The Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville’s Art in Public Places Committee has proposed – and the Downtown Investment Authority is supporting – a $406,000 project to increase the presence of public art in the urban core on utility boxes, bicycle racks and walls at Skyway stations.
On Tuesday, the Cultural Council distributed a reminder of the May 26 deadline for the statewide call to artists for the Water Street Parking Garage Enhancement Project that will place murals on the city-owned parking facility.
While all that is going on, Downtown’s latest public art display — decidedly more grass-roots in scope — was being installed at the Jacksonville Landing.
It’s a collection of work by some of North Florida’s youngest artists, students at Gregory Drive Elementary School in West Jacksonville.
Curated by Ed Sauk, the school’s art instructor, 30 artists in kindergarten-fifth grade are represented among the 35 paintings and drawings in the exhibit.
The idea for the display began in November, when Sauk contacted former Marketing Director Michael Chambliss and suggested the exhibit.
“There is a lot of talent in this school. The kids are so sincere in their effort and so open to being creative,” said Sauk, who worked as a commercial artist and illustrator before becoming an art educator at Gregory Drive. “We had three students accepted into LaVilla School of the Arts last year.”
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