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2 Local Sculptures At James Weldon Johnson Park Will Stay

Friends of James Weldon Park
"Sunshine Mimosa" by Stephen Maygar (pictured) will remain at James Weldon Johnson Park thanks to a fundraising campaign.

James Weldon Johnson Park supporters have raised enough to money to keep two local sculptures in the park for years to come.

“Sunshine Mimosa” by Stephen Maygar and “Deer” by Olivia Warro will remain on display.

Each year until 2024, University of North Florida sculpture students are scheduled to create three sculptures to be installed in Downtown Jacksonville's James Weldon Johnson Park for a period of one year.

The sculptures by UNF students Maygar and Warro were originally scheduled to be retired but thanks to a $10,000 fundraising campaign they will remain, with the artists being paid for their work as well artwork bases and plaques being added.

They are on display in the park’s sculpture garden, which launched in 2019 following a gift from Preston Haskell.

The latest sculptures to debut are centered around the theme of bridges, both literal and figurative. They include the following works:

  • “The Green Goddess” by Kori Sares (2021), which is a steel tubing sculpture.
  • “Bold City Skyline” by Caelen Proctor (Fall 2020) is a ¼ plate steel and powder coated sculpture.
  • “Aireachtáil spire” by Will Cobb (2021) is a steel sheet and tubing sculpture.

Donate to the Friends of James Weldon Johnson Park fund.

Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.

Bill joined WJCT News in September of 2017 from The Florida Times-Union, where he served in a variety of multimedia journalism positions.