Irreplaceable Creations

Meeting the coast’s artistic personae

There’s a special feeling that comes from living in, or even driving through, a truly artistic community. Every building catches your eye. Every door beckons. Fulfilled, purposeful, unique lives are surely being lived inside every window. I feel assured in communities like these that stretch across the Emerald Coast but also on the edge of my seat—I’m motivated to create. 

Perhaps this heightened feeling has something to do with how challenging and time-consuming it is to build works of art and how easily they are endangered or destroyed. For us writers, this is keenly felt: We can spend ages on a manuscript only to drop our laptop and, in a split second, lose it all. Fortunately, tech-reliant authors have the cloud to protect from many of those incidents, but what about painters or architects? It feels unfair that a hurricane—or even an errant hand—could wipe out in one gust what took years to create.  

I think of this whenever I’m in The Zoo Gallery, hovering over a table of delicate objects flagged with “Do Not Touch.” For instance, as I once stared into the dark, wonky eyes of the tabletop sculptures by Art of Greenwood, I knew that each had an irreplaceable personality as delicate as the fired clay that formed them. Interacting with objects like these is a privilege. 

Our April/May issue surrounds arts and culture and is imbued with the delicate materiality of the creative and funky Emerald Coast. It’s my wish that each artist profile reminds us of the work they’ve dedicated to their craft and just how much time and curation it takes to develop a culture as rich, diverse, and exciting as ours. 

I felt transported when reading Carrie Honaker’s tour of Justin Gaffrey’s studio space on page 70—like I could reach out and feel the layers of his handmade paint—and also while metaphorically standing in the middle of the bespoke Pensacola penthouse by In Design Interiors, opened for us on page 77. While learning about the poetry of Florida authors on page 104, I was reminded how much life can be condensed even onto a single page. Read on for these one-of-a-kind stories and more. 

Wishing you a season of creation, 

Olivia Sokolowski, Editor

Photo by NASCO Photo / Nathan Saczynski