Each month, First Wednesday Art Walk has a theme, but the May edition will cover several topics, including conservation, fashion and bicycling, in addition to the dozens of local and regional artists who will be showing their work at venues throughout Downtown.
The Eco Latino Conservation Fashion Show at the Landing will present a runway fashion show of new outfits created by local designers from recycled materials.
The Florida Theatre will present “Hayden’s 1st Birthday Party,” a fundraiser for Hayden Brooks Chadwell, who spent 82 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. Grandpa’s Cough Medicine will perform on the historic stage and there will be a silent auction and birthday cake.
At Chamblin’s Uptown bookstore and cafe, owner Ron Chamblin has invited his twin sister, Sue Chamblin Frederick, to sign copies of her new novel, “The Unwilling Spy.
She’s a retired federal and City employee who has penned a tale of intrigue woven around a concert pianist who is recruited by the British in World War II to infiltrate the German high command.
Frederick said writing is a way to use her imagination and live a “vicarious fantasy life.”
At the park on Main Street near the Main Library, artist Doug Eng will debut the latest “Art in Strange Places” installation. It’s titled “Message in a Bottle: Wall of Light” and comprises more than 15,000 water bottles that each contain a message of gratitude for U.S. armed forces members who are deployed.
The installation will remain on display until after the Jacksonville Jazz Festival wraps up May 28.
Downtown’s newest piece of permanent public art, Lee Adams’ 30-foot-wide mural of Jean Ribault’s arrival in the New World in 1562, will be in its new permanent location on the 4th floor of the Main Library. The exhibit is part of the City’s sesquiquadricentennial celebration.
Mayor Alvin Brown will join the May Art Walk at 7 p.m. at City Hall, where he will be presented a bicycle by the Jacksonville Bicycle Coalition, an organization that advocates for the rights of cyclists.
Southlight Gallery at 6 E. Bay St. will exhibit the work of its 25 resident artists and present a performance by The 5 & Dime A Theatre Company.
JaxHax Makerspace and Community Workshop will invade CoWork Jax at 5 W. Forsyth St. for the “Great Straw Tower Building Competition.” Building materials will be provided along with prizes for the team that builds the strongest tower of straws.
For more information about May’s First Wednesday Art Walk, visit downtownjacksonville.org.
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