KEY WEST HISTORIC
MEMORIAL SCULPTURE GARDEN
LAYING HISTORY
ONE BRICK AT A TIME
Taking the lead from the many Key Westers vitally concerned with the history of our island and committed to creating a legacy to future generations, the Key West City Commission set aside a permanent park site for the Key West Historic Memorial Sculpture Garden.
Located on the original shoreline (in front of the Waterfront Playhouse and adjacent to the Key West Chamber of Commerce) in Mallory Square, the sculpture garden opened in September 1997. It features 36 magnificently cast bronze busts of the men and women who have had the greatest impact on Key West. The garden retells the story of the island to over 1,000,000 visitors a year.
Become a part of our island’s history! The garden will be almost entirely financed (over $1,000,000) by your participation in our Walkway of History. Each brick you donate will be engraved to carry your message to future generations and each person you memorialize will have a special place in the memory of our island.
Family groups and friends will be placed side by side at your request. Ensure a perfect and lasting tribute to create a remembrance of a friend or relative forever. Become a permanent part of our island’s history and contribute to a glorious and important project. (Bricks are limited - strictly first come, first served.)
Ten, twenty, or even 100 years from now, your family, friends or descendants will visit this wonderful place and perhaps remember that you, a person from their personal history, had the foresight to make a contribution to this lasting tribute and memorial. Help the Friends of Mallory Square, Inc. (a Florida Key West not for profit corporation) to make our dream of so many years come to life by helping with this important project. Remember, you may even have your own bronze bust here some day.
Ensure a perfect and lasting tribute to create a remembrance of a friend or relative forever. Become a permanent part of our island's history and contribute to a glorious and important project (The Friends of Mallory Square, Inc. is a non-profit corporation) that will last forever. Ten, twenty, or even 100 years from now, your family and friends will visit this wonderful place and perhaps remember that you, a person from their personal history, had the foresight to make a contribution to this lasting tribute and memorial. Remember, you may even have your own bronze bust here some day.
Brick donations are $100.00 per name/per brick. If you have any questions please contact Hope Casas at (305) 294-4142.
WALKWAY THROUGH HISTORY
"My goal as an artist is to communicate my sense of awe and wonder in the contemplation of the infinite human potential for creative expression, the unending attempt to balance the thirst for change against the fear of change." -James Mastin
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JAMES MASTIN
THE SCULPTOR
James Mastin is truly a master sculptor. His work here in the Key West Historic Memorial Sculpture Garden speaks highly of his talent. He is also a painter, water colorist, singer, and actor.
For over 15 years James has been creating in clay or wax and castings his pieces into bronze, stainless steel, or polyester resins, and formed copper. His much-touted work ranges from classical figurative and abstracted modern. The hallmark of his creations is meticulous craftsmanship and emotional content. He makes his own molds and creates his own patinas. In recent years, Mr. Mastin has begun to include multiple media into his work incorporating lighting, video displays, and kinetic elements relying upon bost mechanized and gravitational forces. The scale of his work ranges from indoor work only several incles high to public sculpture over 30 feet tall.
Mr. Mastin's many other accomplishments include the Loyalist memorial Sculpture Garden in our Sister City of Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas commissioned by the New Plymouth Historical Society; the Ship Foundation at Pelican Key Casino and Resort, St. Maarten; Hanukiah in Miami, Florida; and St. Francis Xavier commissioned by the Catholic Church.
As a person, James is unassuming and modest. As a sculpture he is a genius. He made his home in Miami, Florida, with his wife and three children until his passing in 2017.