Modern art aficionado donates sculpture to Hemming Park
Coming on the heels of the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville’s awards gala celebrating 40 icons of arts and culture, one of those 40 honorees has donated a sculpture from his private art collection to Hemming Park.
Preston Haskell, of Ortega, and founder of Haskell Company, has permanently relocated a 15-foot-tall painted steel sculpture, called “Opposing Forces” by Hanna Jubran, from the Regions Bank parking lot to the entrance of Hemming Park at the corner of Laura and Monroe Streets. The move took place on May 18.
“This magnificent work of art will provide a colorful welcome to visitors at the Laura Street entrance to Hemming Park and serve as an artistic symbol of the great changes that are happening in the park,” said Wayne Wood, Friends of Hemming Park board president.
“Opposing Forces” was one of three sculptures in the 13-piece Sculpture Walk Jax I, a Cultural Council Spark Grant project in 2014.
“I bought the piece from Sculpture Walk and have been waiting until Hemming Park was ready to receive it,” said Haskell. “This will be its new, permanent home.”
Sculpture Walk Jax II, a year-long temporary outdoor exhibition of large-scale sculptures, is currently on display in Main Street Park until September 2016.
“Opposing Forces” is from a series of sculptures by Jubran, a sculpture professor and sculpture area coordinator at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. The series deals with the concept of gravity and the four elements of Earth, Water, Fire and Wind in our universe on the micro to the macro level, according to a statement by Jubran. “It expresses the cycle of life, growth and opposing forces in our universe with the interplay of line, form, space and colors. These elements are seen in a variety of forms and colors as they occur in nature,” he said.
By Kate A. Hallock
Resident Community News
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