Past Exhbitions -- September 2006
14th Annual All-Florida Juried Exhibition
This exhibition features 45 works chosen from over 400 entries of Florida
artists. Guest juror Dr. Donald Kuspit is an art critic and professor
of art history and philosophy at SUNY Stony Brook. He is a contributing
editor at Artforum, Sculpture, and New
Art Examiner, and editor of Art Criticism.
He has been awarded fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright
Commission, the NEA and Guggenheim Foundation.
Virginia Beth Shields: On Becoming and Remnants
Lakeland resident Virginia Beth Shields is descended from a long line
of South Carolina sharecroppers, and her ghostly black-and-white photographs
and installations capture people and places from an American South that
is quickly fading into history. Shields holds an MFA from USF and a
BFA from Converse College. "On Becoming" is a series of 20 photographs
which use the Southern storytelling tradition to deliberate issues such
as nesting, gender relationships, pregnancy, childbirth, and child labor
for working-class poor women in the 1930s-40s Cherokee Foothills. Her
new installation "Remnants" reflects life in the mill villages for the
descendents of sharecroppers. This work gives voice to Southern women
during the 1950s.
Tomorrow's Drawings Today:
Curated by Sandy Besser
Renowned collector and curator Sandy Besser introduces our community
to the cutting-edge drawings of "under-recognized" artists from all
over the country, including William Fogg, Bart Johnson, Xiaoqing Ding,
Gaspar Enrique, and Victoria Carlson. Sandy Besser has been collecting
art for forty years. His focus has been drawing, ceramic sculpture and
vessels and art from the tribal cultures of several continents. He has
served as Chairman of the Board of the Arkansas Arts Center, Treasurer
of the America Craft Council and Chairman of the Museum of New Mexico
Foundation. He serves on the Board of the National Council of the Fine
Arts Museum at San Francisco. Currently selections from his collections
are on exhibit at the Museum of International Folk Art and the Museum
of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, the San Francisco International
Airport (courtesy of the de Young Museum), and the Copia Museum of Food,
Wine and Art in Napa, California.
Let's Play! Annual Summer Camp Exhibition
This exhibition features work from students in the Center's 9-week
summer camp program.