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Currently On Exhibit
Florida Biennial V
April 9 - August 22, 2010 (Lower Main Gallery and Upper Galleries)
Opening Reception April 9 from 5-7PM
Every other year the Museum of Florida Art features a juried exhibit open to all artists working in all mediums from across Florida. This is an opportunity for many artists to showcase new work and to experience innovative efforts by others. The exhibit is a catalyst and meeting ground for artists who would not normally be in such close contact. Over the years this exhibit has introduced many outstanding artists to the museum with resulting participation in other exhibits offered by MoFA. This year should be especially compelling as several other biennials hosted by other museums have been canceled.
Biennial at the Museum of Florida Art
Clamshell Orchid w/Seedpods, Woodcut by Mollie Doctrow
Seasonal Crossings: Woodcuts by Mollie Doctrow
June 11 - Aug 22, 2010 (Lower Main Gallery)
Opening Reception June 11 from 5-7PM
Mollie Doctrow is one of just a few artists working in the printmaking medium of the woodcut. As an observer and participant in the unspoiled habitats of Central and South Florida Mollie uses her extraordinary graphic talents to call attention and to celebrate endangered species and habitat. The work begins with on site sketches which are later transferred to wood. Subsequent carving then takes on a life of its own becoming spontaneous in texture and rhythm. Resulting prints exhibit a strength and presence that draw the viewer into the images and into the very process used to depict them.
Trent Tomengo, The Apotheosis of LaWanda Pitter, 2008; Oil on canvas, 36Óx48Ó
Experience Portraits: Paintings by Trent Tomengo
September 3 - November 21, 2010 (Lower Galleries)
Opening Friday September 10 from 5-7PM
This exhibit features the latest work by Trent Tomengo, a painter whose forte has always been portraiture. Predicated on the idea that one's physiognomy is not the only indicator of a person's character, full-length portraits employ both realism and abstraction to comment on the psychological workings of subjects as they underwent life-altering experiences -- experiences which challenged and changed their worldviews. Other paintings are bust-length portraits based on hybrid concepts of the universality of mankind. These offer multiple ways of contemplating the connectedness all people share as sentient beings. Noted for being ensconced in color theory and aesthetic philosophy, Tomengo's paintings represent an evolution of the portraiture genre and are invitations to "experience" the limitless possibilities of interpretation and meaning one gleans from such a seminal body of work.
The Patron is Delighted by What She Sees, Oil on canvas by Jeff Whipple
Seizing the Day: Paintings by Jeff Whipple
September 3 - November 21, 2010 (Upper Galleries)
Opening Reception September 10 from 5-7PM
Jeff Whipple creates artwork that is meant to lead the viewer to a contemplation of the relationships between the images, colors and designs. There is never one specific interpretation. He aims to keep the relationships open-ended so there is room for creativity in the viewer. The work is about life and finding value in a terminal existence. All of this is presented in an intense "painterly" style that is satisfying compositionally as well as emotionally.
Topographies: The Sculpture of Barbara Sorensen
Curated by Dan Gunderson
December 10, 2010 - March 13, 2011 (All Galleries)
Opening Reception December 10, from 5-7PM (All Galleries)
Chalice, by Barbara Sorenson
Topographies is a traveling exhibition of work by nationally recognized artist Barbara Sorensen. Sorensen is known for her large-scale sculptural installations, which serve as references to geological forms and the conceptual notion of the vessel. Moving from her original works in clay, Sorensen has recently focused her energy on large-scale works in metals and resins constructing environmental vessels, which focus on the relationship between humans and landscape. Curator Barbara Bloemink states, "Sorensen's sculpture celebrates the earth's terrain by replicating its processes, characteristics, and imagery. By learning the language and visual vocabulary of the earth's geology and processes, Sorensen's work metaphorically reminds us of the globe's wild, natural beauty and brings it to our visual consciousness."
Earning her BA degree at the University of Wisconsin, Sorensen has since studied art around the world with leading ceramic artists including mentors Peter Voulkos, Paul Soldner, Don Reitz and Rudy Autio. Autio calls Sorensen's forms, "LoomingÉbalanced ambiguously, challenging gravity in defiance of an uneasy truce with nature." With studios in Snowmass Village, Colorado and Winter Park, Florida, Sorensen continues her progress as an artist through the study of vastly different environments, and further challenges her perspective through extensive travel to some to the world's most dynamic landscapes. Inspired by these rugged and remote settings, Sorensen's simple yet monumental forms take the viewer on a topographical expedition.
Sorensen is the recipient of The Florida Artist of Enduring Excellence award, a juried annual competition held by the Museum of Florida Art. The Topographies exhibition is part of an ongoing series that recognizes the significant artistic contribution Sorensen has made to the cultural landscape of the state and nation. The awarded exhibition is funded by the Abram and Ray Kaplan Foundation and other public and private supporters. The artist and curators are available for public programs in support of this touring portion of the exhibition.
Magician, Mixed media by Susan Zukowsky
Strange Worlds: Mixed Media Constructions by Susan Zukowsky
Curated by Robert Sindelir
March 27, 2011 - June 12, 2011 (Chris Harris Gallery)
Opening Reception February 25 from 5pm - 7pm
Susan Zukowsky is an accomplished visual artist working in mixed media constructions. She is a past recipient of the Florida Visual Art Fellowship Program. Her art forms a sharp perspective into a surrealistic world of dream like icons. There is a seemingly static quality to her wistful vignettes due to her meticulous design and composition. As miniature stage sets, her work also suggests multi- layered narratives through her use of oppositional elements borrowed from old book illustrations and contemporary nature graphics. Zukowsky has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and she is included in such collections as the Miami Dade Public Library, the Mayo Clinic collection and the Prudential Insurance Company of America Corporate Collection.
Untitled, 1998, Photograph by Jerry Uelsmann
The Surreal Photography of Jerry Uelsmann
From the Collections of the Polk Museum and Lee and Becky Jackson
March 27, 2011 - June 12, 2011 (Lower Gallery)
Opening Reception March 11, 2011 from 5pm-7pm
Uelsmann was born in Detroit, Michigan. When he was in high school, his interest in photography sparked. He originally believed that using a camera could allow him to exist outside of himself, to live in a world captured through the lens. Despite poor grades, he managed to land a few jobs, primarily shooting weddings. Eventually Uelsmann went on to earn a BFA degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology and MS and MFA degrees from Indiana University. He began teaching photography at the University of Florida in 1960. In 1967, Uelsmann had a solo exhibit at The Museum of Modern Art which opened up doors for his photography career.
Uelsmann is a master printer producing composite photographs with multiple negatives and extensive darkroom work. He uses up to a dozen enlargers at a time to produce his final images. Uelsmann is a champion of the idea that the final image need not be tied to a single negative, but may be composed of many. He does not seek to create narratives, but rather allegorical surrealist imagery of the unfathomable. Uelsmann is able to subsist on grants and teaching salary, rather than commercial work.
Vedras Quilt, Ceramic installation by Nazare Feliciano
Sight Specific; Installations by Nazare Feliciano and Joanna White
March 27, 2011 - June 12, 2011 (Upper Galleries)
Opening reception March 11 from 5pm - 7pm
Nazare Feliciano was born in 1960 in a small town in Portugal. She studied art in the United States and established herself as a fine artist with numerous awards and solo exhibitions. Nazare has a Master in Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She earned a BFA degree at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, and a BFA degree from Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida.
Presently, she is the professor of ceramics at Palm Beach Community College in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and Chair of the Visual Arts Department.
Having grown up surrounded by beautifully painted terracotta tiles better known as "Azulejos" in Portugal, Nazare Feliciano creates clay sculptures and installations as well as clay paintings using terracotta clay and slips. In her most recent work, she paints and frames terracotta tiles into continuous abstracted landscapes. Her minimalist landscapes are sublimely beautiful and serene, combining the Portuguese tile image grid with the vast visual landscapes of the United States. Nazare paints on terracotta with powdered clays using natural earth tones.
Peculiar Cases in Tidy Places, Mixed media installation by Joanna White
The origami box form, with its consistent proportions and vessel-like construction has become a key building block and formal device in Joanna White's sculptural and fiber-based work. Ranging in size from a quarter-inch to eighteen inches across, the boxes are hand-folded from thin, transparent papers, or discarded materials such as used Post-it notes, junk mail, or her students' abandoned drawings. Though the form suggests solidity, the material is fragile and vulnerable. White is fascinated by the container aspect of the box, and the weird subversion of the perfect, crisp geometry of the structure by the sagging, fragile nature of the paper. The boxes may function as several things at once - as houses, bodies, a time sequence, or segments of a greater whole.
Joanna is a full time instructor and program Coordinator at Brevard Community College in Melborne, Florida. She received an MFA degree in 2005 from Florida State University and has exhibited widely across the U.S.
Modular Art Panels, by John Wilton
MAP: Modular Art Panels
June 24, 2011 - August 21, 2011 (Chris Harris Gallery)
Opening Reception Friday June 24 from 5 - 7PM
This exhibition gives gallery-goers an opportunity to participate in the exhibition by arranging and re-arranging a unique system of Modular Art Panels (MAPs). The MAPs incorporate various types of imagery and media, such as digital photography, acrylic painting and silkscreen. Members of the public are encouraged to play with themes, shapes, colors and patterns as they recreate the look of the show. The possibilities of ever-changing diptychs, triptychs and polytychs will be multiplied throughout the month the exhibition is on display.
John Wilton, a retired professor of digital media at Daytona State College, is well known for his multi-media works, digital photography and video. His paintings, often free-association collages of personal impressions and cultural icons, mimic the barrage of popular images we encounter in our multimedia age. Wilton's current work aims to involve the viewers in the creative process, by mixing and matching elements in ways that seem right to them. Unlike "traditional" art, there is no "right way" to recreate each piece or grouping. The show will be a free-association experience, intended as an affirmation of life and art.
Habits and Habitat: Works from the Gulf Coast Museum Collection
June 24, 2011 - August 21, 2011 (Lower Main Gallery)
Opening Reception Friday June 24 from 5 - 7PM
Daily life, as seen through the artist's eyes, becomes a very personal and common theme as artists often paint what they know. There is a comfort level in using ordinary objects that are within immediate reach or people with whom they interact on a daily basis as their subject. Common objects, such as a shirt and tie or a missing shoe, are small details of our personal lives that are not usually given a second thought. Through an artist's hands, ordinary objects are used as a metaphor for everyday life and are often given great importance through choice of medium or the way the art is executed. Whether it is finding humor in the corporate workplace or discovering the beauty in colorful fruit, the viewer is forced to stop and look at the ordinary and relate to the art on a personal level.
Watchdog by Mary Engle, Mixed Media
Form and Function
Contemporary fine crafts as a means of self-expression
American Fine Craft has been catapulted into the forefront of contemporary art in recent years as its popularity has risen among art collectors, gaining exposure through fine art galleries, major museums, and ground-breaking craft programs in universities. Traditional craft has been defined as an object with function made from an applied art, such as ceramics or jewelry. Often categorized by its materials, a finely crafted functional object may be more accessible as a form of artistic expression than fine art as it offers an explanation of why it was created, ultimately having purpose in daily life, making an ordinary object interesting.
The Book Unbound: Florida Book Art
Curated by Leslie Madigan
June 24, 2011 - August 21, 2011 (Upper Galleries)
Opening Reception Friday June 10 from 5 - 7PM
The Artists:
Florida artists invited to be featured in the exhibition include:
Ke Francis, Orlando
Larry Cooper, Sanford
Robert Beck, Winter Park
Anthony Rice, Sarasota
Robert Rivers, Orlando
Andrew Binder, Fort Lauderdale
Linda Broadfoot, Atlantic Beach
Larry Cooper, Sanford
Tennille Davis Shuster, Oakland Park
Heart Shaped Book, Mixed Media by Andrew Binder
Artist Ke Francis has written, "The artist book is a classic and accepted form that can be used to bridge the gap between contemporary artistic expression and the public."
The Book Unbound will be curated and organized to allow audience exploration of the issues facing contemporary book artists. Examples of work being produced today by Leslie Madigan, independent curator, will be a part of the exhibition and combined with the work of the invited artists, which will be selected based on its narrative ability to communicate a story or tradition drawn from southern influence, will offer the public a comprehensive view of contemporary book making.
The included work will be one of a kind with a small selection of limited edition books using letterpress, offset print, digital and inkjet processes. A library environment installation for viewing will be included in one section of the gallery to provide the viewer with a quiet area for intimate observation. This is in contrast to the other spaces filled with books on shelves, wall pieces, and freestanding sculptural book forms.
Ongoing Exhibits
Legendary Florida: The Florida History Paintings of Jackson Walker
Ongoing Exhibit - 8 am - 5pm. Monday-Friday, Volusia County Historic Courthouse,
120 W. Indiana Ave., DeLand, FL Free admission
In this collection, Jackson Walker weaves a visual tapestry of Florida's long and eventful past. Through the traditional usage of oil colors, executed in a carefully studied realistic treatment, incidents and personalities of over four hundred years of history are brought back to life. The result is the most dynamic exhibition of Florida history in art ever to be assembled. This visual and informative experience has proven to intrigue and delight a broad cross section of the public wherever it is viewed. Viewers of all ages will find this collection to be a most memorable and enriching experience. For more information or to download the accompanying educational resources, please visit the Legendary Florida- Portrayal of our past website at http://www.museumoffloridaart.org/legendaryflorida . Featured Right: "Warriors from Bondage" by Jackson Walker, on extended loan from the Museum of Florida Art permanent collection
Yearnings: Photographic Portraits by Betty Press
Ongoing Exhibit - 9am - 5 pm, Monday - Friday, Spring Hill Community and Resource Center,
910 South Adelle Ave., DeLand, FL 32720
From 1996 - 1998 internationally known photographer Betty Press documented many cultural activities within the African American and Hispanic communities in and around the DeLand, Florida area. These photographs originally accompanied a feature article for the Daytona Beach News Journal newspaper that her husband wrote. These photographs helped Betty learn about the new community she had moved to after many years of working in Africa. Before the current ongoing exhibit, these photographs were exhibited at Stetson University.
Featured Left: "Untitled" by Betty Press, Black and White Photography
Touring Exhibitions
Topographies: Sculpture by Barbara Sorensen
Topographies is a traveling exhibition of work by nationally recognized artist Barbara Sorensen. Sorensen is known for her large-scale sculptural installations, which serve as references to geological forms and the conceptual notion of the vessel. Moving from her original works in clay, Sorensen has recently focused her energy on large-scale works in metals and resins constructing environmental vessels, which focus on the relationship between humans and landscape. Curator Barbara Bloemink states, "Sorensen's sculpture celebrates the earth's terrain by replicating its processes, characteristics, and imagery. By learning the language and visual vocabulary of the earth's geology and processes, Sorensen's work metaphorically reminds us of the globe's wild, natural beauty and brings it to our visual consciousness." Featured left: "Chalice" by Barbara Sorenson, Stoneware, Stones, and Gold Leaf. Featured right: "Siren XI" by Barbara Sorenson.
Harold Garde: Painting 50 years
As an outstanding painter, Harold Garde's roots go back to the abstract expressionist moment of the mid 20th century. These strong influences have helped create his current unique style as a figurative painter. His mediums include paintings, monotypes, and strappos which are a self-invented process of transferring dried acrylic paint from glass to paper or canvas. He moves from simplicity of form to intense psychological works with an effervescent wit. Harold Garde is a moving force in what every artistic community he finds himself and always emphasizes his belief in the personal and social necessity of art. Featured left: "Hope" b y Harold Garde, Acrylic on Canvas. Featured Below: "Discovery" by Harold Garde, Acrylic on Canvas.
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