Local artists celebrate Talbot Avenue mural
A crowd of 75 residents attended a concert/poetry reading on Talbot Street to celebrate the unveiling of “Swan Dive,” a colorful, eclectic mural painted on a 140-foot fence owned by Ron and Christine Rothburg.
Playing at the concert was the band, “Something and the Others,” that includes three musicians that also painted the mural. Bryn Glennon, a local poet who also contributed to the mural, shared some of his work.
A collection for JaxTakesAction, an initiative promoted by the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, raised nearly $200 for its efforts.
The unveiling of the mural also launched a two-week treasure hunt devised by FIGMENTJax, a nonprofit supported by the six artists who created the mural. The treasure hunt provided a perfect activity in this time of social distancing by allowing participants to travel through Avondale seeking out clues until they reached a special art installation, which was the grand finale.
The mural was created by six Riverside artists who are also graduates of Douglas Anderson School of the Arts – Emma Flaire, Jamie Shoemaker, Corey Kreisel, Spyder Allen, Hanna Hadzic and Maaseal Outley. The mural is especially unique because it was painted to jive with the smartphone app Artivive, which augments reality and causes several elements within the painting to move through animation and sound when looked at through a cell phone camera. “We animated the mural beforehand, and whenever you take your phone, download the app Artivive, and put it over the phone QR code, your phone brings the artwork to life,” explained Hadzic.
During quarantine, several families have also used the mural to create their own “Where’s Waldo,” games for young children, said Kriesel, who noted children enjoy searching for certain individual elements within the painting such as a spider web, turtle, or elephant. Viewing the mural provides a perfect social distancing activity for kids of all ages, he said.
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