World-renowned Pakistani American artist Anila Quayyum Agha uses art to explore her dual experiences living in her native country and as an immigrant in the United States. Although inspired by South Asian, Middle Eastern, and North African designs, her work exists outside of a single religious or cultural experience and instead invites viewers to explore the space in between. Agha explores themes around the constructed boundaries of gender, race, religion, culture, and the natural environment that prevent dialogue and exchanges between world civilizations and presents viewers the opportunity to embrace the harmonies that exist within the shadows of cultural divergence.

Curated by Holly Keris, J. Wayne & Delores Barr Weaver Chief Curator of the Museum, the exhibition Flight Patterns features two of Agha’s large sculptural installations. Each is internally lit and projects intricate geometric patterns throughout the gallery enveloping visitors as they view the work. This exhibition also includes a selection of mixed media works and wall sculptures. This immersive experience will allow Museum-goers to be a part of the sculptural shadowplay, and, therefore, become participants in the work itself.

She writes: “The consciousness of knowing what is markedly different about the human experience also bears the gift of knowing its core commonalities and it is these tensions and contradictions that I try to embody in my artwork. Through the use of a variety of media, from large sculptural installations to embroidered drawings I explore the deeply entwined political relationships between gender, culture, religion, our natural environment, labor and social codes. Using embroidery as a drawing medium in the flatworks or via ornately patterned light sculptures, I reveal the multiple layers resulting from the interaction of concept and process and to bridge the gap between modern materials and historical patterns of traditional oppression and domestic servitude. The conceptual ambiguity of the resulting patterns, create an interactive experience in which the onlooker’s subjective experiences of alienation and belonging become part of the piece and its identity.”

This exhibit was organized by the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens.

In March 1935, Nelson Doubleday of the publishers Doubleday, Doran & Company, an affiliate of Garden City, approached noted American artist and illustrator Rockwell Kent to provide illustrations for their forthcoming volume of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. One of the most popular illustrators of his era, Kent, who studied with William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri, was recognized for his illustrations of other classic volumes, including Candide (1928) and Moby Dick (1930). Admirers of Shakespeare’s works undoubtedly will recognize his well-known plots, captured simply in Kent’s quintessential linear style. This exhibition celebrates the legacies of two leading figures in their respective fields on the 400th anniversary of the publishing of Shakespeare’s first folio of plays.

This exhibition was curated by The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens.

The Cummer Museum owns one of the largest collection of works by artist James McBey (1883 – 1959) outside of his native Scotland. Although he left school at 14 to pursue a job in banking, in the evenings, he spent much of his time in the art section of the Free Library. Book by book, McBey studied the work of great artists and taught himself to paint, draw, and etch. His first print, an image of the Aberdeenshire coast, was drawn on a copper plate he purchased from a plumber, and he created his own printing press by adapting the kitchen laundry wringer. After finishing his second print, he crafted another printing press with rollers made from a discarded propeller shaft he found in a local yard.

McBey’s early work captured his native Scotland, from quiet seascapes to animated street scenes and imposing views of Edinburgh Castle. To perfect his craft, he traveled to the Netherlands to study works by Rembrandt (1606 – 1669), and then to Spain and Morocco. His first solo exhibition was held in London in 1911 and recorded more than 100 sales – McBey left banking to pursue art full time.

As an artist for the British Expeditionary Force during World War I, McBey created boldly realized visual documents of the landscapes and people he encountered. Even during wartime, when all sketching was prohibited without special permission, McBey continued to diligently observe and record the events that unfolded before him. His friend, artist and fellow soldier Martin Hardie, who was also a curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum, reported that McBey “had to depend on thumbnail notes, and on small sketches made in the palm of the hand, and even inside his pocket” to gather the material needed for creating his prints.

McBey became an American citizen in 1942 and enjoyed a series of successful exhibitions in New York. Following the Second World War, he settled in Morocco and worked exclusively in drawings and watercolors until his death.

This exhibition was organized by the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens.

For centuries, art has paved the way to connect with our inner self, to universally and inclusively allow us to communicate our feelings and emotions. It can also nurture physical and emotional healing and wellbeing. Whether it is through the beauty and serenity found in nature, the music we hear in our mind’s ear, or the empowerment received through visual artistic expression, art can be a personal sanctuary from life’s realities.

Arts4All Florida, in partnership with the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, proudly presents Reflections: The Art of Wellbeing, an exhibition of works created by Florida artists of all abilities, including individuals who may confront physical, social, or emotional challenges. Reflecting on notions of wellbeing, the artists explore themes of beauty, belonging, tranquility, joy, passion, self-expression, inspiration, and empowerment. We hope you enjoy these works.

Arts4All Florida’s mission is to provide, support, and champion arts education and cultural experiences by and for people with disabilities. Partnerships, such as this exhibition with the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens build the foundation for universally inclusive and equitable arts and cultural programs. For information, visit www.arts4allflorida.org. Arts4All Florida thanks the National Endowment for the Arts and the Florida Department of State Division of Arts and Culture for supporting this exhibition.

