by Anthony DeMatteo
Staff Writer
A library staircase became amphitheater seating as children starred on a marble stage Wednesday night at an event celebrating art in the lives of Jacksonville’s young people.
“Art in Action,” sponsored by the Jacksonville Port Authority in partnership with The Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach and the Jacksonville Library, showcased works on canvas and the stage by Mayport area students.
For “The Turtle and the Bear” – whose dour turtle played by 11-year-old Mckenzie Mollock wins a footrace with a confident bear portrayed by her classmate, Chris Radford – the cast forgets its scripts.
But throughout the dialogue of the one-act play, including an almost perfect narrative by 5th-grader Jordan Hawkins, the young cast, rounded out by Tyler Ramirez and Mikala Juliana, proceeded as though its members had written the lines – which they had.
“We forgot our scripts and had to memorize that in about 5 minutes,” said Hawkins.
“We completely forgot everything,” said her cast mate and fellow 11-year-old, Alyson Irizarry. “Our scripts are all at school.”
Their teacher, Robyn Walker, directed “The Turtle,” along with a play in which robots bound for Disney World repeat lines like David Mamet characters.
“Art is very important, because it gives them another way of looking at learning,” said Walker, reminding the audience the children had written the plays.
Library Director Barbara Gubbin read Jane Yolen’s poem, “Read to Me,” to an audience packed into the library’s third-floor west wing, which she thanked the Port for turning into a student gallery where family snapped photos of children’s work.
Victoria Robas, who directs two Port marine terminals, said bringing art to Mayport is essential to its children’s self-discovery, and the Cultural Center’s Walter Jewett said Art in Action was created for kids who have less access to the arts than many who live in Ponte Vedra.
Since 2004, the center, which supports art at the beaches, has made weekly visits to Mayport, which has one of the lower average incomes in the city.
“This is working with these wonderful students to make them understand that they are special and valuable and can do whatever they need to do,” said Jewett.
In a contest in which six categories of participants were judged on renderings of bookmarks, second-grader Sophia Sberna of St. Joseph’s Elementary School won first place for 1st-through-3rd-graders for her bookmark of people going different places.
“She’s always been interested in drawing,” said Sophia’s mother, Hedy, whose 6-year-old twins, Sami and Sasha, also entered the contest. “That, and she’s always begging to go to the library. So it’s a good combination.”
The art is on display through April on the third floor of the Main Library.
Other contest winners are:
Prekindergarten: Praniti Kudre, Kevin Krons, Jr. and Autumn Ragan
1-3: Sumer Fox and Oliver Rumney
4-5: Jessica Anderson, Rory Petersen and Vivien Valenzuela
6-8: Tisha Antique, Marcelle Mehu and Audrey Mollitt
9-12: Robert Abare, Kayla Hauze and Mendy Liu
18 and older: Michael Sappe, Melissa Tison and Michael Viafora