by jon bosworth jaxvillain@yahoo.com
“I think we’re all creative. My CPA is creative. We’re just creative in a different way…I don’t care if it works, but it better look cool. It’s okay if the door doesn’t open if it looks cool.”
Daryl Bunn’s “urban home” is the epitome of this issue of EU. As you approach the classic brick building, it stands alone in an urban landscape that is overrun with bland block buildings. It is surrounded by new parking garages, surly bars and abandoned warehouses, but it peeks out proudly on its block. The classic brick façade features boldly ubiquitous windows and the upstairs has a balcony the length of the building. It seems classic in a modern sort of way, even from the outside. In addition to being Daryl Bunn’s urban home, a complement to his country home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, it is also home to Daryl Bunn Studios.
“You have to have respect for a building like this. It was built in 1924. There used to be a ton of these. It was a mixed use building that had a commercial space downstairs and upstairs was an infamous bordello, in the late twenties. A building like this is priceless.”
Daryl Bunn is a commercial photographer. You’ve seen his work in Firehouse Subs and in brochures and advertisements when you weren’t even aware of it. With a background as a Navy photographer and an education in graphic design, he’s always been a visual person, able to capture visual images that compel him. Being handy with woodwork has also helped him be able to create the visions that sometimes only exist inside of his head, thus making them out of the reach of his camera lens without the assistance of a hammer and some wood.
“I have a fondness for condemned, sad buildings that need rescue. Real estate has almost treated me as well as photography. We’ve saved many buildings and houses over the years.”
He first moved into the distressed building on Edison in the Brooklyn area of Riverside back in 1983, before there was a Fidelity building, before there was the St. Joe building, and before Brooklyn was considered much more than a wasteland left to rot in the 1970s. But Daryl has always been drawn to distressed buildings. In fact, he considers himself one of the original urban pioneers.
“The key to a building like this is to try not to change it aesthetically at all. When I got it back in the eighties all of these windows were rotted out and the doors were rotting and saggy. So you have to get it back to being operational, but respect it. You wouldn’t slap an addition on the side of it or change its roof-line or stucco it. A building like this has to be functional to afford it. We are fortunate to be able to afford it and respect its bones. No matter how much money you have, you cannot build the bones and soul of a building like this. We’ve torn out every wall, but you can still smell the soul of this building.”
Daryl Bunn Studios is the home of the Jane Gray Gallery. During an art opening here, there are walls in the front room, walls in the photography studio, and walls in a couple of smaller private rooms downstairs for showcasing art. This downstairs space is the very contemporary studio and gallery space. Featuring sparse track lighting, an immensity of photographic equipment, and walls of glass and metal, the open space is welcoming and exciting, but it is also a modern haven embraced by the original wood rafters and the exposed brick. There is also a stairway that leads to the upper level.
Visitors, when they first enter the upstairs, are often nervous that they have wandered into someone’s home and have gone from enjoying a glass of wine and some art to invading someone’s privacy. Indeed, they have entered Daryl Bunn’s home, but his home and the gallery are one and the same, and he is happy with that.
As you ascend the stairs you leave the modern glass and aluminum of the studio into the hardwood floors of the upstairs. Each step squeaks and the house revels in its age, but on the walls and displayed on pedestals that Daryl made are everything from modern treasures, such as works by Mark George, to an antique sled. The contemporary contrasts the classic in this enigmatic space. It is filled with everything from sentimental knickknacks and even some kitsch, to serious artwork by Oscar Senn and a very modern kitchen. When you are up here, you are in Daryl’s home and every piece says something about the man.
“If you go out and try to acquire stuff, it’s not yours. The stuff should find you. Point out anything in here and I can tell you the story behind it. It’s not that I went out and wrote a check to acquire it, it found me, and then it becomes me and it becomes important and comfortable. You go to Rooms to Go and just write a big ass check, it’s not you, it’s not yours. That stuff doesn’t like you and you don’t like it. It takes a lot of patience, but if you can let things find you then it means so much more.”
Jane Grey Gallery at Daryl Bunn Studios is currently showing Daryl’s own work. So from the art on the walls to the walls themselves, Daryl Bunn is fully present in his Jacksonville home right now, making now the perfect time for us to bring you into his home and share this pinnacle of design for Jacksonville with you. Daryl has a fantastic array of artwork that he constantly rotates around the house. He reorganizes his open photography studio to accommodate whatever projects he is working on. Even his office is equal parts functional space and aesthetic perfection. We had to know how someone can approach a building and know how to make it look so great.
“I don’t understand why people are fearful. Go for it. What are you going to lose? If it doesn’t work out, repaint it. If you like it, that’s all that matters. An art collection should be the same thing. If you can afford a piece and you like it, buy it. There’s a real pride with attempting to do self-expression with design when you can look at something and say ‘I came up with that.’ And part of design is being observant. One of my favorite sayings, Albert Einstein is the author of this quote, ‘The art of creativity is concealing your source.’”
When Daryl says to be fearless, he means you should be unafraid of any “rules of design” but should rather create a space where you are the most comfortable. Design a space that expresses you, but also refreshes you. He recommends moving your art around so that you don’t stop looking at it or taking notice of your own space.
As we explored the upstairs, noting the places on the floors where the rooms to the bordello used to be, we came across a small stair that led to a short door to a rooftop garden.
“You do get cabin fever from being such an urban pioneer, so it’s easy to build this sort of garden and the plants never hate me. We actually had quite a garden in the spring.”
A longtime supporter of the arts, Daryl Bunn Studios used to publish a direct mail art magazine called Winrights (named after his mother’s family), which was a full color, glossy “brochure” of sorts that highlighted local artists. Although it never made money, he insists that it never lost money either. Eventually, however, he found it to be a lot of work and let the project fall to the wayside. In its place he decided to let Missy and Tom, who were shopping for a space to put their Jane Gray Gallery, use his studios. Thus Jane Gray Gallery at Daryl Bunn Studios.
“We’ve given them these walls to curate and have openings, which Winrights never did. We have supported the arts for thirty years, either through in-kind donations or writing a check to local museums to hosting events for non-profit organizations. That’s part of giving back to Jacksonville.”
From conceptualizing what the building could be back in the early 80s to creating one of the best gallery spaces and the most progressive living/working spaces in Jacksonville, Daryl Bunn is an example of how tapping into your creative side can lead to a more fulfilling life. Stop by Jane Gray Galleries at Daryl Bunn studios to see Daryl’s work, which is currently on exhibition. The studios are located at 643 Edison Avenue, in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Riverside. Call (904) 338-5790 for more information and read our review of the show on page 27 of this issue.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
