When a city turns 450, it gets to decide how to celebrate. Saint Augustine chose compassion.

The Obelisk Art 450 Preview & Reception offered guests an early look at a public art project built around one of the city's most meaningful landmarks — the Monumento de la Constitución, the original obelisk standing in Plaza de la Constitución since 1813, raised on the values of freedom, democracy, human rights, and compassion. For OA450, those same values were handed to local artists and translated into 25 eight-foot-tall obelisks, each one a distinct creative response to a shared set of principles.

The project was the work of Compassionate Saint Augustine, the grassroots nonprofit that in 2013 led Saint Augustine to become the first Compassionate City in Florida and the 40th in the world. Curator and project manager Cabeth Cornelius guided the effort alongside a team that included Caren Goldman, Rev. Ted Voorhees, James VandeBerg, Ann Roark, Ervin Bullock, Joel Bagnal, and Diane Mataraza. The artist roster — sourced with help from Folio Weekly's coverage of the project — included Don Trousdell, Cecilia Lueza, Debi James, Heather Blanton, Xavier Brunet, Sylvi Herrick, and Yarn Bomb Jax, alongside local schoolchildren who crafted 28 smaller wooden obelisks of their own.

After the preview, the full exhibition opened at the Crisp-Ellert Art Museum in September before the obelisks moved into Saint Augustine's historic district, where they stood on public display through January 2016.

Learn more at compassionatestaugustine.org

Event photos by Yvette Monell

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