The Cummer Museum Presents Works By 30 Northeast Florida-Based Artists

From The JAX Chamber:

January 6, 2021

The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, in partnership with The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida, will present a retrospective exhibition to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Art Ventures Fund. Thirty artists from Northeast Florida have been selected to include one work — one for each year of Art Ventures grantmaking. The exhibition opens to the public on January 13, and will run through February 21. Art Ventures is an endowed fund at The Community Foundation, launched in 1990 through a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts that was matched by generous local donors. The fund makes grants annually to individual artists and small arts organizations so recipients can explore or refine the next level of their craft, with more than $1.4 million invested since its inception.

“Our community owes a debt of gratitude for the foresight of people like Ann McDonald Baker, Courtenay Wilson and Andy Bell, and the donors they enlisted for the Art Ventures Fund more than 30 years ago,” noted Nina Waters, president of The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida. “By securing pivotal gifts and a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, they have uplifted more than 200 artists and nearly 100 small arts organizations with annual grantmaking. This investment in the arts has enriched our lives in Northeast Florida and will continue to do so.”

Featured artists for this exhibition include:

Gail Beveridge

Linda Broadfoot

Sarah Crooks

Jim Draper

Overstreet Ducasse

Annelies Dykgraaf

Doug Eng

Shannon Estlund

Crystal Floyd

Zac Freeman

Julianne French

Jenny Hager

Thomas Hager

Dustin Harewood

Marsha Hatcher

Christina Hope

Erin Kendrick

Mary Jo Maraldo

Gil Mayers

Traci Mims

Hiromi Moneyhun

Elena Øhlander

Princess Rashid

Joe Segal

Jay Shoots

Kathy Stark

Grant Ward

Mary Williamson

Tony Wood

Mary N. Worthy

“The Community Foundation’s Art Ventures Fund has resulted in numerous opportunities for regional artists to showcase their unique perspectives, and through our long-standing partnership, we are honored to dedicate space — in our galleries, our conversations and our programming — to celebrate this extraordinary milestone and its impact on our artistic community,” said Dr. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, the George W. and Kathleen I. Gibbs Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Museum.

“This exhibition showcases exactly what Art Ventures Fund donors like my mother-in-law Ann and others wanted for the Jacksonville community — an exemplary array of creativity, nurtured by the encouragement, financial support and a demonstrated commitment to the talented artists in our midst,” said Martha Frye Baker, chair of The Community Foundation Board of Trustees and a trustee of the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens. “The Community Foundation and the Museum have a rich history of partnership to support the cultural community, and we are delighted to do so again with this Art Ventures exhibition.”

Members and guests will enjoy access to this exhibition with general admission, including during free admission days. Additionally, the Museum will present live performances by artists from multiple disciplines on select PNC Bank Free Fridays (4 to 9 p.m.) throughout the exhibition’s run, to include:

Jan. 15: Tiffany Melanson and Mal Jones

Jan. 29: Rebecca Levy and Hurley Winkler

Feb. 5: Arvid Smith and Barbara Colaciello Feb. 19: Ebony Payne English and Rick Colado

Members and guests are required to reserve a timed ticket in advance of their visit at cummermuseum.org/admission.

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.

This press release was produced by The JAX Chamber. The views expressed here are the author’s own.