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into supplies and studio rent, but it was not nearly enough to cover costs for his goal of painting 20
murals in the city in one year. Fortunately, he said, businesses and organizations in the city are increasingly
willing to pay artists for public projects.
“Public art is a sign of a progressive culture,” he says. “It improves quality of life and adds
energy to an area.” It reflects our need for self-expression, a core human value, and provides an opportunity
for a community to embrace that together.
Jacksonville is catching up to larger metropolitan areas where public art has long been prevalent.
“It’s something I’ve always seen as lacking in the city,” he says. As a young skateboarder and graffiti
artist, he spent countless hours downtown lamenting what he saw as ugly, barren walls. In the past,
his work would have been removed.
DOWNTOWN MUraLS
Public art is popping up all over Jacksonville,
particularly Downtown. In the past several
months, these projects have added color and
vibrancy to the city’s concrete jungle.
Yates parking garage, Market, Newnan and Adams
streets
Four murals span the 52-foot-tall stair towers, including
colorful, abstract designs by Felici Asteinza and Joey Fillastre
of the Milagros Art Collective, and Sean Mahan’s
figurative images of a young girl with origami cranes.
Laura Trio and Barnett National Bank buildings, Laura
and Adams streets
Photographer and artist Doug Eng dressed up the boarded
windows of these vacant buildings with images of nature
and architecture in a project called Beyond the Facade.
Lerner Building, Adams Street
A bold graphic design in red, white and black features a
phoenix and the phrase, “Rise from the ashes.” Corey
Kolb and Eric Hinote created the wheat-paste mural.
Burro Bar/Chomp Chomp/Icon Boutique, Adams and
Ocean streets
Along the Ocean Street side of the bar, Savannah artist
Matthew Hebermehl painted an expressionist piece
showing flames rising from the palms of two hands. On
Adams Street, Shaun Thurston painted a fantastical giant
frog with its front legs outstretched.
Chamblin Uptown, 215 N. Laura Street
In another of Shaun Thurston’s undertakings, islands
float dreamily above the store’s marquee.
Empty lot, Laura and Adams streets
Yarn-bombing is just like it sounds: a knitted and crocheted
explosion of colorful, yarn creations. Armed with
yarn, Jackie Kuhn bombed the fence of this empty lot.
photo by fran ruchalski
Says Thurston, “The same city that painted over all my stuff is paying me to do it now. The city
caught up to my childhood dreams.” That’s partly because he has a better understanding of what the
larger community wants to see. He has found that if people relate to the images he creates, they tend
to embrace it without question. Graffiti lettering, however, is an “elite language.” It communicates only
to other graffiti artists and a small population of people who love it. He keeps a place in his heart for
it, but his vision for public murals is to “broaden the spectrum to include a whole community.”
“The key aspect, especially in a historic neighborhood like Riverside, is respect,” he said. “I have
to take into account that there may be a 90-year-old woman who has lived [in Riverside] her whole
life, and what I do affects her neighborhood.”
For more on artist Shaun Thurston, go to shaunthurston.com.
At the Yates Parking Garage by Felici Asteinza and
Joey Fillastre of the Milagros Art Collective
eujacksonville.com | JULY 2013 15