Ansley Randall is an artist. She is a painter, graphic designer, screen printer and more. She creates patterns inspired by sh*tty roommates, paints abstract canvases and cuts them into purses and makes prints with tiny plants on them. But that’s only a few examples of the creations her mind conjures up. The latest from A. R. Studios is an episode in spawning Jacksonville pride.

Randall grew up at the beaches, but moved away to Colorado for a few years. Four years ago, she moved back to Jacksonville and started building up her artist portfolio. Through that, she met a lot of creative people in the Jacksonville scene. Her pride in Jacksonville was renewed, and she wanted to share it.

Always been fascinated with typography, she wanted to create a poster with a phrase that described Jacksonville — to renew pride in the city.

Randall watched The Radical Side with her dad, a show that covered the North Florida surfing scene. She thought a lot about it while brainstorming the poster.

“I just wanted to make a poster that people in Jacksonville would like.”

So, Jax is Rad was born. But the response to the poster was so good, she decided to make it into a brand. Randall wants people to put the sticker on their car with pride.

In the same vein as Keep Portland Weird, it’s a brand and a movement, to make people proud of their city.

“We’re rad just as we are,” Randall repeated over and over again as we talked.

Right now, Randall sells shirts and stickers with the logo on them, and she peppers the city with stickers and posts on Instagram when she finds one.

“It’s something I feel like I have to do,” Randall said. “I want to encourage other artists to keep going.”

She feels like other movements similar to this one in the Bold City have tried to make it something it’s not. She wants the city to just be, as it is.

In the future, she plans for Jax is Rad to be a platform for artists, entrepreneurs and creatives to tell their story. Being an artist herself, she knows how hard it is to be vulnerable and show your work to the public. She hopes to help them with that, to give them the courage to speak up and tell the city who they are.

“Jax is Rad matters because it makes a bold statement — it’s not ‘I wish Jax was cooler,’ but Jax IS rad. It captures the essence of the Bold City perfectly in a way that invites transient explorers to come experience for themselves,” said David Hoyt, fundraising consultant.

Randall will be selling merchandise at the Latte Art Throwdown at Bold Bean on Stockton. She also just started selling merchandise at Hotel Palms.

So, snag a sticker, slap it on your car and rep this cool city. We’re rad.