More specifically Springfield is street art famous. When your photo shows up on the Obey Giant website, you know you’ve made it. I took this picture of The Pearl Friday and three days later it shows up on the homepage of one of the most influential street artists of our time. Bam!

I will sleep soundly tonight. I love you Internet!

I am excited to have this interview with Dan May, one of the most exciting new artists in the city. I will let Dan’s own words and his artwork tell the rest of the story.

Age?: 27

Where are you from, how did you get here?
I was born and raised in Rochester, NY, i went to school in Syracuse, NY, relocated to NYC after graduation, lived there for almost four years, and finally landed here in Jacksonville! Moving here was surprisingly one of the best things to happen to me.

Unfortunately, in NYC I had to split my time between painting and bar-tending to keep pace with the high cost of living. As time went by I found myself bar-tending more and more and painting very little. Once we moved down here I was able to focus solely on painting and have been doing so ever since! Plus you really can’t beat the weather down here…

Favorite Artists?
Oh man, that’s a tough one! here are a few of my faves out there today… Colin Johnson, Doug Boehm, Robert Hardgrave, Jeremy Pruitt, Aaron Nather, Jeremiah Ketner, Jason Proudler, Katy Horan, Chris Buzelli, Gina Triplett, Dennis Hayes, Mike Maxwell, Elsavet, Craig LaRotonda, Travis Louie, Neil Swaab, Julie West, Chris Ryniak, Martin Ontiveros, Bwana Spoons, Amy Sol, Brendan Monroe, Mike Burnett, Dave Cooper, Amanda Vissell, Sam Weber, Eric White, Alex Gross, Mark Burkhardt, Mars-1, Scott Musgrove, Jeremy Fish, Chris Sickels, Daniel Chang, APAK, Naoto Hattori, Brendan Danielsson, David Jon Kassan, Chris Reccardi, Ronald Kurniawan, Johnny Yanok, Nathan Spoor, Joe Vaux, Buff Monster, Banksy, Doze Green, Jeff Soto, Mark Ryden, Todd Schorr, Tim Biskup, Gary Taxali, the Clayton Brothers, Tim Burton, and so many more.

I have to say I really admire any artist who is constantly pushing the envelope, and putting himself or herself out there. Here are a few faves of the past… Dali, Bosch, Magritte, Picasso, Van Gogh, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, Van Eyck, Norman Rockwell, Disney, Dr. Seuss, Basquiat… and the list goes on!

What influences you?
Nature, bugs, toys (antique to urban vinyl), music, books, magazines, travel, old stuff, collecting art, great design, street art, the world around me, friends and family, and of course my lovely wife Kendal!

Describe your style…
Hmmm, I always hated the word “style” when describing my work… I think it makes me feel somewhat suffocated. I’m constantly trying to push the envelope in my work, always experimenting with different techniques, colors, materials, etc. However, to answer your question, I would best describe my work as a healthy mix of pop influenced surrealism, with roots in traditional illustration. I’d like to think my work could be applied to various settings, from galleries, to the pages of a publication, and everywhere in between.

What do you think about the Jacksonville art scene so far? / What would you do to make it better?
So far I would say I’m not all that impressed with the Jacksonville art scene. I don’t mean to slam Jacksonville, but when you look at the progressive stuff that is happening on the west coast and in other major cities throughout the world it’s hard not to get down on the state of things here.

That being said, I think Jacksonville is a young city that is full of potential. I’d love for more art schools to pop up around here, more galleries catering to the the whole pop surreal, lowbrow, newbrow, outsider, folk art, urban art, pervasive art, or whatever you wanna call it scene. I feel as though we are embarking on an almost neo-renaissance of sort in the art world, and not just here in the US, but worldwide. It’s an exciting time to be an artist… just pick up an issue of Juxtapoz, or check out sites like Art Dorks, Fecal Face, Illustration Mundo, Boonika, Drawn! and you’ll get a very small taste of what’s happening out there! I do have to give props to Urban Jacksonville for this wonderful site, Urban Art Warfare for there efforts, and all the local galleries, shops, and people who are embracing and taking part in this movement, they’re out there… i think we just need to keep building on things and we’ll get there!

