Jacksonville, Fla. — Jacksonville University’s College of Fine Arts is on a mission, and the goal is simple: redefine Downtown Jacksonville’s Art Walk.  For those of you who don’t know, Downtown Vision, a not-for-profit organization intent on building and maintaining a healthy and vibrant Downtown community, organizes and sponsors an event called Art Walk, which takes place on the first Wednesday of each month.  Jacksonville University will be headlining the December event, and JU’s College of Fine Arts has united its departments and is prepared to descend en masse. 

On December 5th from 5 PM to 9 PM, the College of Fine Arts will invade the library.  The old library, that is.  122 Ocean Street, formerly known as the Jacksonville Public Library, will be transformed into JU’s personal playground – 30,000 square feet of living, breathing art.  A new generation of artists from Jacksonville University will be on display, performing everything from live music and dance to visual arts and theatre.  All the arts will be under one roof:   

Visual Arts students will present a comprehensive exhibition of Glass Works (glass art and hot glass blowing demonstrations), Photography, Animation, Film, Sculpture, Ceramics, Graphic Design, Painting, and Costume Design.

Dance students will perform original dance choreographies including MY BROTHERS KEEPER, RED JUMP SUIT APARATUS, BLIND TRUST, and DANCE FOR THE CAMERA.

There will be live music at several different venues inside the old library: Tony Steve will direct The Percussion Ensemble as they perform selected works of African and Brazilian drumming.  Marguerite Richardson will direct the Jacksonville University Honors String Quartet.  John Ricci and Gary Starling will direct a series of Jazz Combos.   There will also be live vocal performances by Alison Ritter, Crystal Blanche, Savannah Redmond, and Steven Krain. 

Jacksonville University’s freshman FAME group performing Chaotic Inspiration – A Journey through the Artist’s Mind.  The piece is intended to serve as an exploration of the meaning of art to the Fine Arts freshman of Jacksonville University.

Under the direction of Theatre Professor Deborah Jordan, Jacksonville University students will perform a reader’s theatre production of “Picasso at the Lapin Agile”.  The play, created by actor and screenwriter Steve Martin, is a long running off-Broadway absurdist comedy that places Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso in a Parisian café in 1904 just before the renowned scientist transformed physics with his theory of relativity and the celebrated painter set the art world afire with cubism.