons of the arts, and the Jaxsons who mark their calendars and make the effort to come out and enjoy...
FIFTYYears of Artists, Education, and Impact
As the University of North Florida (UNF) celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville, “FIFTY: An Alumni Exhibition,” showcases the work of 50 practicing professional artists who graduated from UNF’s Department of Art, Art History, and Design. The exhibition is the first of its kind, highlighting UNF alumni in a comprehensive way and showcasing the strength...
Jeff Whipple: Life in Art
By Madeleine Peck Wagner Watching Jeff Whipple draw is like observing an origami crane unfold across a page: sure and inevitable, each form seems to follow the previous. It is watching the subtlest of magic. While reading Drawn into Something, the first of three planned memoirs, his lifelong dedication to this specific thaumaturgy is palpable. A visit to MetaCusp studios—the warehouse space he shares with artist Liz...
The Power of Stories
Weaving Tales to Show the Truth By Laura Bennett In 2010 Basma and her family were forced to flee their home in Iraq as the American occupation wound down. Her husband Ali’s life had been threatened for providing assistance to the United States following the invasion of Iraq. The goal of his work: to limit the overwhelming collateral damage to innocent civilians as a result of our poor understanding of Iraqi culture and Iraqi...
She Dared to Dream
Crumbling scrapbook pages yield historical insights. By Kate A. Hallock Jacksonville Historical Society During the first semester of the 1963-64 school year Jean Pope (also known as Mrs. Edgar Pope), first grade teacher at Central Riverside Elementary School, approached fellow members of the Garden Club of Jacksonville with a challenge. Would the club take on the project of designing a garden specifically as a learning tool for the...