The Cummer Museum of Arts & Gardens presents David Ponsler: Chasing Shadows, on display November 5, 2016 through
October 4, 2017 in the J.Wayne & Delores Barr Weaver Community Sculpture
Garden & Plaza. A Jacksonville
native, Ponsler describes himself as “a blacksmith, and a metalworker.” He
specializes in sculpture and architectural designs forged in wrought iron,
steel, bronze, and copper. For each
project, Ponsler seeks to bring out an elegance of form to an otherwise rigid
and resistant material.
Born in 1961, Ponsler first learned the trade of metalworking in his father’s
shop, ‘Wonderland Products’. He spent
the next 25 years designing and crafting objects and architectural elements for
both private citizens and corporate ventures. In 2004, he opened Ponsler Metal
and Design near the Museum, in what used to be a police precinct and jail. Ponsler continues to create functional
objects, like railings and gates, but his artistic activity has grown steadily.
While architectural work requires
careful planning, his sculptures allow for a more spontaneous, creative
process.
(Photo - David Ponsler: Overlord, Chasing Shadows Series, Forged and fabricated
steel
Cummer
Museum of Art & Gardens
829
Riverside Avenue
Jacksonville, Florida 32204
(904) 356-6857
Hours
of Operation & Admission
It may have been awhile since we’ve heard from the crowdfunding corporation “One
Spark”, yet the agency has posted a company that has successfully benefited
from the 2016 campaign. A new,
innovative device designed to enhance the training of nurses, paramedics, and
other clinical specialists has begun a two-week series of field tests at the
University of Florida’s Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research (CSESaR) and the
University of North Florida in the Health Sciences and Nursing division.
Elizabeth Benson, RN, co-founder and CEO of B & G Educational
Innovations (BGEI) delivered a Beta proto-type of the company’s wearable
sleeve to help students learn and practice starting an intravenous injection
(IV).
BGEI designs low cost, reusable, wearable simulation devices for training
clinical students in hands-on skills and provider/patient interaction. The wearable sleeves, legs, gloves, etc.
include sensors, as applicable, to record and store student performance when
drawing blood or starting an IV. The
devices include microphones to record the student provider/patient
communication and identification codes to track the progress of each user.
Following their earlier success as one of the winners at One Spark’s “Spark
Tank” innovation competition in April, the team at BGEI has since relocated their
business, their ReaLifeSim subsidiary and half their management team from
Maryland to Jacksonville, Florida.
Citing the “favorable business climate, significant healthcare workforce,
educational institutions and supportive entrepreneurial network,” Elizabeth Benson,
co-founder and CEO, explained why “it made perfect sense to make Jacksonville
the home for our business.”
Co-founder Linda Goodman reported, “BGEI
gained significant national recognition recently when Nurses.com featured our business in an article citing the
potential impact our training tools will have on clinical simulation
education.” For further information
see their Website.
About One Spark: One Spark
is a non-profit committed to fostering environments of creativity and
innovation through crowdfunding. The
company does this by connecting artists, entrepreneurs and innovators from
around the world with the human and capital resources they need to move their
ideas forward. The One Spark festival is
one of the most efficient ways for individuals, teams and large companies to
receive market validation. The event is
the world's largest crowdfunding festival that brings together hundreds of
thousands of people to support ideas and projects that inspire them via
rewards-based crowdfunding. One Spark Jacksonville 2016 took place April 7 - 9,
2016 in Downtown JAX, FL. The event was
not covered by this columnist, because One Spark seemed to be going through a
change in leadership.
