Since Mr. Forager & I made our trek West from Florida over a year and a half ago, I hadn’t been back to my hometown.  So we took advantage of finally being semi-close to a major airport, counted up our credit card reward points, and bought me a ticket home.  For a month.  Which turned out to be such a long time to be separated!  My main focus while in Jacksonville was to see my family, so artsy stuff was put on the back burner.  But I did see a few fantastic shows and enjoyed long chats with some of my favorite artsy folk.  Thought you might enjoy the highlights from my trip!

Biloxi to Babylon, the Ke Francis show that was up at Florida Mining last month was incredible.  I wasn’t terribly familiar with Ke’s work but am now a fan.  Amazing dream-like imagery and delicious texture produce stunning and provocative paintings.  The gallery space at FM was just a gorgeous as in the photos I’d seen and gallery owner/artist Steve Willliams and Gallery Manager Aaron Levi Garvey were kind enough to share exciting upcoming shows and some of the incredible work hangin’ out in the backroom.. hello Mapplethorpes!

Steve & I were able to get away from the gallery for a bit of an artsy chat over lunch.  He filled me in on what’s happening in the art scene in Jacksonville and he asked that question dreaded by all aspiring artists.. “So have you been painting lately?”  Ugh.  Punch in the gut.  But we commiserated over the plight of just not knowing how to start and where to go with what we begin.

After much back and forth and rescheduling, artist Christina Foard & I were finally able to get a chat and studio visit in.  Sorry, no photos from C’s studio, currently set up in her home.  Christina, as  a person and artist, is often someone I just want to chat with.  Her work is incredible and I’m one of her biggest fans, but on this particular day, talking without focusing on taking photos for the blog just seemed right.  Seeing her work again in person just reiterated to me how powerful it is.  She’s working on a new project that will be unlike anything she’s done before.. I got goosebumps just hearing her talk about it!

Two museum visits were on my must-do list, first the Museum of Contemporary Art to see ReFocus: Art of the 1980s at  and then the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens to see two shows, Histories in Africa: 20 Years of Photography by Elizabeth Gilbert and Lois Maillou Jones: A Vibrant Life in Color.

My time at both museums left me filled with nostalgia.  The 80s show  at MoCAwas incredibly memorable, not just for the star power of the artwork show ( Warhol, Fischl, Basquiat, Sherman, Freud, and Close, just to name a few ) but seeing some of the work, especially pieces from the museum’s permanent collection transported me right back to my college days, when the museum was in a much smaller, more intimate setting and I was first able to see work of that magnitude up close & personal.

My time at the Cummer filled me with a similar wistfulness, especially when left there to wander on my own while waiting for my sister-in-law to arrive with my nieces. It was there I truly fell in love with art history, where the paintings came alive and spoke to me as I sketched them as a young college student.

But soon, the true purpose for my trip home arrived.  The rest of our evening at the Cummer was spent with my nieces Kendall and Samantha, playing with art in the Cummer’s Art Connections area.

I miss being able to be an artistic influence on my nieces, hard to do from 2000 miles away.  Hopefully, the memories will remain vibrant in their young minds and they will become flourishing artsies themselves.

Steve Williams and Christina Foard images via the artists’ websites.  Frank Stella image via Jacksonville.com.  All other images by Artsy Forager.