Riverside’s Cherry Museum elevates yard art to its finest

Riverside’s Cherry Museum elevates yard art to its finest
Wayne Wood and his wife, Lana Shuttleworth in front of the “Wonder Wall,” Wayne Wood’s workshop where he and his wife construct artistic creations.

Move over Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, there is a new “micro” art gallery in Riverside.

Visible only to pedestrians, joggers, and perhaps slow-moving cyclists, the new Cherry Museum sits adjacent to Cherry Street, just inside the walls of the Riverside Avenue home of nationally renowned artist Lana Shuttleworth and her husband, Jacksonville Architectural Historian Wayne Wood.

Artist Lana Shuttleworth’s creation of a giant chicken made of 200 safety cones sits in the yard of her home on Riverside Avenue
Artist Lana Shuttleworth’s creation of a giant chicken made of 200 safety cones sits in the yard of her home on Riverside Avenue

Known for their advocacy of “yard art,” the couple’s spacious property located at 2821 Riverside Avenue is a showplace of architectural wonders from Jacksonville’s past and parts beyond that have been saved from the wrecking ball. Included among their treasures is a giant chicken made from 200 safety cones, which was once an answer on the national gameshow Jeopardy. Also of interest in the yard is a koi pond, a “hedge of heads,” that includes busts of presidents and other notable people including Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Socrates, Beethoven, and Barak Obama, which is actually a bald Chia Pet. Near the pool is a Zen garden with Buddha and octopus tentacles and an array of “lawn pearls” that are painted bowling balls.

The couple has also removed a glass addition to their 1913 home that had been placed on a balcony in 1987 and converted it into a glass shed near the pool. “We made the balcony into a stage for the band when we host parties like Wood Woodstock,” said Wood, noting they saved all the windows from the glassed-in balcony and reassembled it. Hanging on the house is a stuffed woodpecker that the couple had formerly used on their wedding cake, which had been shaped like a wooden stump.

Chalk art points the way toward Cherry Street Museum
Chalk art points the way toward Cherry Street Museum

When the city decided to replace old pavers along Cherry Street, Shuttleworth decided to recycle them, creating Cherry Walk, a new edition to their property along which special art exhibits that are visible from Cherry Street can be displayed.

“We get an awful lot of joggers, especially with COVID, and Cherry Street is one of their favorite routes,” said Wood, noting that foot traffic often extends from the banks of the St. Johns River to Willowbranch Park. “From time to time we have put little things out here. Lana had the idea of having a little micro gallery where we can display our works of art.”

CHERRY MUSEUM
Move over Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, there is a new “micro” art gallery in Riverside.

Slow-moving motorists will miss the signage, which is apparent only to those traveling on foot. Chalk drawings of cherries on the sidewalk with a cherry garland above and a small sign heralding the greatness of Riverside points the way to a view over the wrought-iron fence where the couple’s special exhibits are on display.

“You can see the announcement overhead that we change periodically. It’s to give people something to pep up their day and stimulate their appreciation of the neighborhood,” said Wood. “We want to celebrate the pedestrian nature of the neighborhood. Riverside is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in Jacksonville if not in all of Florida. With beautiful trees, sidewalks, houses, and river views, on almost every block something can be found to delight the eye. A lot of people have art inside their houses where no one can see it, but we put our art outside so that people walking can see our things. Lana had the idea of not just putting art in the yard but of actually having a little museum,” he continued. “We want this to be savored by people who can walk, stop, and study their surroundings. You have to have a keen eye and be looking for something of interest.”

Shuttleworth agreed. “There is a sense of discovery in it,” she said.

The main exhibit in Shuttleworth’s micro art gallery is an artistic display that sits in a small aquarium atop an old bedpost the couple found discarded on Riverside’s streets. Within the aquarium is a creation made entirely of recycled materials — a block of wood discarded by a handyman Wood had hired that is covered in black-and-white striped paper from an old coffee bag. On top of the block are painted clay figurines of food items, including a hot dog, cherry, and lemon. Within the center is a clay heart painted red, perfect to honor Valentine’s Day.

  “There is a system in the neighborhood,” Wood explained. “People don’t throw away cool things that they don’t want anymore. They instead put them out by the sidewalk, and they usually last out there about an hour.”

“We are notorious for picking up stuff as we walk along,” said Shuttleworth. “We were on a walk last week and we found a beautiful pot, vase and a wonderful ornate plant hanger and trellis. We also put stuff out all the time, and it is amazing how quickly it goes.”

Also visible from the street along Cherry Walk is a garden kaleidoscope created by Shuttleworth for her husband. The kaleidoscope picks up its colors from a nearby potted plant.

Lana Shuttleworth stands beside a carousel horse along the Cherry Walk near her home
Lana Shuttleworth stands beside a carousel horse along the Cherry Walk near her home

A carousel horse, a statue of a small girl with an umbrella, and a squirrel and bird feeding station with a sign that reads “Dining Room” are also visible if you know where to look. The sign came from “The Woodshed,” a large Riverside boarding house owned by Wood’s grandmother, where she used to house and feed as many as 65 people during The Depression. The squirrels dine on a corn cob attached to a $16 bungie cord from Amazon.com. “The squirrels line up and go through an ear of corn every day. We have it placed so we can see it out our kitchen window. Instead of watching TV we just watch the squirrels,” Wood said.  

Also lining the paver walkway as well are some glass items that Shuttleworth calls her “fake chill-huly” after the famous glass sculptor Dale Chihuly.

Pedestrians who stop by once to view the exhibit should not think they have seen it all. The couple plans to rotate the exhibit frequently throughout the year. We want it to generate a sense of surprise and discovery that helps people to marvel at the wonder of this very eclectic neighborhood that has so many rich, visual experiences,” he said.

Lana Shuttleworth and Wayne Wood
Lana Shuttleworth and Wayne Wood

“And we hope to encourage other people to become purveyors of yard art in their own yards,” Wood continued, adding that he hopes enough residents will hear the call so that Riverside can eventually have a “Yard Art Tour.”

By Marcia Hodgson
Resident Community News

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