Christmas time 2021 at the Cummer Museum

Do you hear the sound of reindeer on the roof? Well, if you don’t, then you need to know that it’s almost time for the jolly old man to make his presence known. Come to the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens as you experience a little holiday cheer.

Events & Programs for December 2021:

Illuminating Nature: Dec. 3, 7, 10, 14, & 17 from 5 to 9 p.m. Free

Pressed Flower Workshop With Cassidy Ramos Dec. 11 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. | Members $45, Non-Members $60.

Look at That! Discover the joys of close looking. Dec. 8, Momentous Movement from Noon to 1 p.m. Free | Registration required.

Friday Night Drawing, with William McMahan: Dec. 10 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. | Members $50, Non-Members $75.

Make & Take Tuesday: Ages 12 to adult: Dec. 10 from 5 to 7 p.m. Members $50, Non-Members $60 | Registration required.

Artful Explorations: Activities for all ages: Dec. 12 from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Free | Registration required.

Artist Demonstrations, With Allison Watson: Dec. 17 from 5 to 8 p.m. Free | Registration required.

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
   829 Riverside Avenue
   Jacksonville, Florida 32204
   (904) 356-6857
   Hours of Operation & Admission

Cummer Museum celebrates 60 Years in JAX

Despite hurricanes and a pandemic, the "Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens" kicks off its 60th anniversary celebration this Veterans Day weekend with free admission, live music, arts activities and more. Admission is free thanks to support from VyStar Credit Union and PNC Bank.

Since its founding on November 11, 1961, the Museum has served as a dynamic cultural resource bringing the community of Northeast Florida together through the arts, education and its beautiful riverfront gardens. The Cummer Museum’s 60th Anniversary Kick-Off Celebration begins on Thursday, November 11 and continues through Sunday, November 14, 2021; the Museum will also offer programming throughout the year in honor of this special occasion.

“For 60 years, the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens has served as a vital source of inspiration and a place of reflection for our community — a role that has taken on even greater significance during the pandemic,” said Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, Ph.D., George W. and Kathleen I. Gibbs Director and CEO of the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens. “We are excited to celebrate this important moment and welcome everyone to the Museum for a vibrant weekend of art, music and fun.”

Ninah Cummer, the Museum’s namesake, bequeathed her collection of works to create “a center of beauty and culture” for the benefit of all the people of Northeast Florida. Today, the Museum holds over 5,000 works of art in its collection, spanning from 2100 B.C. through the 21st century, and includes 2.5 acres of historic gardens overlooking the St. Johns River. Its robust educational programming provides multigenerational learning through classes, lectures and camps, as well as a series of impactful programs focused on accessibility and inclusivity, including Women of Vision, a unique initiative that brings visual arts to women with blindness or low vision; the Arts4All Festival, an arts festival at the Museum for students with differing abilities living in Northeast Florida; and initiatives like Cummer in the Community, which serves students, staff and families in high priority areas through strategic partnerships with schools and community-based program providers.

The Museum recently launched 60 & 60 in 60, a year-end campaign to welcome 60 new and renewing members to its core membership, and 60 new and renewing donors to the Ponce de León Society (donors who give $1,250 or more per year) by December 31, 2021. This year-end initiative invites the entire community to support ongoing efforts to ensure that the Museum is an inspiring and accessible place for art, beauty and reflection. To join, visit their website.

Over the course of the next year, the Museum will honor its 60th anniversary with a variety of programs and events designed to celebrate its legacy of community impact and signal its future growth.

60th Anniversary Kick-Off Weekend activities will include:

Thurs., Nov. 11 | Veterans Day | Museum Hours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. | FREE. Admission sponsored by VyStar Credit Union.
Let’s Ride Brass Band: Sets every hour at 12 p.m., 1 p.m. & 2 p.m.; Permanent Collection Highlight Tours: 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.; “Ninah Cummer’s Museum: On Women and Art in American Society”: A virtual lecture with Scott Brown, Ph.D., Ninah Cummer’s Museum: 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
All day: Lawn games in the Gardens; Drop-in papermaking activity; 60th anniversary scavenger hunt.

