JaMario Stills believes that the arts and creativity should be woven into the fabric of every day life. Don't believe that this is possible? Stop and think about how fashion designers utilize artistic skillsets to create the clothes you're wearing. Reflect on the music that you listen to as you workout at the gym, make your daily commute, or prepare dinner. Consider the architecture that makes up Jacksonville's cityscape and the murals, mosaics, and sculptures that accentuate our visual landscape. And if you still needed more reaffirming, mull over the book you're reading to wind down after a long day. These are all small examples of how the arts are present in our daily lives. Yet how often do you actually pause to let stew how much the arts add beauty to life and have the potential to liberate the human spirit?
Stills has dedicated himself to assisting others in realizing that the arts matter. A Jacksonville native who graduated from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in 2000, Stills eventually left Jacksonville to attended the prestigious Juilliard School in New York, where he received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Drama and Theatre Arts. After returning to Jacksonville, he began serving his community by joining the staff at The Performers Academy, a non-profit arts education hub for youth who have an interest in the performing arts, and serving on the Board of Directors for Players by the Sea, a non-profit community theatre located at Jacksonville Beach. In 2014, Stills was appointed by the Mayor of Jacksonville to sit on the Cultural Council's Board of Directors, a position he still holds. He also currently serves on the City's Art in Public Places Committee. In 2016, Stills identified an opportunity to expand his impact on the community, which led to the formation of Phase Eight Theater Company. As a company, Phase Eight is devoted to fostering great actors through contemporary performances that are to be shared with modern audiences. It is their aspiration to be Florida's premier theater institution by developing new voices for the American stage.
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Writer Jared Rypkema is the founder and publisher of Bridge Eight Literary Magazine. Published twice a year, Bridge Eight includes short stories and poems loosely tied to a central theme. Contributions to the literary magazine come from writers across the country. Each issue also showcases one visual artist whose work is featured on the cover and within the pages of the magazine.
Bridge Eight represents and evolution of an idea. Rypkema saw a need to bring together Jacksonville's writing community. With this need identified, he formed Left on Mallory, a small group of writers who met each week at Rypkema's home in Riverside. Rypkema's ambitions and vision didn't end with Left on Mallory; he sensed the need for something more substantial, something that showcased the great writers of our region. With no previous experience in publishing, but with the blessing from Jacksonville's established writers, Rypkema began the work to create a printed literary magazine.
Rebecca Thompson was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. In early 2014, when co-producing a film in Atlanta, she was faced with escalating location and studio costs. To remedy these costs, Thompson suggested to her partner that they move the production to Northeast Florida. This decision saved the production financially but it also created a new challenge, finding trained talent to bring their script to life.
After the production wrapped up, Thompson reflected on the experience and the advantages of working in Jacksonville, which included lower production costs and proximity to the major television and film production hubs in the Southeast’s now booming market. She knew that if she wanted to bring more productions to Jacksonville she needed to provide professional training to progress the region's talent to the next level. From this, Creative Veins Performing Arts Studio was formed.
In 2011, Robert Walker, who was born in Jacksonville but raised in Atlanta, was inspired by a hip-hop DJ to go beyond simply admiring photography to learning more about the artistic discipline. Though he held photographers such as Gordon Parks, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Richard Avedon in high regards, it was D-Nice, known by most for his role in the legendary 1980s hip hop group Boogie Down Productions (whose members also included KRS-One and La Rock), that made Walker feel as though he himself was capable of taking great pictures. D-Nice hit a patch of hard times in the 90s and early 2000s but eventually reinvigorated his career through his exploration into the world of photography. With every picture he posted, D-Nice would list the equipment he used when capturing the images. This insight served Walker as both inspiration and a source of education regarding the technical aspects of manual photography, camera bodies, and lenses.
D-Nice, albeit from afar, served as an educator to Walker. As a self-taught photographer, Walker turned to YouTube for additional guidance. He used the video sharing website as an open source platform to learn and gain wisdom regarding all things photography. But, Walker didn't start his journey with elaborate equipment. With limited resources available to him, Walker started his journey as a photographer using something that he already carried with him everyday, his iPhone.
In 2016, Gwen Meking Whittle spent nearly half a year traveling across the United States. Like William Least Heat-Moon, as documented in "Blue Highways: A Journey into America," and John Steinbeck, as documented in "Travels with Charley in Search of America," Whittle set out to discover the people and places that comprise the United States of America. Through her travels, she hoped to come upon a place that drew her in, a city where she could feel comfortable planting some roots. Her journey led her back to her home state of Florida, specifically though to the city of Jacksonville.
