Project Atrium: Muralists in Action
September 22, 2025 - February 8, 2026
Conceived as an accompaniment to Jax Contemporary: MOCA Jacksonville Arts Triennial, Project Atrium: Muralists in Action will showcase Jacksonville's vibrant muralist scene. Led by veteran artists Shaun Thurston and Dustin Harewood, authors and collaborators on many murals around the city, a group of emerging muralists will transform the museum's Atrium Gallery into a vibrant colorful mural. During the first few weeks of the exhibition, the visiting public will be able to observe how the work progresses, culminating in a final work of art.
Dustin Harewood and Shaun Thurston Thurston and Harewood are local artists who are both currently featured in MOCA's Jax Contemporary exhibition. A graduate of Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Thurston has been transforming walls all over Jacksonville for decades. Thurston was a Project Atrium artist in 2014, when he painted One Spark, an iconographic feast of crystals that began near the base of the wall in simple geometric forms, exploding at the top into complex, science-fiction shapes. Harewood's art practice draws inspiration from his familial lineage and the 21st century world of desire for immediacy in all aspects of life, while seeking to find nuance within vanishing moments in order to capture a narrative between histories.
Project Atrium is a bold series of site-specific and site-sensitive art installations created by emerging and mid-career artists and commissioned by MOCA Jacksonville. Located in the lobby at the heart of the museum, MOCA's flagship Project Atrium series is free and open to the public daily. The unique placement, dimensions, and scale of the Atrium Gallery provide a compelling challenge to the chosen artists—a call to reinvention and active collaboration with the architecture of the museum on a monumental scale. Since it began in 2011, MOCA’s beloved Project Atrium series has provided dozens of artists with an opportunity to accelerate their careers by creating monumental site-specific installations in our unique Atrium Gallery.
MURAL
Muralists in Action stands as a powerful testament to Jacksonville's vibrant mural scene. When Thurston and Harewood set out to plan the mural, they first considered its location at MOCA, in downtown Jacksonville. Echoeing the museum's dual role as a major cultural institution for fine art and education, its composition dramatically references the soaring architecture of the museum's atrium—depicted here rising toward the sky, suggesting the sublime height and spiritual significance of a grand cathedral altar.
The composition references a religious triptych—a three-panel artwork that is often a centerpiece for a church altar. The central panel represents our history, where we come from, firmly rooting the work in Jacksonville's civic and cultural history. Situating the viewer, both geographically and historically, the panel integrates historical and architectural elements from the surrounding Laura Street area of our downtown neighborhood. The adjacent Snyder Memorial Church is depicted with the visual language of religious institutions, including cherubs, that represent spirituality, while serving as a direct nod to classical painting traditions. The architecture of the historic Greenleef & Crosby Building on Laura Street is incorporated, specifically the distinctive archway entrance, further grounding the piece in local business and architectural history. Finally, the distinctive sculpture of Andrew Jackson is rendered in a highly stylized Grecian Marble Sculptural aesthetic, tying the figure not only to the history of our city, but also to the art-historical narrative of the panel.
Shifting from the historical, the bottom of the central panel depicts tree roots that lead to the left panel, created by Shaun Thurston. This panel presents a vision of a positive, abundant future. Thurston uses a style characterized by positive flow and a celebration of nature's vitality. The imagery depicts a world where the relationship between humanity and the environment is one of harmony and abundance. Figures appear to be gently floating within a lush, thriving landscape. This optimism culminates in a powerful central image: a beautiful lotus flower held reverently by two hands, symbolizing purity, enlightenment, and the fruition of a well-chosen path.
In stark contrast, the right panel, created by Harewood, serves as a dramatic warning—a chilling visualization of a possible desolate future. This somber vision depicts a world overcome by greed, where nature is withered, oceans empty and starkly abstract. The same symbolic motif of the two hands reappears, but here they are shown dripping with gold, representing the corrupted turn, the wrong priorities, and the devastation that results when material wealth is valued above all else.
Together, these three panels form a powerful narrative arc: from the historical origins (central panel) to the potential consequences of our present-day choices, illustrated by the contrasting utopian vision (left panel) and the dystopian warning (right panel). The recurring motif of the two hands connects the three panels, serving as a constant reminder that the future—be it flourishing or desolate—is ultimately in our hands.
SPONSORS
Project Atrium Series Sponsor
Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow, PLLC.
Exhibition Underwriter
Florida State College at Jacksonville
Special Thanks
Special thanks to all of the volunteers and apprentice muralists whose work helped to make this project possible.
