By Nick McGregor
Looking out from the second-floor Davis Shores workspace of local artist Jim Collins, the waterways of Salt Run and the St. Augustine Inlet loom large. True to the area’s name, a salty breeze blows incessantly, seagulls squabble on the way to and from meals, and the airhorn affixed to the Bridge Of […]

by Lauren Hill
Making a life and career out of her artistic talents, Shirley Otter Ambrose has manifest her creativity in myriad ways. In the 1940s and 1950s Shirley honed her eye for detail and precision as a commercial artist. After relocating from Kansas to Crescent Beach in 1975, she opened and maintained an interior […]

Story and photos by Rachel Bardin
The street artist’s heart pumps paint fumes and adrenaline. Despite having long quit the practice of graffiti, Hahau Yisrael remembers well the constant fear of getting caught compounding the pressure to complete a noteworthy piece.
“I stepped away from doing illegal pieces because I have a lot at stake,” says […]

By Lauren Hill
With inspiration drawn from childhood memories of hiding beneath a grand piano as his father wailed out Jazz riffs with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, Wade Gildersleeve’s art communicates the smoky, masculine ambience of those early recollections. Growing up in a family of musicians in North Carolina, Wade’s talent came not […]

By Travis Hill
Among the characters parading past his West King St. office, Perry Knotts noticed a peculiar constant. His black, shaggy hair had just a hint of gray coming through; a black, gunslinger-style mustache dominated his unshaven face; and, for a homeless guy, he seemed just friendly enough to be approached.
“That was in 2004,” […]

By Paulette Perhach

How does one measure the success as an artist? Is it a measuring stick notched with the number of pieces sold? Is it a scrapbook of magazine articles and opening announcements? Or is it an hourglass with bits of sand bursting with color, showing the amount of time you spent simply creating?