Rollins Museum of Art Announces Winter 2024 Exhibitions

The Rollins Museum of Art is pleased to announce its winter 2024 season, featuring five exhibitions highlighting work from the museum’s extensive collection as well as recent acquisitions and special presentations. This season’s offerings invite visitors to reflect on the displacement and trauma of war and disability, immerse themselves in art and spirituality, gain a glimpse into the history of American art, and allow themselves to be transported by a host of historic works new to the museum’s collection. Each of these exhibitions is sure to spark conversation and provoke introspection among guests, whether they be new visitors or seasoned patrons.

Visitors are also encouraged to stop into the new wing at The Alfond Inn, where a specially commissioned, site-specific Steve Locke exhibition is on view. Composed of seven works, the installation centers on the artist’s core messages concerning identity, equity, and belonging. It underscores the importance of teaching institutions and the role we play in ensuring these things for our students, community, and beyond.

Silent Protest: Perspectives on War and Disability

In his 2019 book Deaf Republic, poet Ilya Kaminsky explores the impact of war, displacement, and the experience of trauma on those living with a disability. The power of the literal and metaphorical voice is central to Kaminsky’s evocative story as he weaves descriptions of violence and uncertainty with impactful scenes of resilience and hope. This exhibition, drawn from the museum’s permanent collection, brings together a selection of works that address these themes from multiple artistic perspectives. Examining notions of silence, communication, memory, and conflict in the personal and political arenas, Silent Protest includes excerpts from Deaf Republic displayed in the gallery alongside paintings, photographs, objects, and prints that encourage viewers to pause and reflect.

Transformations: Spirituality, Ritual, and Society

Historians of religion have noted that men and women started to worship gods as soon as they became recognizably human, prompted by the desire to find meaning and value in life. Almost at the same time, they started making art: through time, art, spirituality, and ritual have mirrored, influenced, and even shaped each other. Adding mythology and faith-infused popular traditions, art that reflects spirituality in its many forms is pervasive through most of recorded history. By putting in dialogue objects and images from different periods and regions, this exhibition explores how visual representations of these notions reflect and sometimes question their social and historical contexts as well as how they have transformed over time. Drawn from RMA’s permanent collection, this exhibition features works dating from the 14th through 21st centuries and includes historical art from Europe, America, and Asia, as well as global contemporary artists.

American Visions: Recent Additions to the Collection

In the past couple of years, RMA’s American collection has experienced transformative growth. The museum has welcomed more than 30 remarkable paintings from the 18th through early 20th century as gifts and long-term loans. These additions, both complementary and enriching, have brought a new depth to the collection, offering a more nuanced glimpse into the history of American art. They include artists previously not part of RMA’s collection—like John Singer Sargent, Thomas Cole, Benjamin West, George Inness, and Martin Johnson Heade, among others—and different genres by painters the museum already owned, such as Robert Henri and William Merritt Chase. They strengthen the representation of 19th-century women artists—introducing works by Elizabeth Emmet LeRoy, Lilian Thomas Schmidt, and Jane Stuart—and bolster genres already strong (e.g., 19th-century landscape painting, including works by Thomas Moran, John Henry Twachtman, Herman Herzog, etc.).

The Voice of the People: Freedom of Speech

In tandem with the 2023-24 Rollins College Common Read theme “Political Polarization,” this exhibition examines the ways in which freedom of speech shapes democracy and civic engagement. The exhibition features a selection of works from the collection that center freedom of speech as a pillar of productive political conversations by exploring multiple artistic perspectives, approaches, and media. Works by artists Pedro Reyes, Michael Stone, and Danh Vo consider notions of freedom, democracy, and politics, while Jenny Holzer, Kota Ezawa, Hank Willis Thomas, and Emily Shur address specific instances in which freedom of speech has been recently debated. Also included are works by Melvin Edwards, Josh Kline, Marcus Jansen, and Norman Rockwell.

What’s New? Recent Acquisitions (Spring 2024 Edition)

This installation features recent acquisitions on a rotating basis, allowing the museum to share some of its new treasures soon after they’ve become part of the collection. This rotation includes works by Kenneth Noland, Annette Rawlings, and Chuck Webster, among others and continues to reflect the museum’s sustained commitment to acquiring works in various mediums, from different time periods, and by artists of diverse backgrounds in alignment with our teaching mission and the curriculum of a liberal arts education.