Whittle grew up along Florida's Treasure Coast in the relatively small town of Stuart. As a young adult, Whittle left South Florida in search of someplace different, a place that better embraced those who live on the fringe of mainstream in America's counter and alternative culture scenes. For at least a while, Whittle found what she was looking for in New Orleans. Perhaps it is worth noting that she left the Big Easy and eventually found herself in a city whose marketing byline is now "It's Easier Here." My Reality Is Shaped By My Own Hands - 10 Questions with Audiovisual Artist Willie Evans Jr.5/25/2018
If Duval County had a hip hop hall of fame Willie Evans Jr., whose real name is Niam Jones, would certainly be one of the portraits on display. He established himself as a solo MC before co-founding Asamov, a 904 based hip hop group, alongside DJ Therapy (Paten Locke), Ja-One-Da (Joe Cox), and Basic (Vladimir Decastro). Those who were present in Jacksonville's hip hop scene in the early 2000s fondly remember the super group for both their comical antics and the quality of the material that they produced. During live performances, each of Asamov's members took turns on the mic and all but J-One-Da rotated in as DJ.
In 2002, when albums were still tangible, the group released their debut album titled "The Blow Your Whistle EP." The album was released by 6 Hole Records, a record label based in Duval that released 20+ albums between 2002 and 2007. In 2005, Asamov released the acclaimed album "And Now...," which was nationally distributed and received positive reviews from sources such as Okayplayer, Billboard, and URB Magazine. But, at the height of their success, the group received a cease and desist order from the estate of late American science-fiction writer and professor of biochemistry, Isaac Asimov. This resulted in a name change, with the group then going by the name The Alias Brothers, also referred to as The AB's.
Susan Gibbs Natale is not a Jacksonville native. In fact, she isn't even native to the South. She was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in the North. Natale spent her formative years in Brooklyn and on Long Island and a large portion of her adult life in Manhattan and the mountains of Pennsylvania.
Natale began visiting Jacksonville in 2012 to relocate her aging father-in-law and be near to her then pregnant daughter. Natale fell in love with the First Coast's creatively fertile grounds. She quickly became a part of the arts community by mounting initiatives such as a 20' air puppet and the Sparkmobile at ONESPARK, directing and performing in the Jacksonville Historical Society's annual "Halloween Party at the Casket Factory," and other community based projects, such as exhibiting with the Northeast Florida Sculptors at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens and the Jacksonville Arboretum and Gardens. Through these creative and communal endeavors, Natale blossomed as an artist. A Little Understanding Goes a Long Way - 10 Questions with TESOL Instructor and Poet Lena Shaqareq5/11/2018
Lena Shaqareq came to the US with her family as immigrants in 1993. She and her family are Palestinian but were living in Qatar, a peninsular country in the Middle East along the shore of the Persian Golf. As a teenager in Jacksonville, Shaqareq attended high school at the Stanton College Preparatory School, the oldest continually operating high school in Florida. After graduating high school, she enrolled at the University of North Florida (UNF) where she earned a Bachelor's of Arts Degree in Elementary Education. Shaqareq re-enrolled at UNF and obtained a Master's Degree in Adult Education, with a concentration in Teachers of English to Students of Other Languages (TESOL).
After completing her Master's, Shaqareq began working with the College of Education at UNF. There, she taught the undergrad TESOL courses and eventually became the ESOL Coordinator for the university. Now, Shaqareq serves as the President of Northeast Florida TESOL. She is also the Former Vice President of the Florida Chapter of the National Association of Multicultural Education.
Southern-born artist Tracie Thornton creates 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional mixed media works under the moniker Thorn. Her work combines post consumer packaging and textiles with printmaking and assemblage to create collages, sculptures, and wearable body adornments. The elements that Thorn uses in her work are every day objects that she has collected from all over, saving them from being discarded and eventually finding a way to give them a second life.
Located at 2670 Phyllis Street is Space 42. A former industrial warehouse, this 22,000 square foot building now serves the community as a place where art, technology, and creative entrepreneurship converge. The ambitious team behind Space 42, which includes wife and husband duo Michelle and Kevin Calloway, are building upon multi-faceted aspirations to plant a beacon in the ground near the corner of Roselle and King in an effort to proudly transmit to the surrounding world that cool things exist there. And, in even larger terms, that cool things exist in Jacksonville, Florida.
It takes courage, foresight, imagination, and a healthy tolerance for risk to take on a project as substantial as converting a structure the size of Space 42. Truth be told, it's the type of conversion that pipe dreams are made of but few individuals actually have the vision and access to resources that allow them to pursue. That said, those involved with Space 42 are proving what is possible with the right plan of attack and the right team of associates leading the charge. Through it all, however, the team also acknowledges that there is a learning curve for this type of transformative initiative and it requires one to be adaptive, willing to admit what they don't know, and also okay with learning from trial and error. |
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