A young artist
moving to Jacksonville now would find a much different place than
Henry Peterson did when he moved to the city in 1976.
Peterson, visiting director of the University Gallery at the
University of North Florida, has put together an art exhibit to
document this cultural development.
Called "Street Scene: A Decade of New Painting in Jacksonville,"
the exhibit features 11 artists whose work came to prominence in
Jacksonville during the 1990s. The exhibit runs through Feb. 20.
"It was much more difficult to be an artist in this town then,"
said Peterson. "Now Jacksonville is more cosmopolitan, has a larger
audience, and there are more people willing to give up the
middle-class comforts to be an artist."
While there are artists in all parts of Jacksonville, Peterson
said it is important for a city to have places suitable for "art
centers." In the 1990s, Riverside, and in particular Five Points,
became that type of art center.
It was there that Stephen Dared the Fusion Cafe in 1991,
where the works of artists like Lee Harvey and Christian Pierre were
shown. Later, Harveyd his own gallery in Five Points, and
artists Steve Williams and Jim Draperd Pedestrian, A Gallery
of Contemporary Art.
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Jerry Smith's Koi
Pond, an oil on canvas, is one of the paintings featured
in "Street Scene: A Decade of New Painting in Jacksonville,"
an exhibit of works by 11 Jacksonville artists. The exhibit
runs through Feb. 20 at UNF's University Gallery.
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Dare said he once thought of the
younger, less-conservative artists as troublemakers and whiners, but
a street festival and art fair in Five Points in the early 1990s
made him quickly reverse his opinion and take up their cause.
"I thought, surely, if their work was good enough, they would be
in the galleries. Then there was this art fair and I walked out of
my cafe into this explosion of color and talent, and everything in
the streets was so much better than what was being shown in the
galleries," Dare said.
The result of these artists coming into their own against a
conservative art establishment was that they became "a new
establishment, but still with an underground mentality," said
Harvey.
One key to the growth of the art scene in Jacksonville, according
to Peterson, is the presence of a number of people with their eyes
on more than selling their own work.
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Ryan Rummel's
Beauty Contestant, acrylic on panel.
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"Several of these people have
something more than their own artwork in mind. They can see the big
picture," Peterson said.
Part of the big picture was theng of the Brooklyn
Contemporary Art Center in 1999, a partnership of Williams, Draper,
Mark Rinaman and Bryan Mickler. Artists Jerry Smith, Ryan Rummel,
Kurt Polkey and Jonathan Lux all exhibited there and have work
included in the "Street Scene" exhibit. (Other artists with work
featured in the exhibit are Draper, Harvey, Pierre, Williams, Mark
Creegan, Marsha Glaziere and Tony Rodrigues.)
When the center had to be demolished for road widening,
Pedestrian red in Springfield. The Lee Harvey Gallery has also
red in Springfield, next to Dare's Boomtown Theatre, and other
galleries haved nearby.
Springfield's success in becoming an art center only further
proves that the Jacksonville art scene has truly developed.
"I think what's happening in Springfield will be even bigger than
what's happened in Riverside, but what's important is that the scene
is now big enough for several different arts areas to exist,"
Peterson said.
Williams said Springfield's success is important, but there is a
danger in neighborhood patriotism.
"Most of the artists who complain about Jacksonville as an art
market are lazy and are sitting on a lot of old work, rather than
continuing," he said. "Jacksonville is Jacksonville, and it doesn't
matter so much what neighborhood you're in. People ask me, 'How are
things over there in Springfield?' and I want to say, 'Where are
you, Montana?'"
In fact, Springfield and Riverside have much in common, Dare
said.
"It's really the same dynamic, and there are now more than 100
artists working together over here, and in fact, I think it's even
more inclusive racially and intergenerationally than Five Points,"
he said.
The "Street Scene" exhibit is funded by UNF's Student Government
Association, Office of Academic Affairs and College of Arts and
Sciences. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Wednesdays,
9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays.