Tag Archives: MOCA Jacksonville

And MOCA Jacksonville marks the occasion by going back to the drawing board. Literally. In 2010, artists Christina Foard and Dolf James conceived of Imagination Squared, an exhibition featuring works by local artists of all ages, walks of life and skill levels.The concept was a huge hit, attracting 5,000 visitors for its opening and inspiring the creation of Project Atrium, a 40-foot-tall gallery space showcasing site-specific and site-sensitive installations on the museum’s first floor. The idea to revisit Imagination Squared was sparked by MOCA Executive Director Caitlín Doherty and Senior Curator Ylva Rouse who wanted to engage the public in expressing …

It’s thought-provoking and inspiring, emotional and raw, connecting us all through the power of the written word. In celebration of National Poetry Month, Hope at Hand presents the 4th Annual Jax Poetry Fest with free community workshops and presentations by a collection of local poets, writers and spoken-word artists in . Jax Poetry Fest is an annual event produced by the North Florida nonprofit every April during National Poetry Month to inspire community-based poetry projects and engage the community. The inaugural Poetry Fest was held in 2016. Now in its fourth year, the festival has grown in terms of both …

Jacksonville’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) will be hosting Drowning World from world-renowned photographer Gideon Mendel. The series features photographs he’s captured from around the world of floods and the people affected by them, including some from locals in Jacksonville and Middleburg after Hurricane Irma hit the First Coast, which he did as part of his winning the Jury Prize of the 2016 Greenpeace Photo Awards. I spoke to him to learn more about his work and his hopes for the reception of the exhibition. What led you to this photo series? Why did you choose flooding? The project emerged …

Public Art Week (PAW) is an annual, week-long initiative that celebrates Jacksonville’s public art and highlights the benefits that are created when investments are made in art that is accessible by all.  It is led by the to encourage residents and visitors to explore and engage with works of art that comprise Jacksonville’s rapidly developing artistic and creative landscape.  In addition to advancing the community’s awareness of and engagement with the City of Jacksonville’s official public art collection, PAW also showcases public art initiatives led by private entities and individuals. PAW supports the Cultural Council’s role of ensuring broad accessibility …

Courtesy of our friends at the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville We, as a society, sometimes have an unhealthy, or at the very least an unproductive, response to the success of others. Social media, which certainly has its benefits, is riddled with examples of this type of behavior, which includes destructive criticism, unjustified public shaming, and passive aggressive commentary. Online networks can be a black hole where individuals can lose their sense of time, civility, and the impact of their words. That isn’t always the case, however, as was recently illustrated through a post made by abstract expressionist painter Rob Middleton. Rob’s entry, which was posted …

What makes you happy? Often times, a young person’s hospital stay can be confusing, and so much of what happens with illness and the treatment of it can leave the patient feeling powerless. That’s where art comes in, reaching the part of the patient that still gets to be the decider, creator, inventor. is a non-profit arts-in-healthcare organization providing personal fine art experiences to enhance the healing process for patients and their families. The team of mostly visual artists works primarily with Wolfson Children’s Hospital and Nemours Children’s Clinic to facilitate art sessions with the young patients, as well as …

When interviewing some of the various artists for , there were two words that kept cropping up from the artists: physicality and color. Jill Nathanson says, “The two things together are central to the way the color moves through us. The paint has to move to engage you in that process.” And so, the artists have to move and use their bodies to achieve that. Fran O’Neill dons a raincoat and gloves to her elbows, using her arms as giant brushes. Jackie Saccoccio says that her process is something like a dance. She works on multiple canvases, using the drips …