Galleries and Exhibits by Floor

The inviting entrance of the Polk Museum of Art leads into the Hollis Gallery, a gateway to the Museum’s two main galleries. Here, works both historic and contemporary visit the Museum as traveling exhibitions.

Just outside the main galleries is the George Jenkins Student Gallery, dedicated to showcasing the works of Polk County public school students year round.

The Perkins Gallery houses traveling exhibitions, usually by a single artist. Currently, the Perkins Gallery features the art of Kabuya Pamela Bowens, through January 3, 1999. Kabuya Pamela Bowens is an African American woman who dips into her ancestry and traditions, creating a unique iconography in colorful semi-abstract images. Bowens’ works "...are sensitive, finely crafted artifacts that serve to illuminate the American experience." -- Calvin Reid.

Upstairs, the Murray and Ledger Galleries display works from the Museum’s collection. Currently on display are the Samuel and Karen Blatt Collection, through February 7, 1999. This collection of the Tampa area collectors Samuel and Karen Blatt is being made available to the Polk Museum of Art for a series of small exhibits. Strengths of the collection are in French art with names such as Edouard Vuillard, Pierre August Renoir and Raoul Dufy as well as works by Americans Mary Cassat, James Abbot McNeil Whistler and Man Ray. This is the third in a series of three exhibits.

Gallery I is currently featuring "The True Soul of the Artistic Experience in Florida: 1997-98 Visual Artist Fellowship Awards," which will remain on display through January 24, 1999.

The Polk Museum of Art has the honor of being the first Museum to present the 1997-98 exhibition of the work of the artists who are current recipients of the Florida Department of State Visual Art Fellowship Awards.

Gallery II is currently featuring "Reflections of a Golden Age: Chinese Tang Pottery" from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, through January 24, 1999. This collection consists of 47 pieces of pottery from a period in China known as the Tang Dynasty (618-907 common era), a time of vast Chinese territorial expansion including Tibet, Manchuria, Mongolia, Korea and Turkistan. A tremendous cultural efflorescence accompanied this expansion of which achievements in sculpture were a grand part.

For more detailed information about these shows, please visit the Current Exhibits page.