Artwork decorates new public Clay County Courthouse gallery; illustrates local history

GREEN COVE SPRINGS — Orange Park resident Donnie Van Zant's voice almost seems to come off Mary Walker's charcoal drawing of the .38 Special band member as it hangs on the wall opposite Courtroom 9 at the Clay County Courthouse.

And you can almost hear the soulful yodeling of the late Slim Whitman in artist David Menke's acrylic work of the singer standing in front of his beloved Woodpecker Paradise in Middleburg.

The works join 31 other paintings and drawings of Clay County's history, all part of the premiere of the new Art in the Courthouse display in the fourth-floor gallery.

Rock 'n' roll roots: Orange Park exhibit explores link between Clay County and Lynyrd Skynyrd, .38 Special

1923-2013: Country star Slim Whitman of Middleburg has died

Lacy Van Zant: Patriarch proud of success of sons' bands, Lynyrd Skynyrd and 38 Special

Set up by Clerk of Court and Comptroller Tara Green after working with community outreach director Mary Justino, the new public gallery opened this week in the courthouse at 825 N. Orange Ave. in Green Cove Springs.

"Nobody thinks of the courthouse as the public building, the people's place, and it really is," Green said. "A lot of difficult, intimidating things can happen in a courthouse, but a lot of good things happen and it shouldn't be an intimidating place. So this allows us to invite people in."

Larianne Stutts gazed at Kathy Reid Plante's mixed-media work of The Carriage House, the oldest home in Green Cove Springs. Stutts now owns the 135-year-old home and said she likes the idea of a public gallery featuring the works of local artists like Plante.

"She goes to church with me and she's been a guest many times, and when this all came up, she asked if she could paint my house," Stutts said. "I am very proud, and I absolutely love my house... I am just overwhelmed, I am so happy with this."

Public art and public places make a nice pair

Displaying art in public buildings is nothing new in Florida.

Florida's Art in State Buildings Program, begun in 1979, acquires artwork for new public facilities built with state funds. About 1,000 works of art have been purchased or commissioned for Florida public spaces such as state office buildings and university and college campuses.

Closer to home, art exhibitions are in the rotunda of the St. Johns County Administration building.

Flowers for Jacksonville: Florist launches pop-up installations around town

Signs of life: Arts are helping to drive Jacksonville's COVID recovery

In her travels across the state as part of the Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers association, Green said she saw some of those art projects, including one in the Old Clay County Courthouse and Museum. So Green said she decided to "steal" the idea and partner with the arts community.

"They used the courthouse as a public place to create partnerships and do those displays, allowing artists to show off their artwork," Green said. "I thought it was a brilliant idea."

Wanting a "beautiful thing to do on a beautiful floor" of the courthouse, she and Justino began talking with the arts communities about it. And when both of them helped judge an Art Guild of Orange Park show recently, it was decided to invite the guild's 100 members to do the permanent new gallery's first show.

Artwork represents the history of Clay County; collections will rotate

"It's very educational too," said guild vice president Phyllis Renninger. "It's interesting when you really read all the significance of the works. And it spurred our first-ever book with the artwork, a bit about the artists and the significance. Now we will do an annual rotation and book."

The gallery is at the start of the courtroom hallway, its tall windows nearby allowing a glimpse of the building's columned entrance below to the community partners, courthouse staff and governmental office employees attending the premiere.

The works were an eclectic selection of the county's history: a classic Skinners Dairy drive-thru store next to paintings of churches, Victorian homes, even the historic Clay County jailhouse that is 128 years old.

The display will rotate every few months with collections curated by the invited art group or school and displayed at the discretion of Green and Chief Administrative Judge Don Lester. That means everyone from a judge and jury as well as the general public can gaze at them.

Lester said a lot of the first works are personal to him.

Downtown public art: Fantasy mural being sprayed above Chamblin's in downtown Jacksonville

Joe Puskas: Meet the artist behind the Firehouse Subs restaurant murals

"I represented the Lynyrd Skynyrd band as a lawyer for 25 years, and as for Skinner Dairy, Judge Skinner was here and my colleague, so this is very close to home and touches all the things that are important to me," Lester said.

The Art in the Courthouse gallery is free, although those wishing to view the works 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays will have to pass through courthouse security.

The Art Guild's selections will remain on display through April 15.

dscanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Art in the Courthouse public gallery opens at Clay County Courthouse