To purchase any of the artwork shown, please contact Sandy Sroka at
srokas@usf.edu

The pink flamingo — an iconic garden motif that is unquestionably Floridian. In the Museum’s first ever horticultural exhibition, 50 topiary flamingos planted with pink flowering begonias will take over the Museum’s historically significant gardens, providing a fun, ironic, and whimsical riff on the classic garden ornament. Posed in groups throughout the gardens and grounds, the flamingos are a playful juxtaposition against the formality of our gardens, inviting visitors to experience the landscape through a new lens of color and creativity.

The ancient art of topiary—the artful pruning and shaping of plants into decorative shapes—dates to the first century C.E. The fantastical style of topiary on display during Flamboyance was pioneered by the Walt Disney Company in the 1960s, when the company began utilizing steel mesh frames wrapped over metal support structures in the shapes of animals, including Disney characters. The steel mesh structures are planted with fast-growing plants that can achieve the desired effect in far less time than traditional topiary art.

The flamingos are on loan from the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus, Ohio. They are planted with begonias and grown for display by Museum horticulturists and volunteers.

The first exhibition to explore the evolution of women’s sporting attire in Western fashion, Sporting Fashion will look at the extraordinary impact of new technologies and evolving social mores on women’s clothing for sport. Inspired by a circa 1946 wool scarf inscribed with the word “Outdoorgirl” and featuring illustrations of women engaged in thirteen different sporting activities, this exhibition will chart the cultural and material developments that allowed women to make their way outdoors.

Examining the competing priorities of style, function, and propriety, Sporting Fashion will reconstruct a material history of women in sport through the garments and accessories that enabled them to participate, compete, and excel. 19th-century bathing and bicycling garments alongside 20th-century apparel for boxing and airplane piloting demonstrate the modernity, individuality, and mobility of the “new woman” and connect to women’s continued fight for equality.

This exhibition is organized by the American Federation of the Arts and FIDM Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles. Support for the national tour is provided by the AFA’s Gold Medal Circle: Elizabeth Belfer, Stephanie Borynack Clark, Ashleigh Fernandez, Lee White Galvis, Stephanie R. LaNasa, Merrill Mahan, Clare E. McKeon, Jennifer New, Angela Timashev, and Victoria Ershova Triplett.

2024 Cummer Museum of Arts & Gardens Exhibition Presenters include: Season Presenters – City of Jacksonville, Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, and Ronald and Karen Rettner; Presenting Sponsor – State of Florida; Lead Sponsors – The Robert D. Davis Family Endowment and The Schultz Family Endowment; and Celebrated Sponsors – The Jaguars Foundation, The Van Vleck Family Foundation, A Generous Anonymous Donor and the Director’s Circle Donors at the Cummer Museum

This exhibition brings together works by global contemporary artists who draw inspiration from the natural world and work in a variety of media, including painting, photography, assemblage, and video.

Participating artists include Brandon Ballengée, Frances Gallardo, Jane Hammond, Damien Hirst, Jill Hotchkiss, Amer Kobaslija, James Lavadour, Debora Moore, Jordan Nassar, Ruben Ochoa, and Sarah Ann Weber.

This exhibition was organized by the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens.

American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection surveys two centuries of American creativity. Though many of the objects from the DeMell Jacobsen collection have been on view at other museums, ranging from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Saint Louis Art Museum, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, this is the first exhibition featuring a comprehensive collection of works from the collection.

The exhibition begins with Colonial-era portraits by masters, such as Benjamin West, Thomas Sully, and Sarah Miriam Peale, and then moves on to highlight the development of mid-19th-century landscape painting. Viewers will discover works depicting the United States from coast to coast by artists, including Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, Jasper Francis Copsey, and even a monumental arctic scene by William Bradford.

In addition to landscape paintings, the exhibition includes still lifes and genre scenes — two other types of paintings that became popular in the 19th century. Included in the exhibition are enticing images of fruits, flowers, and other delights by Severin Roesen, John Francis, Charles Ethan Porter, Elizabeth Williams, and Adelaide Coburn Palmer. Trompe l’oeil (“fool the eye”) still lifes by masters, including William Michael Harnett, John Haberle, and John Peto, will also be on view.

Charming and moralizing genre scenes, often packed with fascinating narrative detail, include masterpieces by Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau, Seymour Guy, and Daniel Huntington.

The American experience in Europe is also represented, as many artists from this country traveled abroad to seek training and patronage in the decades leading up to the 20th century. Striking canvases by Childe Hassam, Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, and their fellow overseas travelers, will be included in the exhibition.

American Made was curated by Todd Herman, Ph.D., President and CEO of The Mint Museum; Kevin Sharp, Director of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens; and Jonathan Stuhlman, Ph.D., Senior Curator of American Art at The Mint Museum.