Project Atrium: Muralists in Action
September 22, 2025 - February 8, 2026
Conceived as an accompaniment to Jax Contemporary: MOCA Jacksonville Arts Triennial, Project Atrium: Muralists in Action will showcase Jacksonville's vibrant muralist scene. Led by veteran artists Shaun Thurston and Dustin Harewood, authors and collaborators on many murals around the city, a group of emerging muralists will transform the museum's Atrium Gallery into a vibrant colorful mural. During the first few weeks of the exhibition, the visiting public will be able to observe how the work progresses, culminating in a final work of art.
Dustin Harewood and Shaun Thurston Thurston and Harewood are local artists who are both currently featured in MOCA's Jax Contemporary exhibition. A graduate of Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Thurston has been transforming walls all over Jacksonville for decades. Thurston was a Project Atrium artist in 2014, when he painted One Spark, an iconographic feast of crystals that began near the base of the wall in simple geometric forms, exploding at the top into complex, science-fiction shapes. Harewood's art practice draws inspiration from his familial lineage and the 21st century world of desire for immediacy in all aspects of life, while seeking to find nuance within vanishing moments in order to capture a narrative between histories.
Project Atrium is a bold series of site-specific and site-sensitive art installations created by emerging and mid-career artists and commissioned by MOCA Jacksonville. Located in the lobby at the heart of the museum, MOCA's flagship Project Atrium series is free and open to the public daily. The unique placement, dimensions, and scale of the Atrium Gallery provide a compelling challenge to the chosen artists—a call to reinvention and active collaboration with the architecture of the museum on a monumental scale. Since it began in 2011, MOCA’s beloved Project Atrium series has provided dozens of artists with an opportunity to accelerate their careers by creating monumental site-specific installations in our unique Atrium Gallery.
MURAL
Muralists in Action stands as a powerful testament to Jacksonville's vibrant mural scene. When Thurston and Harewood set out to plan the mural, they first considered its location at MOCA, in downtown Jacksonville. Echoeing the museum's dual role as a major cultural institution for fine art and education, its composition dramatically references the soaring architecture of the museum's atrium—depicted here rising toward the sky, suggesting the sublime height and spiritual significance of a grand cathedral altar.
The composition references a religious triptych—a three-panel artwork that is often a centerpiece for a church altar. The central panel represents our history, where we come from, firmly rooting the work in Jacksonville's civic and cultural history. Situating the viewer, both geographically and historically, the panel integrates historical and architectural elements from the surrounding Laura Street area of our downtown neighborhood. The adjacent Snyder Memorial Church is depicted with the visual language of religious institutions, including cherubs, that represent spirituality, while serving as a direct nod to classical painting traditions. The architecture of the historic Greenleef & Crosby Building on Laura Street is incorporated, specifically the distinctive archway entrance, further grounding the piece in local business and architectural history. Finally, the distinctive sculpture of Andrew Jackson is rendered in a highly stylized Grecian Marble Sculptural aesthetic, tying the figure not only to the history of our city, but also to the art-historical narrative of the panel.
Shifting from the historical, the bottom of the central panel depicts tree roots that lead to the left panel, created by Shaun Thurston. This panel presents a vision of a positive, abundant future. Thurston uses a style characterized by positive flow and a celebration of nature's vitality. The imagery depicts a world where the relationship between humanity and the environment is one of harmony and abundance. Figures appear to be gently floating within a lush, thriving landscape. This optimism culminates in a powerful central image: a beautiful lotus flower held reverently by two hands, symbolizing purity, enlightenment, and the fruition of a well-chosen path.
In stark contrast, the right panel, created by Harewood, serves as a dramatic warning—a chilling visualization of a possible desolate future. This somber vision depicts a world overcome by greed, where nature is withered, oceans empty and starkly abstract. The same symbolic motif of the two hands reappears, but here they are shown dripping with gold, representing the corrupted turn, the wrong priorities, and the devastation that results when material wealth is valued above all else.
Together, these three panels form a powerful narrative arc: from the historical origins (central panel) to the potential consequences of our present-day choices, illustrated by the contrasting utopian vision (left panel) and the dystopian warning (right panel). The recurring motif of the two hands connects the three panels, serving as a constant reminder that the future—be it flourishing or desolate—is ultimately in our hands.
SPONSORS
Project Atrium Series Sponsor
Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow, PLLC.
Exhibition Underwriter
Florida State College at Jacksonville
Special Thanks
Special thanks to all of the volunteers and apprentice muralists whose work helped to make this project possible.