Do you have any upcoming shows we should know about?
Let’s see… I have a show at DvA Gallery (www.dvagallery.com) in Chicago opening October 20th, I’m taking part in the Modern Monster group show through Blah Blah Gallery (www.blahblahgallery.com), I have a show in Idaho Falls in January, and a show a Denver show in February. Locally, I’ll be showing at Burrito Gallery in January, plus I have a slue of other shows scheduled for 07′ …stay tuned to my site for further details.

Dan May Illustration
Dan May Flickr

tags: jacksonville, art, dan may, illustration

Art by Mico Fuentes (Thanks Tones!)

Thief in the Knight 2 video and interviews

I headed down to the August Art Walk in Downtown Jacksonville for to shoot some video and do a couple of interviews. My first, and only, stop was the Thief in the Knight 2 show at the W.A. Knight building on Adams street.

I had the opportunity to talk with two of the artists, Shaun Thurston and Kenny Salvador. We talked about what Thief in the Knight is and how it came about. I tried to interview all the artists, but it was impossible to track them down with all the people coming in and out of the show. If you missed the show, I’m sorry, you really missed something amazing. B-boys, awesome art, free beer, cool people.

So you ask, what about next month? Can I head to Thief in the Knight in September? Well that is up in the air, if we are all lucky it will be around for another month.

I hope everyone will take a sec to check out the video. Also check out this July Art Walk video from downtownvision.

tags: jacksonville, art walk, thief in the knight 2, kenny salvadore, shaun thurston

Hello and welcome if you’ve found the site through Folio Weekly’s Annual Manual. If you haven’t seen the Folio yet, here is a link to the article where I answer questions about my neighborhood, Springfield. If you are new to the site, check out the right sidebar where you will find recent comments, links to past articles and a place to subscribe.

Very quickly, Urban Jacksonville is not just about Springfield, but all of Jacksonville’s established and emerging urban neighborhoods. Here are some of the more popular posts I have written in the past.

Leading up to the Folio article I revealed many answers to the questions listed in the Annual Manual. Discussion of my answers ranged from harsh criticism to insightful analysis. You can check out all the questions, answers and discussions below:

What is Springfield known for?
Who is the most interesting person in Springfield?
What is the best restaurant in Springfield?
Where is the closest coffee shop in Springfield?
Why would someone come to Springfield?
What is the quality of life in Springfield?

tags: jacksonville, springfield, folioweekly

Demolition @ 8th and Hubbard

This update is based purely on my observations. There is actually very little information on the status of the construction at the Better Jacksonville website. An amazing application, if the city had the foresight to develop it, would a website where I could subscribe to either email updates or an RSS feed for construction updates. I’m sure the city tracks the progress of each project, now if they would only let us track the progress too.

Beside the barrel barricades lining the streets, here’s what’s shakin’. A great old building 8th and Hubbard was demolished. It must have been condemned. It would be awesome to see a nice restaurant or coffee shop at 8th and Hubbard. The photo above is what it looked like before demolition.

Various blocks are missing their sidewalks. It seems hit OR miss when it comes to which blocks retained their sidewalks. After last night’s rain the blocks that don’t have sidewalks will surely make for some messy foot traffic.

The city has set up a staging area on Hubbard between 7th and 8th. This is where they are keeping all of their materials and heavy equipment.

That’s all for know. I sure as shootin look forward to the day I can talk about sidewalks being poured and building being built instead of demolished.

tags: jacksonville, springfield, 8th street

Take a historic neighborhood close to Downtown. Mix in the current trend of suburban flight to urban living. Add a healthy heaping of upper to middle class whites moving into a traditionally low-income, black neighborhood and you have all the ingredients for a good ol fashioned case of gentrification.

Wikipedia defines gentrification as:

the process whereby dilapidated neighborhoods are restored and refurbished, usually in conjunction with changing demographics and an influx of wealthier residents.

For each argument for gentrification there is another argument against gentrification. So what I wanted to do was look for solutions. Tanyaa’s article touched on one solution:

“It would be nice if some of the developers could give back to the community by trying to work in some affordable housing into it,” Watkins said. “That would be a wonderful way to give back. But the reality is that now, there is money to be made here. Unfortunately, that takes precedence over everything else.”

