J Magazine Winter 2017

“A mural can transform a space to be a place people want to return again and again.”
Kate Garcia-Rouh, RouxArt
and entertainment. More amenities draw
even more people to the urban core. But it’s
not always easy to get the circle connected.
Residents are the missing piece in Jacksonville’s
Downtown, and art can help change
that.
Haskell remembers walking through
Downtown districts in Denver, Johannesburg
and other cities.
“You see this wonderful three-dimensional
large-scale, very colorful sculpture
on darn near every corner,” he said. “It is so
exciting and so stimulating and so exhilarating.
I thought, ‘We need to do this in Jacksonville.’”
The experience spurred Haskell to negotiate
with property owners for square
footage on which to place abstract metal
sculptures. He’s already installed four, and
over the next two years, he hopes to add six
to eight more.
The most recent sculpture, at the northwest
corner of Hogan and Water streets,
was completed in October. Its tangled
curves of orange and silver rise 35 feet.
When lit at night, they reflect in the mirrored
walls of the One Enterprise Center
building nearby.
“It’s a wonderful combination of site and
subject,” Haskell said.
The mission
for more art
Kate and Kenny Rouh, the artist team
behind RouxArt, have seen how art changes
the pedestrian experience. The couple is
best known for the “Mirrored River,” a tile
mosaic of deep blue glass shards cemented
to the wall underneath the Main Street
Bridge. Every time they go back to the mural,
they see other visitors stopping to take
photos for weddings, prom nights and family
vacations.
“Murals create beautiful environments,”
Kate Garcia-Rouh said. “A mural can transform
a space to be a place that welcomes
people. A place people want to return again
and again.”
So if art is good, is there a way for Jacksonville
to produce more of it? The business
model for art has always been a tough
nut to crack, the Rouhs said.
They give the Cultural Council credit
for providing artists with seed money
through public commissions. But they
don’t expect the government alone to
support them as artists. One of the hardest
things is to get permission from a
building owner, Kate Rouh said. Or even
better, some financial support.
“It’s not like people are offering their
walls. You kind of have to go beg for it,” she
said.
Santiago praised the support she’s gotten
from the business community so far.
“They are the ones who are really stepping
up,” she said. “Our events are mostly
sponsored by corporations. But each wall is
a contribution of either a local business or a
local patron.”
She’s been disappointed, though, by city
leaders. Prior to this year’s mural expo, Santiago
reached out to each City Council member
numerous times. No one responded.
“I get that we are new and we still have
to prove ourselves, but if people did the research
and saw who we had coming here
and how important they are, they would realize
that we need to jump on innovation,”
she said.
Perhaps it’s caught Jacksonville by surprise.
But, not everything that transforms a
city comes from the top down. Street artists
and performers are also part of our city’s
brand.
Juxtapoz and Estee Lauder see what
Jacksonville could become. Surely city leaders,
if they look a little closer, will see it too.
Carole Hawkins is a free-lance
journalist who lives in Murray Hill.
JEFF DAVIS
The latest sculpture Preston Haskell installed Downtown (left) glimmers in front of the One Enterprise Center building. Concrete support pillars beneath the
Downtown Jacksonville Skyway (right) are wrapped in colorful murals.
58 J MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017-18