Fri., Nov. 12 | Museum Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. | FREE. Admission sponsored by PNC Bank
Streams of Sound: Playing on the Upper Tier Colonnade from 1 to 4 p.m.; Groov Band: Playing in the Cummer Café from 5:30 to 8 p.m.; Jeremy Prince Jazz Trio: Playing on the Upper Tier Colonnade from 5:30 to 8 p.m.; Permanent Collection Highlight Tours: 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Food & Fun: 5 to 8 p.m.; Food station with gourmet hot dogs, homemade gelato and bar in the Upper Tier; Balloon animals; Face painting in the Gardens by Debra Heuskin-Adloff.
All day: Lawn games in the Gardens; Drop-in papermaking activity; 60th anniversary scavenger hunt.

Sat., Nov. 13 | Museum Hours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. | FREE. Let’s Ride Brass Band: Playing sets every hour at 11 a.m., 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.; Permanent Collection Highlight Tours: 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Food & Fun: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Food station with gourmet hot dogs, homemade gelato and bar in the Upper Tier; Face painting in the Gardens with Debra Heuskin-Adloff; Balloon animals.
All day: Lawn games in the Gardens; Drop-in papermaking activity; 60th anniversary scavenger hunt.

Sun., Nov. 14 | Museum Hours: 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. | FREE. The Band Be Easy: Playing sets from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m., and 1:45 to 2:45 p.m.; Permanent Collection Highlight Tours: 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Food & Fun: 12 to 3 p.m.; Food station with gourmet hot dogs, homemade gelato and bar in the Upper Tier; Face painting in the Gardens with Debra Heuskin-Adloff.
All day: Lawn games in the Gardens; Drop-in papermaking activity; 60th anniversary scavenger hunt.

**All events are rain or shine and moved indoors if inclement weather arises.

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
   829 Riverside Avenue
   Jacksonville, Florida 32204
   (904) 356-6857
   Hours of Operation & Admission

Autumn has come to the Cummer this Oct 2021

Yes, it has gotten a little cooler and the Cummer Museum of Arts & Gardens is the perfect place to spend the day with family, out of town guests, friends and anyone you’d like to spend some time with. Call today and make your appointment to relax in a socially distant, masked, sanitized, friendly and educational atmosphere. Come to the Cummer!

Events & Programs:
A More Sustainable Life – A virtual panel discussion on ways to live sustainably. October 19 from 7 to 8 p.m. Free | Registration required.

Creepin’ it Real Halloween Art Tour – Tuesday, October 26 | Time: drop in 6 - 8pm | Cost: FREE! — This Halloween, experience the Museum as you never have before! Your spooky art experience begins when you pick up your Halloween scavenger hunt clues from the ghost of Ninah Cummer herself! As you put your sleuthing skills to work, you’ll discover Visitor Experience staff throughout the museum dressed as pieces from our collection and ready to deliver all its spine-chilling secrets, along with free trunk-or-treat style prizes! You’d have to be undead to miss it!

The Shop's Autumn Artisan Market in the Cummer Gardens Features exceptional products by women makers and designers. October 28 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Gallery Walk: with the Chief Curator — An inside look at The Journey October 28 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Members $50, Non-Members $60. Registration required.

Friday Night Picnics — October through December from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Prices and menu items vary.

Education:
Artful Explorations — Drop-in activities for all ages October 10 from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Free.

Look at That! — Discover the joys of close looking. October 13 Proper Proportion; October 27, Perceiving Perspective from Noon to 1 p.m. Free | Registration required.

Exploring Color, Acrylic Painting: with Allison Watson — Oct. 13, 20, 27; Nov. 3, 10, 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. Members $270, Non-Members $360. Registration required.

