culturenow.org

Vol. 2  Issue 3 - March, 2012

SPRING BREAK

It's March. Next Saturday night will usher in Daylight Savings Time. Soon to follow is Spring Break. We will confess that we have probably seen way too many movies of a certain era, but the classic spring break vacation is a jam packed week in Florida fueled by too much alcohol, too little sleep, and a bit too much sun. There are, it turns out, some pretty wonderful public art collections down south that can be a welcome cultural respite from the monotony of nonstop partying. This is but a small (not even representative) sampling of what's out there with a focus on scale, imagery, perception, and transforming common everyday objects into art. What unites them with the work of Claes Oldenberg and Arquitectonica is the underlying theme of spring break which is the intersection between the hermetic setting of the university and the larger world outside.

Savor and enjoy!
Abby Suckle, President

THIS MONTH WE'RE FEATURING SOME OF FLORIDA'S ART COLLECTIONS. MIAMI-DADE COUNTY ART IN PUBLIC PLACES With over 650 pieces in the collection (of which only a fraction of the highlights have found their way onto our site), art is everywhere in Miami. Oldenberg's Dropped Bowl with Scattered Slices is made of concrete and weighs in at 124,000 lbs. The lobby floors of Cesar Pelli's 2006 Arsht Center were designed by Miami Artist Jose Bedia.	Dropped Bowl with Scattered Slices Oldenberg, Van Bruggen Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places (1989)	Lobby Floors & Balcony Railings Jose Bedia Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places (2006)
JACKSONVILLE'S ART IN PUBLIC PLACES PROGRAM Jacksonville has a rich collection to choose from making it incredibly hard to select these two pieces that show the range from the glass sculpture hanging in the Library to the woven horse fronting the Jacksonville Equestrian Center.	Sun Salutations (2005) BJ Katz Jacksonville's Art in Public Places Program	Pine Breeze Dandy (2004) Michael Stutz Jacksonville's Art in Public Places Program
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA PUBLIC ART COLLECTION & UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA ART IN STATE BUILDINGS What would Spring Break be without a visit to some of Florida's University collections. We couldn't resist the Gators from the University of Florida nor Ned Smyth's installation at the University of South Florida.	Our Shadow (1994) Ned Smyth University of South Florida Public Art collection	Circuits Signs & Place (2006) Richard Heipp University of Florida Art in State Buildings
PINELLAS COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL Visiting St Petersberg or Tampa Bay? A highlight is Douglas Kornfeld's depiction of seating for the defendant and the 12 members of the jury in front of the Courthouse in St Petersburg which reminded us of our last experience on Jury Duty, probably because we would have preferred sitting in the landscape rather than indoors listening to lawyers arguing a case. Leslie Fry's painted plaster sculpture of John is one of six figurines she has hidden along the Nature Trail in the Boca Ciega Millennium Park project.	Face the Jury (2006) Douglas Kornfeld Pinellas County Arts Council	Wildlife Sculpture Search (2007) Leslie Fry Pinellas County Arts Council