Sixth downtown sculpture is installed on Laura Street
The sixth and final sculptural masterpiece within the City of Jacksonville’s Downtown Sculpture Initiative was installed on Laura Street Oct. 31.
The Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville in collaboration with Farah & Farah, a personal injury law firm, revealed a 20-foot-tall sculpture called “Laura’s Flower” positioned just outside of one of Farah & Farah’s offices located at 100 North Laura Street (at the Northwest corner of Forsyth Street). The Downtown Sculpture Initiative, which partners with private companies to enhance Downtown, has brought more than $400,000 worth of public art to Jacksonville’s Urban Core.
The Laura’s Flower sculpture is named after the daughter of Jacksonville founder Isaiah D. Hart, for whom Laura Street was also named. Farah & Farah and the Cultural Council funded the design and construction of the artwork. Farah & Farah owns and will maintain the sculpture.
The sculpture was created by Gus and Lina Ocamposilva, a husband-and-wife team from Clearwater, Florida, who were the visionaries behind the project. Their work includes table-top size pieces – made of clay, cast stone, resin, and steel – and more than 60 public large-scale art sculptures in cities, such as Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Miami, and Las Vegas. In 2013, the City of New York invited them to exhibit three 13-foot-tall sculptures designed for the East River Park Promenade in Manhattan.
“Investing in Jacksonville is one of Farah & Farah’s core pillars and greatest honors,” said Eddie Farah, founder and managing partner at Farah & Farah. “‘Laura’s Flower’ is the second sculpture that our firm has backed in the last five years to support the beautification and development of downtown Jacksonville. We’re proud to be a part of this project and look forward to the enhancement it will bring to the downtown scenery!”
As a sculpture, Laura’s Flower combines elements of abstract and figurative, classic and contemporary forms. The hand-textured aluminum material is configured to appear soft and fluid. The curved forms incorporate tubes, exposed bolts, and applied color, meant to enliven the sculpture and surrounding area.
David Engdahl, a sculptor from San Marco, has facilitated, coordinated, and managed the four of the six sculpture projects in the Cultural Council’s Downtown Sculpture Initiative as a volunteer. Originally, the initiative planned to install 10 works of art throughout Jacksonville’s urban core but at this time has no more projects in the pipeline, he said.
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