Basic Drawing: with William McMahan — Oct. 14, 28; Nov. 4, 11, 18; Dec. 2 from 1 to 4 p.m. Members $270, Non-Members $360. Registration required.

Teachers' Lounge — October 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. Free | Registration required.

Pressed Flower Virtual Workshop: with Cassidy Ramos — October 24. 12:30 to 2 p.m. Members $45, Non-Members $60. Registration required.

The Art of Nature” Glamping Dinner Party – Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021 from 6 to 9 p.m.: Where nature meets luxury, and the perfect spot to glamp is the Cummer Gardens! Connect with the outdoors in style during this fancy, bohemian fête amidst the Cummer Oak and historic gardens. Wander and experience a unique culinary feature at every turn, whether in one of our garden tents or charming outdoor lounges. This will be a garden party like no other – a true celebration of glamour entwined with nature! Pricing varies.

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
   829 Riverside Avenue
   Jacksonville, Florida 32204
   (904) 356-6857
   Hours of Operation & Admission

Don’t miss ‘They/Them/Their’ (Zanele Muholi) at The Cummer Museum

The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens is proud to present “Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail The Dark Lioness”, an internationally touring exhibition organized by Autograph, London and curated by Renée Mussai. These magnificent self-portraits were taken throughout the US, and all over the world, as you will note next to each photograph.

The exhibit was brought to Jacksonville, FL due to a redirection caused by the COIVD pandemic. There has not been a more controversial display of blackness since the Augusta Savage showings from Oct. 12, 2018 to Sun., Apr. 7, 2019. The Museum will be the final venue for this exhibition in the United States.

In more than 72 self-portraits and wallpapers, celebrated visual activist Zanele Muholi (South African, b. 1972) uses “their” body as a canvas to confront the deeply personal politics of race and representation in the visual archive. “Their” ongoing series Somnyama Ngonyama, which translates to ‘Hail The Dark Lioness’ from isiZulu, one of the official languages of South Africa, playfully employs the conventions of classical painting, fashion photography and the familiar tropes of ethnographic imagery to rearticulate contemporary identity politics. Each black and white self-portrait asks critical questions about social (in)justice, human rights and contested representations of the Black body.

Muholi states, “I’m reclaiming my blackness, which I feel is continuously performed by the privileged other. My reality is that I do not mimic being Black; it is my skin, and the experience of being Black is deeply entrenched in me. Just like our ancestors, we live as Black people 365 days a year, and we should speak without fear.”

Throughout the series, the dark complexion of Muholi’s skin (intensified through enhanced contrast applied in post-production) becomes the focal point of a profound, multilayered interrogation of beauty, pride, desire, self-care, well-being and the many interlinked phobias and isms navigated daily such as homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, racism and sexism, to name but a few.

“Zanele Muholi’s visually arresting self-portraits compel viewers to consider timely topics such as contrast, dignity, solidarity, difference, history and activism in meaningful ways,” said Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, Ph.D., the Museum’s George W. and Kathleen I. Gibbs Director and Chief Executive Officer. “Each one invites deep looking and, ultimately, encourages viewers to ask themselves critical questions about empathy, courage and the power of each and every voice.”

The exhibition features photographs taken between 2012 - 2019 in cities across Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. Muholi's socially-engaged, radical brand of self-portraiture transforms found objects and quotidian materials into dramatic and historically loaded props, merging the political with the personal, aesthetics with history — often commenting on specific events in South Africa’s past, as well as urgent global concerns pertinent to our present times: scouring pads and latex gloves address themes of domestic servitude while alluding to sexual politics, cultural violence and the often-suffocating prisms of gendered identities. Rubber tires, cable ties or electrical cords invoke forms of social brutality and exploitation; sheets of plastic and polythene draw attention to environmental issues and global waste, while accessories like cowrie shells and beaded fly whisks highlight Western fascinations with clichéd, exoticized representations of African cultures and people.

