Erin Thursby
For art lovers here in Jacksonville, there’s a huge pool of local talent to chose from. There’s a new place to find some of that talent in the San Marco neighborhood. Located in a building just off of the San Marco shopping district is The Vault at 1930. “There is an abundance of art talent here, some that have built a huge following, others just emerging, but all with one purpose: to share art with the world,” says gallery owner Rula Carr. Carr, who is known in the neighborhood as the proprietor of The Snob consignment shop, opened the commission-based gallery with her husband Jim last November. Rula says the location choice was an easy one, given that they already had roots in the neighborhood, and because it was the original location of the Snob. When they opened there was only one other gallery off the San Marco Square, but they are now the only gallery in the immediate area.
While the selections are First Coast heavy, there are other artists from Florida, and they occasionally pick up an artist from outside that. Michael Brennan from Tallahassee will be doing a show there from October 13-15, with a cocktail reception to kick things off at 5:30pm on the 13th. His works start with plywood, vintage texts, built up with resin, with images of horses overlaid and underlaid in the layers of multiple media. In horse racing circles, his large canvas art is sought out, being featured in publications such as Churchill Downs Magazine. If you would like to attend, please see events on www.thevaultat1930.com and hit the RSVP button.
Another artist on display that you might not know because he’s not local, is Tres Taylor out of Alabama, who paints charming folk-art-esque renditions of a travelling monk on a color blocked landscape. He’s enjoyed regional success, and it’s good to see his work here in person.
The art of David Engdahl will be on display at The Vault at 1930 Art Gallery from November 10 th – 30th. The gallery will host a cocktail reception from 5:30pm to 7.30pm on Friday November 10th to launch the show. Art will be available to purchase through the 30th.
The one thing that Reet Blanchone, Manager of the Vault at 1930 wants the public to know is that, “art is for everybody.” At The Vault, there’s a wide range of price points. Just give Blanchone an idea of what you want and what you can afford, and she’ll show you something. Outside, the silvery steel Dolf James sculpture is priced at about $9,000, but you can also take home a wood bowl sculpture for as little as $40. Wandering the gallery during my chat with her, is a couple who are looking to fill spaces in their home–they seem to know the owner fairly well, and describe what they might want. Blanchone finds them a framed sculpture in a shadow box and they take a few snap shots of a vase sculpture to see where it might fit in with their ascetic.
Those that buy from the gallery, says Rula Carr, come from everywhere, local and not so local, with clients ranging from the First Coast to Washington D.C., Colorado and Los Angeles. “We work with designers that are amazing, no project is too small or too big for us. We have just added framing to our list of services too,” says Carr.
Styles and artists range as widely as the prices and the geographical locations of the customers; Princess Rashid’s mix of math formula and abstraction, smaller brass, wood, and glass steampunk-inspired sculpture from Jim Smith, photography from Thomas Hagar, colorful prints from Joanelle Mulrain, other-worldly figures emerging from Laurie Hitzig’s canvases, large figures from Larry Wilson, a half moon piece of furniture sculpture from Peter Blunt, canvases from Amy Leggin, dog portraits and other works from Ed Hall, and Mary St. Germain’s floating florals–a slightly surreal take on a stormy backdrop of your standard still life–are just a little of the local art you’ll find gracing the space. For all its variety though, The Vault seems to be carefully curated for quality. See their website for art classes, events, a gallery of some of their art, and more at www.thevaultat1930.com.
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