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UNF To Auction Student Sculptures From Seaside Sculpture Park

University of North Florida
Crouching Skeletal Figure by Matt Stanford, UNF sculpture student

Who doesn’t want a giant skeleton crouching in the front yard, or a huge jumbo shrimp rearing-up beside the pool?

Credit UNIVERSITY OF NORTH FLORIDA
Pop Jellies by UNF sculpture student Jenn Peek.

Well, maybe not everyone.

But the University of North Florida has a great deal for those who do.  UNF sculpture professor Jenny Hager said seven student creations will go on the auction block later this month.

Hager said the outdoor sculptures weigh hundreds of pounds and are made predominantly of steel and fiberglass.

“The reason we choose those materials is because they’re good for outdoors and they hold up well. It’s pretty destructive the weather that we have here: the harsh sun, the rain and the saltwater.”

That’s especially true for Jacksonville Beach where each of the sculptures spent a year on display in UNF’s Seaside Sculpture Park on South 1st Street.

Credit UNIVERSITY OF NORTH FLORIDA
Jumbo Shrimp, aka Bubba, by UNF sculpture student Olivia Warro.

The auction will run from August 15 - 30. Bids start at $1,200.  Hager said the money raised will go toward the purchase of a computerized plasma torch that can cut through sculpture materials.

Information about how to take part in the auction and photos of all the sculptures are available here.

Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter at @cydwjctnews.

Cyd Hoskinson began working at WJCT on Valentine’s Day 2011.