History of Recent Exhibits

The Art of Kabuya Pamela Bowens

October 17, 1998 – January 3, 1999

Perkins Gallery

Kabuya Pamela Bowens is an African American woman who dips into her ancestry and traditions, creating a unique iconography in colorful semi-abstract images. "Her work connects her to larger cultural patterns, all the while framing a deeper quality of loss and some cryptic attempt at redemption.

The creation of this work -- with its allusions to higher forces; its sweeping sense of history; and its discreet sense of identity and personal intervention into a millennial drama -- allows her to figuratively tie up the exposed (and disguised) nerve endings, theories and historical cul de sacs of a life spent in analytical wonder. Bowens’ works are sensitive, finely crafted artifacts that serve to illuminate the American experience." -- Calvin Reid.

Reflections of a Golden Age: Chinese Tang Pottery:

From the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman

October 24, 1998 – January 24, 1999

Gallery II

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.

In literature poetry was the most highly developed form. Out of a society with a degree of religious freedom and the delicate sensibility to foster poetry came a style of sculpture notable for its delicacy of form. Included in the exhibit are human and animal figurines as well as vessels, all having glazes applied in a painterly fashion in subtle variations of hue and tone. Some of the works are mass-produced, some made for individuals of wealth and class; a number are tomb decorations.

The McClung Museum – University of Tennessee at Knoxville, assembled this exhibit; it is based on the curatorial work of a British scholar who worked closely with the collectors in the 1980’s.

The True Soul of the Artistic Experience in Florida:

1997-98 Visual Artist Fellowship Awards

October 24, 1998 – January 24, 1999

Gallery I

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.

Awards were presented to: Richard Heipp, canvases with mixed medium including neon and metal; Victoria Skinner, collage; Maria Castheliola, small drawings on wood constructions; Bob Kopec, wood sculpture; Julia Terwilliger, mixed media paintings; Rebecca Sexton Larson, painted photographs; Claire Jeanine Satin, mixed media in 2- and 3-dimensions; Douglas Loewen, whose work is characterized by video and is sculptural and conceptual in nature; Luisa Basnuevo, painting; Robert Curtis Flynn, drawing; M. Laine Wyatt, collage boxes; Karen Rifas, found object constructions; Mary Lou Uttermohlen, black and white photographs; and Kevin Sloan, painting.

The Samuel and Karen Blatt Collection

November 7, 1998 – February 7, 1999

The Ledger and Murray Galleries

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 on the second-floor galleries which aim to highlight some choice selections from the collection of two-dimensional works in all mediums. 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.

From the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman

October 24, 1998 – January 24, 1999

Gallery II

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.

In literature poetry was the most highly developed form. Out of a society with a degree of religious freedom and the delicate sensibility to foster poetry came a style of sculpture notable for its delicacy of form. Included in the exhibit are human and animal figurines as well as vessels, all having glazes applied in a painterly fashion in subtle variations of hue and tone. Some of the works are mass-produced, some made for individuals of wealth and class; a number are tomb decorations.

The McClung Museum – University of Tennessee at Knoxville, assembled this exhibit; it is based on the curatorial work of a British scholar who worked closely with the collectors in the 1980’s.

The True Soul of the Artistic Experience in Florida:

1997-98 Visual Artist Fellowship Awards

October 24, 1998 – January 24, 1999

Gallery I

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.

Awards were presented to: Richard Heipp, canvases with mixed medium including neon and metal; Victoria Skinner, collage; Maria Castheliola, small drawings on wood constructions; Bob Kopec, wood sculpture; Julia Terwilliger, mixed media paintings; Rebecca Sexton Larson, painted photographs; Claire Jeanine Satin, mixed media in 2- and 3-dimensions; Douglas Loewen, whose work is characterized by video and is sculptural and conceptual in nature; Luisa Basnuevo, painting; Robert Curtis Flynn, drawing; M. Laine Wyatt, collage boxes; Karen Rifas, found object constructions; Mary Lou Uttermohlen, black and white photographs; and Kevin Sloan, painting.

The Samuel and Karen Blatt Collection

November 7, 1998 – February 7, 1999

The Ledger and Murray Galleries

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 on the second-floor galleries which aim to highlight some choice selections from the collection of two-dimensional works in all mediums. 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.

Transformations: Leslie Newmann in Florida

January 9 – March 21, 1999

Perkins Gallery

Members’ Opening Reception: Thursday, February 4, 1999 at 7:00 p.m.

These small and delicately formed canvases are created with the rare encaustic technique. One reason for its rarity is that the process of suspending pigments in melted beeswax, which is then layered on the canvas to build up the image, is time consuming. However, the process of building the image in this manner provides Newmann with the dematerialized and ethereal type of image she wants to convey from her deeply felt response to the Florida landscape.

The process of creating the image slowly allows her the working structure to draw out the spiritual aspects of that response in a way that she feels works particularly well for the nature of what she is trying to convey to the audience.

  Transformations: Leslie Newmann in Florida

January 9 – March 21, 1999

Perkins Gallery

These small and delicately formed canvases are created with the rare encaustic technique. One reason for its rarity is that the process of suspending pigments in melted beeswax, which is then layered on the canvas to build up the image, is time consuming. However, the process of building the image in this manner provides Newmann with the dematerialized and ethereal type of image she wants to convey from her deeply felt response to the Florida landscape.

The process of creating the image slowly allows her the working structure to draw out the spiritual aspects of that response in a way that she feels works particularly well for the nature of what she is trying to convey to the audience.

Hallmark for Lakeland

January 30 – April 11, 1999

Galleries I and II

In a show of 48 prints curated by Melissa Roundtree from the Hallmark Corporation Fine Arts Collection, the Polk Museum of Art is being treated to a group of artist prints done by sculptors of international stature. Among the sculptors whose work will be featured are Alice Aycock, Louise Boureois, Lesley Dill, Red Grooms, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Stackhouse and others of equal stature. This exhibit is being assembled for the Polk Museum of Art alone and serves the Museum’s audience in giving a broader view of the artistic oeuvre of contemporary sculptors, an area of art activity this institution has emphasized for a number of years.

This exhibit will be curated from the collection of the Hallmark Cards corporation in Kansas City and will be tailor-made for the Polk Museum of Art and Lakeland. Mayfaire on the Lake

May 8th and 9th, 1999

Central Florida's premier outdoor art show, sponsored by the Polk Museum of Art, takes place May 8th and 9th on the shores of Lake Morton, directly across from the Polk Museum of Art. The show is free to the public.

Landscape Photography

March 27 – June 13, 1999

Perkins Gallery

Members’ Opening Reception: Thursday, April 23, 1999 at 7:00 p.m.

This exhibit will explore current trends in landscape photography, from political statements and environmental issues to concerns of a more formal nature.

Innuendo Non Troppo: The Kinetic Sculptures of Gregory Barsamian

April 17 – June 27, 1999

Galleries I and II

Influenced by a variety of sources that include the zoetrope (and other photo-mechanical devices), the history of animation, contemporary culture, surrealism and engineered technology, Barsamian creates three-dimensional animated sculpture. This exhibit premiered ten new works created specifically for the exhibition. His transformative machines revolve from a central axis either floor-based or suspended from the ceiling. Using a programmable-timed stroboscopic light source, Barsamian creates a universal visual experience that is both personal and transcendent. Organized by the Contemporary Art Center of Cincinnati, this project is a visual and mechanical marvel.

- The Webmaster