J Magazine Winter 2018

“Art Republic has
the ability to get it
out in the art world.
They have a lot of
connections with a lot
of organizations.”
Chris Clark
Jacksonville
MURAL artist
one point, I was losing hair, I was losing
weight from the stress alone … It was so
not normal.”
Then, at age 31, she was diagnosed with
uterine cancer. As she healed, she said,
she “went down a very spiritual route.
“I remember feeling like this is about
a paradigm shift in my life. Something is
about to change. It was more about getting
my attention than what it appeared at face
value. My whole life had been very stress,
high intensity, where I had no balance. So
I knew right off the bat that was it. So, pay
close attention, something is happening.
Literally, it was an inspired thought one
day. It was completely something I had
never thought about before.
“I had this whole inspired thought that
I need to open up an art gallery and make
Jacksonville a nationally recognized art
city.”
What she did, with fiancé George Georgallis
and after some research in other cities,
was start Art Republic to bring artists
from elsewhere, nationally and internationally,
to create public art in Jacksonville
through sponsors, mostly locally based
businesses.
“International artists have huge followings,”
Santiago said. “It’s become a
worldwide phenomenon. They tour just
like musicians. They go from city to city,
and people come and travel when they see
them. We really believe we can get people
to come and drive tourism from the arts.”
While it’s important that the artists
have national and international perspectives,
she said they get some local grounding.
“We give them articles on the history
of Jacksonville, particularly females’ influence
on the cultural scene in Jacksonville,
the Harlem Renaissance … the history of
Springfield, the history of LaVilla.
“We’re privately funded so we can
move quickly and so we would have creative
control so we could bring this standard
of excellence in the curation of the
artwork.” As the Art Republic curator, she
said she travels to every major art fair.
Art Republic has sponsors — with names
like Haskell, Chubb, Jaguars, Estee Lauder
and Vystar — to pay for the murals as well
as other digital art and technology exhibits.
Through the project, the artists installed
13 murals the first year and 12 last
year, Santiago said, and seven more were
to be installed during Art Republic’s Art
Week last month.
That was in an interview Oct. 27, but
by the end of Art Week Nov. 11, only two
murals had gone up, on the Church Street
side of 502 N. Hogan and the Ashley side
of 524 N. Hogan. A third, on the west side
of 521 E. Forsyth, was delayed because
the property owner wanted to see different
designs, Santiago said, but would be
painted the following week.
She said the other four artists had
last-minute “schedule changes” and now
will be coming to paint in March. Art Republic
is willing to wait, she said, because
“we wanted very specific artists.”
Chris Clark, the local artist who was
painting the striking cartoon-style mural
on Church, said he was happy to be commissioned
by Art Republic. “It’s good for
exposure,” he said as he stood on the sidewalk,
flipped his paint brush and considered
his work-in-progress. “Art Republic
has the ability to get it out in the art world.
They have a lot of connections with a lot of
organizations and art magazines.”
Santiago said this year is probably Art
Republic’s last round of murals, though
there is some individual demand for pieces.
In future years, she wants to concentrate
on sculpture and digital art and technology
exhibitions.
Local art supporter and philanthropist
Preston Haskell, whom Santiago credits
with mentoring her and sponsoring Art
Republic, said he is encouraging her to
commission murals on the Jones Bros.
Furniture Co. building and on the old JEA
building at 223 W. Duval, pending approvals
by the owners. On the latter, he said,
Santiago has the idea of projecting a night-
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J MAGAZINE | WINTER 2018-19