Unique art has been a part of the Jacksonville Jazz Festival since 1980 with an official event poster unveiled each year.<\/p>\n
This year the festival is featuring two poster designs created by local artist Jeff Whipple.<\/p>\n
A rarity compared to previous years, the 2018 posters pay homage to the\u00a0jazz\u00a0performer and fan. Each piece of art incorporates Whipples\u2019s distinctive and highly recognized three-line motif.<\/p>\n
\u201cI use three lines because three repetitions of an element are a pattern, and that implies a definite design,\u201d said Whipple in a news release. \u201cThink of it like a bass player repeating three notes to hold a\u00a0jazz\u00a0song together. Or, as Lou Reed said, \u2018One chord is fine. Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you\u2019re into\u00a0jazz. I also use the three lines as a life symbol because the basic perception of something living is a pattern of movement. If viewers understand that the three lines represent something about life, they will create their own ideas about what it means in this poster.\u201d<\/p>\n
In creating the posters, Whipple sought to pay homage to the audiences that enjoy\u00a0jazz, as well as the musicians who keep America\u2019s music strong.<\/p>\n
Each poster design features a Jacksonville connection.<\/p>\n
One features Liz Gibson, a\u00a0jazz\u00a0enthusiast and locally acclaimed artist widely recognized for challenging the perception of human limitations. The other features Jacksonville native,\u00a0jazz\u00a0drummer and Grammy \u00a0Award winner, Ulysses Owens, Jr.<\/p>\n
A nationally recognized artist and playwright, Whipple has won dozens of awards in professional art competitions and six state-sponsored artist fellowships., according to the Jacksonville Jazz Festival.<\/p>\n
This spring, he won a $25,000 artist grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.<\/p>\n
He has had 84 solo exhibitions in galleries, colleges and museums including the Tampa Museum of Art, the Gulf Coast Museum of Art, the Museum of Art, DeLand, and the Boca Raton Museum of Art.
\nHis art has been in dozens of group exhibitions across the U.S. and is included in corporate, municipal, college and museum collections.<\/p>\n
Whipple has had many large-scale public art commissions and is currently working on five sculptures for a park in St. Petersburg, Florida.<\/p>\n