Solutions for Gentrification in Springfield
Or anywhere for that matter

1. Create persistent affordable housing, non-profit housing or cooperative housing
2. Control land for community development
3. Income and asset creation through more jobs in the community
4. Encourage equitable development. It emphasizes the positive effect of mixed-income communities, and helps residents to have a voice in decision-making and to acquire the skills and resources needed to stay anchored in their neighborhoods.
5. Residents could organize grass-roots efforts to fight the effects of gentrification
6. Inclusionary zoning – Developers are either required or provided with incentives (such as higher build-outs) to develop a certain percentage of affordable housing units.
7. Introduce legislation the would require developers to set aside 15% of their properties as affordable.

Sources:
Beyond Gentrification: Strategies for Managing Community Change
Resisting Gentrification

The more I researched the issue the more I discovered there are no easy solutions. To prevent the bad effects of gentrification, forcing out low-income residents, the community and the government have to take an active role.

tags: jacksonville, gentrification, springfield

Some time ago I was asked what I thought of the increase of [Jacksonville Jazz Festival] ticket prices from zip to $10 and up. Well, I didn’t know exactly how I would feel about that until I experienced it. As a ten year vet of the annual jazz fest I didn’t think it would make that much of a difference. Maybe I’m less poor than I feel. The way I look at it, one could say, “I got to see Herbie Hancock for $10!” or Kenny G or even lesser knows TS Monk, Peter Cincotti etc. Most of all of the bands you could have seen at this year’s jazz fest would command a greater than $10 ticket price unless it was like The Spam All Stars at Jack Rabbits or something. Even then it would be damn near $10. Dinosaur Jr was $20 on Monday and by all accounts worth it. It’s a proposition where you almost certainly will get more than your moneys’ worth. Someone said that it will also help keep out the riff-raff, but I think smooth jazz and $5 beers are more likely to do that.

Anyway, on the surface the price didn’t scare me off. The problem was I had way too much to do the week of the fest. Also, the First Wednesday Art Walk was the day before things got cooking and it was sooo much fun it drained much of my personal fun time or PFT. As the weekend clock ticked I decided at the very least I would creep up on Herbie Hancock on Sunday to close the fest. I did this one other time with Tony Bennett and it was one of the best shows I have ever seen at Met Park, period. Tony did about 5 encores and just kept killing it. He was Frank Sinatra’s favorite singer. Parking was free this time as it was then for the late folks. I was surprised by that as there was also a Suns doubleheader. Chalk up an early fiver to me. Then I walk up and see the line. We are talking a 20 minute wait (only two windows open) at 5:45 pm, 15 minutes before the last act. Damn. I wait in line patiently while I hear the MC thanking the sponsors. Herbie starts to crank “Canteloupe Island” as I approach the window.

One, front row.

The lady looks at me without smiling and says “$13”.

Ouch, what is the other 3?

Service charge. She says with a look like she had said to every single ticket buyer she saw. As if to scream I did not ADD THE CHARGE! Some other asshole that is not here ADDED THE CHARGE!

What service? I’ve been in line for 20 minutes. There is no line to get in the gates. You’ve done me a disservice.

Grumble. Where was the notice? Isn’t there some legal issue in disclosing fees? Did they sell enough pre-concert tickets (assuming that is the upside of going with Ticketmaster) to make this 30% fee worth it. What a TERRIBLE name for a monopoly. Ticketmaster. I think Windows should be renamed, Operating System MASTER. Call Eddie Vedder I’ve got an issue.

Minus three bucks and thusly one beer, as I only brought a $20. Had I had to pay for parking a beverage would have been beyond my capability. Worth noting is that you can get a bottle of wine in an ice bucket for $12. So there are some bargains to be had just not by me.

I did observe a lot less people than usual for such a big act and such beautiful weather. They seemed much more serious and subdued. There were a lot more people with folding chairs percentage-wise. All of this could be a net result of the $10, let’s just call it $13 charge.

But I came to see Herbie and he was awesome. His guitarist did this solo thing where it sounded like whole tribe of people. Amazing. Well worth the $13.

