The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens today announced the completion of
several updates to its permanent galleries. The Museum’s curatorial team
initiated these updates while the galleries were closed to the public from
March 14 through July 21. The temporary closure provided a unique opportunity
to refresh these spaces to showcase the diversity of artists, perspectives and
styles within the Museum’s permanent collection.
“While the Museum places attention and emphasis on our special, traveling
exhibitions each year, we also work hard to keep our many other galleries
lively and relevant through loaned works of art, new acquisitions and gallery
reinstallations,” said Holly Keris, the J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver
Chief Curator of the Museum.
Recent acquisitions and gallery updates include:
The Joan Wellhouse and Martin Stein, Sr. Gallery: Inspired by historical
documents and field research, “ISW: Isis Control, attack, support zones as of
Oct 2018; HIU, UNHCR: Regional Displacement – numbers & locations of Syrian
refugees and IDPs as of Sept-Oct 2018,” by Tiffany Chung, is an intricate,
unconventional cartographic rendering of Syria and surrounding countries,
showing the effects of military conflict and the resulting displacement of
people. This gallery also features three untitled drawings by James Castle, a
self-taught American artist who was born deaf and learned to communicate at a
young age by creating art.
The Betsy and William D. Lovett Gallery: The Museum acquired a new work
that complements the historically significant Wark Collection of Early Meissen
Porcelain: “Large Monolith” by Broached Commissions, a narrative and
research-driven furniture and object design studio based in Australia, which
harvests antiques for their useful parts and repurposes them into a range of
furniture typologies. The monolith, which was created for Broached Recall, is indicative
of the entwined notions of aesthetics, ecology, environmentalism and
conservation – both of historic objects and of natural resources.
The Helen Murchison and Edward W. Lane, Jr. Gallery: Three of the
Museum’s most popular sculptures have returned from national exhibitions,
including “Gamin” and “The Diving Boy” by Augusta Savage, a gifted
sculptor who was born in Green Cove Springs and later became a significant
teacher, leader and catalyst for change. These sculptures were part of the
Museum’s 2018-2019 exhibition, Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman, which
was presented in partnership with guest curator Jeffreen M. Hayes, Ph.D.
Additionally, “Portrait of a Woman,” a sculpture by William Artis, has
returned.
Members and guests are required to reserve a timed ticket in advance of their
visit at cummermuseum.org/admission.
Tickets are available in two-hour time increments, with dates and times for the
coming week updated every Monday.
The Museum has implemented many safety and sanitation measures, including
hand sanitizer stations throughout the campus, plexiglass guards for the front
desk area and expanded daily cleaning and sanitation policies for all common
areas and surfaces according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines. All galleries now
feature routes to direct the flow of movement and support social distancing.
Museum staff, members and guests are required to wear masks.
For more information about the Museum’s permanent collection, internally
curated gallery spaces and special exhibitions, visit cummermuseum.org/visit/art.
The Museum’s digital gallery experiences, virtual tours and online resources
remain available to the community at cummermuseum.org/engage.