Related Programming

February 16 | 11 a.m.
Tour: What’s New? Recent Acquisitions
Gisela Carbonell, curator

February 20 | 6 p.m.
Lecture: Working the Numinous: In Pursuit of the Holy in a Museum Space
Join Gary Vikan, former director of the Walters Art Museum and author of several books exploring the sacred in museums and in the public square, as he shares findings from his extensive research.

RMA Future Vision | March 7 | 5:30-7 p.m.
Join Ena Heller, Bruce A Beal Director, for a closer look at the latest plans for the new Rollins Museum of Art facility.

March 22 | 11 a.m.
Tour: Transformations: Spirituality, Ritual, and Society
Ena Heller, Bruce A. Beal Director, and Gisela Carbonell, curator

March 26 | 6 p.m.
Lecture: Silent Protest: Looking at Art, War, and Disability
Keri Watson is an associate professor of art history and assistant director of the School of Visual Arts and Design at the University of Central Florida. Inspired by Ilya Kaminsky’s Deaf Republic, this talk explores the ways in which artists with disabilities have explored war and how art has participated in protesting global conflict.

April 5 | 11 a.m.
Tour: Silent Protest: Perspectives on War and Disability
Keri Watson, associate professor of art history at the University of Central Florida and co-curator, and Gisela Carbonell, curator

Day at the Norton | April 13 | All Day
Enjoy a day trip to the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach with Ena Heller, Bruce A. Beal Director, Rollins Museum of Art. Register by March 11, 2024. Space is limited to 20 individuals. $150 each, includes transportation, snacks, lunch, and admission fees.

April 19 | 11 a.m.
Tour: The Voice of the People: Freedom of Speech
Sophie Foster, Fred Hicks Curatorial Fellow

April 23 | 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Lecture: Senior Student Exhibition Artist Panel
Join us during Rollins College’s Common Hour for a panel discussion with the graduating studio art majors featured in the Senior Student Exhibition.

February 7, March 6, April 3
Happy Hour Tours
Join us in the lobby of The Alfond Inn for a 60-minute guided tour of selections from the Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art. Beverages are available for purchase before, during, and after the tour from Hamilton’s Kitchen Bar. Pre-registration required. Click here to reserve your free ticket.

February 8, March 7, April 18 | 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Common Conversations
Rollins students, faculty, and members of the wider Central Florida community are invited to join these themed tours of works from the RMA permanent collection offered during the Rollins College Common Hour. No pre-registration is required. Themes include: Love & Friendship (February 8), Disability Activism with Steven Noll (March 7), and Art & Astronomy (April 8).

February 28, March 27, April 24 | 6-7 p.m.
NEW! Happy Hour Tours at The Alfond Inn
On select Wednesdays, gather with fellow Rollins Museum of Art Founders Square Members at The Alfond Inn for an inside look at select works from the museum’s collection with Ena Heller, Bruce A Beal Director, RMA.

Family Programs

January 6, February 3, March 2, April 6 | 10-11:30 a.m.
Family Studio | Ages 5-10
Join us for a memorable morning of art and exploration at the Rollins Museum of Art. Family Studio engages young children and their favorite adult in fun, interactive experiences inspired by our current exhibitions. Each program includes an exclusive tour, story time, and art activity. Register on the RMA website under “Learn & Engage.”

March 30 | 12-4 p.m.
Spring Fling
Join us for a day of family fun inside and outside the Rollins Museum of Art. Engage with the current exhibitions through art activities, performances, and docent-led tours. Spring Fling is an all-ages event, free, and open to the community. No sign-up or registration is required. This program is generously funded by the Winifred Johnson Clive Foundation. For questions or accessibility accommodations prior to Spring Fling, please contact rma_schoolprograms@rollins.edu.

Programas en Español | Programs in Spanish

Acompaña a la Dra. Gisela Carbonell, Curadora, para recorridos guidos en español. Café y pastelillitos provistos por nuestro auspiciador Café Don Juan. | Join Curator Gisela Carbonell for exhibition tours in Spanish. Coffee and pastries provided by our program sponsor, Café Don Juan.

17 de Febrero | 6 p.m.
ARTE Y CAFÉ CON LA CURADORA
Silent Protest: Perspectives on War and Disability

19 de Marzo | 6 p.m.
ARTE Y CAFÉ CON LA CURADORA
What’s New? Recent Acquisitions

16 de Abril | 6 p.m.
ARTE Y CAFÉ CON LA CURADORA
Transformations: Spirituality, Ritual, and Society