MOFAC Announces Exhibition Season 2015-16

AVON PARK, Fla.–Sept. 11, 2015–The South Florida State College (SFSC) Museum of Florida Art and Culture (MOFAC) announces its 2015-16 season of exhibitions and programs.

MOFAC, in addition to its permanent collection of contemporary Florida regional art, provides an exhibition venue for established and emerging regional artists and preserves Florida’s history and heritage through art. The museum also serves as a repository for the historical artifacts unearthed by members of the Kissimmee Valley Archaeological and Historical Conservancy.

“MOFAC features an exciting and varied group of artists this season, from local and emerging artists to internationally recognized Clyde Butcher,” said Mollie Doctrow, MOFAC’s curator. “Visitors will be inspired by the vibrant creativity of these Florida artists.”

MOFAC is located adjacent to the SFSC Theatre for the Performing Arts, Highlands Campus, 600 W. College Dr, Avon Park. The museum is open to the public Oct. 9 – May 4. Visitors can view the exhibitions on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m., or by appointment for group tours. Patrons of the SFSC Theatre for the Performing Arts may visit the museum one hour prior to matinee and evening performances.

MOFAC 2015-16 Exhibition Season

“Coming Home 2015: SFSC Alumni Exhibition” will be on display Oct. 7 – Dec. 2. SFSC MOFAC celebrates the college’s 50^th anniversary with its annual exhibition featuring the work of distinguished SFSC alumni, including Max Gooding and Cody Coltharp.

The exhibit will also feature the work of SFSC alumni: Katie Jane Altvater, Whitney Broadaway, Joe Colangelo, Caroline Colby, Gabe Clogston, Kiri Crommet, Hope Flowers, James Futral, Allen McPherson, Quinn Miller, Emmie Pereira, Jayma Sacco, Holly Scherlacher, Chase Smith, and Laura Wolfe.

An alumni artist program and reception is scheduled for Oct. 15. The artists will assemble for a program at 5:30 p.m. in SFSC’s University Auditorium, which is short walk from the MOFAC gallery. At 6:45 p.m., the artists will be available for a meet-and-greet in the lobby of the SFSC Theatre for the Performing Arts. The exhibition is co-sponsored by the SFSC Alumni Association and the SFSC Foundation, Inc.

“Leaf and Branch and Log and Stump: Landscapes of Jerry Cutler” will be on display Dec. 9 – Feb. 4. Cutler achieved notice for his decades-long study of Florida’s landscapes, with a unique focus on the Everglades. His paintings have been exhibited at more than 200 group and solo shows. His landscape paintings are on display in state office buildings as part of Florida’s Art in State Buildings Program.

Cutler, a retired professor of art at the University of Florida, will lead a talk titled “What a Landscape Painting Should Be,” Jan. 21, 1 – 2 p.m. in MOFAC’s main gallery.

“Emerging Voices of Artistic Expression” will be on display Dec. 9 – Feb. 4. “The need to create is inherent in everyone, young and old,” said Mollie Doctrow, MOFAC’s curator. “The artists’ works in this exhibit will speak to visitors through metaphor, communicating visually through the personal forms and style of each artist,” Doctrow said. The exhibit includes local artist Ronnie Fuertes, and regional artists, Kendal Hanson, Dawn Marie Lee, and Jake Noland.

“Visions of Florida: The Photographic Art of Clyde Butcher” will be on display Feb. 10 – April 28. Visitors to this exhibition will discover an undisturbed paradise that is rapidly disappearing. Through the eyes of one of America’s finest landscape photographers, patrons will journey into the realm of natural Florida—a world seldom seen either by tourists or longtime residents. This exhibition is on loan from the Museum of Florida History.

“Celebrating Florida Archaeology,” on display Feb. 10 – March 31, celebrates Florida’s archaeological history by showcasing images of the state’s archaeological resources and the people who have explored, preserved, and interpreted the archaeological record to better understand the millennia of human occupation of the Florida peninsula.

“SFSC’s Juried Student Art Exhibition” will be on display April 6 – 28. The annual exhibition features outstanding artistic achievements from the academic year. Students co-organize the exhibition and assist with the framing, installation, and promotion of their work. A Student Art Awards and Reception will be held Thursday, April 21, 12:30-2:30 p.m. The sponsors for the exhibition are Joe and Suzanne Wright, the SFSC Foundation, Inc., and Doug and Elizabeth Andrews.

Special Programs

MOFAC invites the public to a series of special programs throughout the year.

“The Artists’ Group at SFSC” exhibition will be held Oct. 9, 2015 – Jan. 9, 2016, in the lower lobby gallery of MOFAC. It will feature the work of resident artists at SFSC who make up The Artists’ Group (TAG). The TAG is a community of artists who are committed to developing their individual talents and promoting an appreciation for art.

A selection of paintings by Peter Powell Roberts will be on display Jan. 15 – April 30. Roberts was an acclaimed Florida artist who taught at the Ringling College of Art for 23 years, where he founded the design and computer graphics departments. Roberts’ deep reverence and love for nature is reflected in this selection of oil paintings and mixed media works from MOFAC’s permanent collection.

Catherine Parker, with the Archaeology Institute at the University of West Florida, will lead a talk titled “Spanish Colonial Foodways,” Feb. 18, 1 – 2 p.m., in Building G, Room 102, on SFSC’s Highlands Campus. Food is an important part of our heritage and culture. Parker will demonstrate how information from the written historical record, together with evidence from archeological findings, opens a window on the place of food in the early life of “La Florida.”

Mollie Doctrow, MOFAC’s curator, will lead a talk titled “Lunch ‘n Learn: Arts in the Parks,” Nov. 5, noon – 1 p.m., in Building G, Room 101, on SFSC’s Highlands Campus. Doctrow, an award-winning artist, will share her experience as an artist-in-residence at the Petrified Forest National Park, an ancient landscape more than 200 million years old.

The “Pygmy Fringe Tree Wildflower Festival” will be held on March 10, 11 a.m. – noon, at SFSC’s MOFAC. The Pygmy Fringe Tree Wildflower Festival celebrates native wildflowers of the Lake Wales Ridge with guided walks on the Wayside Shrine Trail. This year’s festival includes a literary interpretive walk, singing by Florida Seminole songwriter Rita Youngman, and storytelling by Florida folklorist Carol Mahler. For additional information, visit www.waysideshrinetrail.com.

For more information about SFSC MOFAC and its programs or to request a museum tour, contact Mollie Doctrow, curator, MOFAC, at 863-784-7240 or email mofac@southflorida.edu. Visit the MOFAC website at mofac.org.