SECOND DCA UNVEILS MURAL CELEBRATING THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

A mural intended to subtly convey the importance of the functioning of justice to Florida graces a high, curved exit wall of the Bernie McCabe Second DCA Courthouse in St. Petersburg. The canvas mural was installed in late July, approximately five months after the February 21 courthouse opening.

Positioned between a glass entryway below and panoramic windows above, the mural’s imagery draws the eye up, with representations that celebrate the quiet duties integral to the administration of justice within the courthouse’s walls.

“Ralph’s mural is a beautiful reflection of the daily work we do in the Second DCA and the people we serve. It’s vibrant, traditional, and timeless. We couldn’t be more pleased to have this piece of art in our courthouse lobby,” says Chief Judge Matthew C. Lucas.

The central image is a judge taking the judicial oath, with clerks assisting customers, attorneys presenting a case before a panel of judges, and other sedate depictions of day-to-day operations interwoven with scenes paying homage to Florida and the local agricultural industry. The symbolism of the imagery is easily recognizable. The sun shines the light of truth, gleaming on a judge’s robes against a clear Florida sky, suggesting freedom and transparency.

Jo Haynes, Second DCA marshal, staffed the artist selection committee that conducted a blind review of 54 applications after the call to artists was issued through the Art in State Buildings Program in March 2025, settling on two artists for the public art installations in the new courthouse.

Haynes said Ralph Gilbert, the artist who painted the 8-foot by 17-foot canvas mural, spoke to “everyone who would talk to him” at the courthouse to inform his creative design, and provided “studies” – conceptual oil paintings and sketches – and conducted Zoom meetings to solicit committee feedback before beginning the final piece. Gilbert said the first few months of the approximately seven-month project were dedicated to research and design vetting.

Gilbert painted the huge mural on canvas at his studio-residence in Atlanta – a converted church – and shipped the final art to the courthouse. He retained the services of the Dali Museum in St. Petersberg to assist with installation.

“I wanted to show all the levels of activity that went into making the court a functioning body with the outcome of justice and a proper interpretation of the law,” says Gilbert.

He soon learned that pop culture notions of courtroom drama – juries and witness testimony – don’t apply to the DCA.

“The challenge here was to approach a world that was, by its nature, contemplative and interior and to come out with imagery that could convey something of that world, even though it wasn't a world that expressed itself to a great deal of visible activity,” Gilbert says.

Art in public buildings has a long history. Among the most acclaimed American murals are those in the Thomas Jefferson Building in Washington, D.C., completed in 1897 and considered one of the nations most celebrated Beaux-Arts interiors; the Library of Congress; and more than 1,300 New Deal murals commissioned for post offices across the nation in the 1930s and ’40s. Artists Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera famously created public murals in California and Michigan, respectively.