Using my art as a collaborative social justice practice began with NEST 89'. This tribute to the homeless women and children who resided at the YWCA in downtown Jacksonville, FL was the first community public art of it's kind in Northeast Florida. It made national news when a vandal set it on fire outside of the Jacksonville Landing and became an even more powerful metaphor for the struggle to end domestic violence.

Since 1989, I have continued to engage all ages in exploring and healing our sense of separation from nature, from our selves and from each other. In 2022, I earned my MA in Arts in Medicine from the University of Florida with the intention of deepening this practice of cultural healing thru the practical application of arts for collective and individual well-being. Since then I have worked with Immigrants and refugees, children with dyslexia and elders who are living with dementia.

In 2024, I was invited to be an Artist in Residence with the Moving The Margins program at the Jessie Ball Dupont Center in Jacksonville, FL and collaborate with a cohort of non profit leaders to explore the topics of homelessness, displacement and mental health using my arts as a catalyst for community dialogue…. sounds like a full circle to me !

Other collaborations include:

East Coast Greenway Alliance
St. Johns Riverkeeper
Cathedral Arts Project
Emerging Design Professionals winning proposal to daylight McCoys Creek in partnership with Landscape architect Amy Morie and Groundwork Jacksonville
Pace Center for Girls
Douglas Anderson School of The Arts
Museum of Science and History

What does it mean to feel at home ? How can i help you feel welcome ? What can we hold as sacred together ?

Featured

We never know what seeds may grow, or what ideas may hatch.

me as a 19 year old headstrong artist... photo courtesy Audrey Kirschner

Jacksonville's first community sculpture.

commemorative poster from Nest 89

Highlighted community projects over the past 25 years include creating this 1800lb Nest honoring victims of domestic violence.

lifting the Nest into place at the Jacksonville Landing photo by Audrey Kirschner

It took a boom truck and a little luck to set the sculpture in place. Five people could sit inside…

Billy Jo of Kalliope Womens Journal of Writing and Art.... photo by Audrey Kirschner

We wove poetry and bed sheets into the giant nest....

Visiting Artist at Douglas Anderson School of The Arts

In the fall of 2007, the entire visual arts department and I ventured forth on a yearlong investigation of place which culminated in a student led traveling exhibition focused on the American Heritage River called New View: The many Faces of the St. Johns River. Partnered with the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, Duval County Public Schools, Jacksonville Public Library, Ritz Theater, Jax Port and The St. Johns River Keeper.

Visiting Artist at Douglas Anderson School of The Arts

Using my extensive 3 year oil painted portrait of place Three Seasons: Wasteland,Cultivation,Abundance as a catalyst for high school students at the award winning Douglas Anderson School of The Arts, to cultivate their own sense of place, we created New View: The Many Faces of The Many Faces of The St. Johns , which touched more than 40,000 people through out the city.

New View : The Many Faces of the St. Johns

Have you ever been to the river ? Where do you live ?

student sketching

Believing that direct experience is the best way to learn, we took all 140 students on a trip to visit JaxPort and go for a boat ride with the St. Johns River Keeper up Sisters Creek into the Timucuan Preserve.

10th graders block printing their fish

classroom visitor

We never know what seeds may grow, or what ideas may hatch.

me as a 19 year old headstrong artist... photo courtesy Audrey Kirschner

lifting the Nest into place at the Jacksonville Landing photo by Audrey Kirschner

Billy Jo of Kalliope Womens Journal of Writing and Art.... photo by Audrey Kirschner

Visiting Artist at Douglas Anderson School of The Arts

New View : The Many Faces of the St. Johns

one on one with students discussing the model

Palimpsest of the St. Johns River installed at the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens

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