Gazing defiantly at the camera, Muholi challenges viewers’ perceptions while firmly asserting their cultural and sexual identity on their own terms. When you gaze upon each photo, see what is in plain sight and what might be buried in your own observations. This writer saw a surprising resemblance of Zanele Muholi to songstress Nina Simone.

About Zanele Muholi: Zanele Muholi is a visual activist and photographer based in Johannesburg. Muholi’s self- proclaimed mission is “to re-write a Black queer and trans visual history of South Africa for the world to know of our resistance and existence at the height of hate crimes in South Africa and beyond.”

“They” (Muholi’s preferred pronoun) co-founded the Forum for Empowerment of Women (FEW) in 2002 (www.inkanyiso.org), and in 2009 founded Inkanyiso (www.inkanyiso.org), a forum for queer and visual (activist) media. They continue to train and co-facilitate photography workshops for young women in South African townships, and engage in a variety of community supported programs.

“Zanele Muholi”: Somnyama Ngonyama,
    Hail The Dark Lioness

DATES: April 15 – June 20, 2021

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
   829 Riverside Avenue
   Jacksonville, Florida 32204
   (904) 356-6857
   Hours of Operation & Admission

Cummer Museum of Arts and Gardens is ready for April

Spring is finally in the air and it’s time to go to the Cummer for a safe cultural experience. This month the museum will present exciting inhouse activities and some educational informative online events. Get your tickets and get in on the action.

Events & Programs:
Yoga in the Cummer Gardens: Thursday, April 8 @10 a.m. Enjoy a gentle, mindful yoga hour.
Members $10 | Non-Members $15. Registration required.

LiterARTure: Holocaust Remembrance, Stolen Yet Found: Wednesday, April 21 @
7 p.m. | Virtual Lecture - LiterARTure is both a virtual book and art club. Cindy Edelman, art lecturer, and Stacey Goldring, author, offer prescriptive solace and refuge within the pages of books and painted artworks. Free | Registration required.

Mobile Photography Studio in the Gardens: Saturday, April 24 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Inspired by Zanele Muholi’s mobile studio concept, participants can use Museum-provided polaroid cameras to create their own self-portrait. Free | Registration required.

Culture & Conversation: with Kimberly Jenkins: Thursday, April 29 @7 p.m. | Virtual Lecture. Lecturer, researcher and fashion consultant who specializes in the sociocultural and historical influences behind why we wear what we wear. Free | Registration required.

Friday Night Picnics: Friday nights in April from 5 to 9 p.m. Prices vary | Registration required.

Education:
Acrylic Painting: with Allison Watson - April 7, 14, 21, 28, May 5, 12 Six week class | 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Members $270 | Non-Members $360. Registration required.

Basic Drawing: with William McMahan: April 8, 15, 22, 29; May 6, 13. Six-week class | 1 to 4 p.m. Members $270 | Non-Members $360. Registration required.

Slow Art Wednesdays: Wednesday, April 14 & Wednesday, April 28. Take a fun and mindful break. Second and Fourth Wednesdays. Topics vary | Virtual Lectures from 12 to 1 p.m. Free | Registration required.

Make & Take Tuesday: Tuesday, April 13. Clay: Explore the fluidity of creating with clay.  Tuesday, April 20. Print: Sketch an original idea and create a printing plate. In the studio | Ages 12 and up from 5 to 7 p.m. Members $45 | Non-Members $60. Registration required.

Family Experience: Interactive Virtual Tour: Friday, April 16 @6 p.m. Free | Registration required.

Studio on the Go: Drop-in Art Making Activity: Sunday, April 18 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Free with admission.

Teachers' Virtual Lounge: Connect with Educators: Tuesday, April 27 @5 p.m. Free | Registration required.

Summer Art Camp: Calling all young artists! Check online for details.

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
   829 Riverside Avenue
   Jacksonville, Florida 32204
   (904) 356-6857
   Hours of Operation & Admission