The New Orleans Jazz Fest is at least three times as good and their tickets are $30. We need to improve our line up some (though we are one of the most revered jazz fests in the world) and none of these charges will bother us. We also need to evaluate the need for the MASTER and if the number of presales justify a 30% charge. If not drop those suckers or at least tell people the TOTAL cost of the ticket.

As I sat with some friends listening to the jazz we talked about how awesome it will be to walk from 5 points all the way to the jazz fest all along the waterfront without even seeing a car. Think 2010. I just hope I can afford to get in when I get there.

tags: jacksonville, jacksonville jazz festival

Then this happened. Ron Barton caught wind of what Kevin was doing and got all pissed off:

I have now learned that Kevin Conners[sic] is calling people that he picks up in my emails, represents that he is a reporter and is inquiring as to their business with the City/JEDC. He is way out of bounds and beyond the pale on this one. I am going to ask the Office of the General Counsel if he has broken any laws.

What rights does a reporter from a local newspaper or TV station have that a citizen of this city does not have. Apparently they are not allowed to access public documents and ask questions about the information contained in those documents and they are not allowed to say they are “a reporter”. It seems if you are a citizen reporting the news you are held to a different standard and any other news organization in Jacksonville.

This city needs to wake up and realize that WE ARE THE NEW MEDIA. WE the bloggers of Jacksonville, WE the people who post comments on message boards and more so, we members of this community have a right to expose what is going on behind the curtain. I am talking about all of us, the citizens of this community. We have a right to report, publish and comment on any story that is news to us.

And guess what? We don’t have to play by YOUR rules. We are not the sanitized version of the news put out by the Times-Union or The Local Station. We don’t adhere to political pressure or old-school bureaucracies because we aren’t looking for a recommendation for our resume or a back scratch from a politician. We don’t have to watch our mouth for fear of offending someone, we say what the fuck we want.

Our news staff is 500,000 strong. We are the citizens of this city, we are the media. I wish our elected officials would pay the same attention to their constituents that they pay to one reporter from the Times-Union.

tags: jacksonville, citizen media

Newspapers must publish weblogs to meet the changing expectations of readers – Jay Rosen

So lets answer the question,
Is the Times-Union a blogging newspaper? By all accounts I would have to say no. What makes a good blogging newspaper?

Newspapers must take blogging seriously.
The Times-Union mentions the word blog on its homepage one time, at the bottom of the page under special interests. The best blogging newspaper in the country, the Houston Chronicle, mentions the word blog on its homepage 7 times and links to over 80 blogs right from its homepage.

Newspapers must have a main page for weblogs
Compare and contrast blog homes: Times-Union | Houston Chronicle
The Times-Union has a main page for blogs, but they get it all wrong. If you go to blog categories you may think Wow, there are 39 people blogging about the Northside. No actually there are 39 posts that have been categorized as Northside, but 90% of them are about sports and written by 1 person, dchapman.

What the Times-Union should do is list dchapman as a blogger and describe what he writes about. The Houston Chronicle has 60 blogs written by newspaper staff they are categorized by topic like TechBlog, ShopGirl, SciGuy and MedBlog. They also have 25 reader blogs that are about a specific topic.

Newspapers must support blogging conventions like comments, permalinks and archives
The Times-Union gets two of the three correct, but there is no archiving of posts. The Times-Union does offer links at the bottom of blogs to additional pages, but what happens when the results reach 200 pages?

The Times-Union makes a good attempt at getting started, but it was not well thought out and it seems there was little or no planning when they threw the blog section together. This goes back to taking it seriously. For someone who reads a lot of blogs and writes for two blogs their first attempt at blogging is juvenile at best.

tags: jacksonville, times-union, houston chronicle, newspaper, blogging

Critical mass photo set

We showed up at the critical mass meeting spot about 15 minutes early and it wasn’t looking good. It was me, Philip Ramsey, the organizer, and another girl.

Right around noon Riverside Avenue started teeming with bikers. Single-speeds, bmx, mountain bikes and cruisers all represented. It was like they started coming out of the woodwork.

We rode through Downtown, San Marco, Southbank, the Stadium District, the Eastside, Springfield and back to downtown. It was a bit unorganized, more like critical chaos at times. As the event grows so will the organization factor so it didn’t bother us. Stay tuned for info on the next critical mass.

tags: jacksonville