Join us Friday, May 17, at 6 pm in saying farewell to our celebrated exhibition, Rockwell/Wyeth: Icons of Americana.
Join us Friday, January 26, at 6 pm for a special Members Reception at the Polk Museum of Art celebrating the opening of our newest exhibition, Rockwell/Wyeth: Icons of Americana.
Join us Friday, December 15, at 6 pm for a special Members Reception at the Polk Museum of Art celebrating Timeless Origins: The Art of Reynier Llanes.
Interested in volunteering? Join us at the Museum on July 12 at 11 am for a volunteer information session about the different volunteer positions and opportunities! Meet the Museum staff and ask current volunteers and docents about their experience at the Polk Museum of Art.
Gary Monroe has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Florida Department of State’s Division of Cultural Affairs, Florida Humanities Council, and the Fulbright Foundation to support his photography and writing. With a focus on “Outsider” and vernacular art, Mr. Monroe, the leading authority on the Highwaymen, has authored several books about the artists. He tells a story that relates their rising above racial attitudes, the power of unspoiled Florida, and the creative spirit of the original 26 painters. Theirs is a story of entrepreneurs who sought not to settle for the meager existence offered by the agricultural and citrus industries–a common vocation for many African-American workers in Florida at the time. Art to the Highwaymen was a craft, a way to earn a living. At the time, galleries weren’t showing the work of unknown, self-taught African-American artists. Instead the Highwaymen painted from their garages and backyards on inexpensive Upson board, framed their work with carpenter’s trim, then traveled Florida's east coast to sell their still-wet paintings "from door to door," at hotels, offices, businesses and residences.
Gary Monroe brings an artist’s sensibility to looking at the paintings which is piqued by his native Floridian’s insights. He contextualizes the Highwaymen’s art in the Jim Crow South during Florida’s optimistic space-age years. He discusses the Sunshine State as a place to reinvent one’s self during the postwar boom, and explains how these paintings complimented this American dream sentiment. The Highwaymen’s technique allowed them to produce brilliantly colored landscape paintings quickly and effectively. It is estimated that they created some 200,000 of their original paintings.
Based on Mr. Monroe’s nomination, the Highwaymen were inducted into Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004. He facilitated National Public Radio when they produced their Highwaymen series, has delivered some 300 public lectures and written many articles about the Highwaymen, and curates museum exhibitions of Highwaymen art.
This season opening is a complimentary membership benefit.
Click the button below to join the virtual
Members Reception on October 8 at 6 pm.
Not a Polk Museum of Art Member?
Join today and enjoy the benefits of Membership all year long!
Click the button below for more information.
Join us September 30 at 6 pm for a behind-the-scenes talk and tour with our incredible Curatorial team! Join your favorites, Laura Putnam, Loren Hicks, Matt Belcher, and Dr. Alex Rich, for an evening panel discussion at the Museum!
How do art and music come together? When trained musicians see a work of visual art do they associate music with it? Do you? It's time to find out as we dig into the minds of our region's most respected musical artists!
We're hosting Bring a Friend Days! Bring your friends and family to the Museum on September 11 & 12 to view our current exhibitions and give them the opportunity to enroll in membership at a discounted rate! Your friends and family can enjoy 10% off a Family/Household, Sponsor, or Advocate membership!
We're hosting Bring a Friend Days! Bring your friends and family to the Museum on September 11 & 12 to view our current exhibitions and give them the opportunity to enroll in membership at a discounted rate! Your friends and family can enjoy 10% off a Family/Household, Sponsor, or Advocate membership!
Special performances by an instrumentalist from the:
Lectures by:
Lectures and performances will be offered throughout
the evening at 5pm, 6pm, and 7pm.
This season opening is a complimentary membership benefit.
Click the button below to RSVP!
Not a Polk Museum of Art Member? Join today and enjoy the benefits of Membership all year long!
Click the button below for more information.
Join us for our Members Reception celebrating Inside the Masters’ Studios: Richards Haas Dioramas and Painted Pages: Illuminated Manuscripts 13th-18th Centuries.
Join us for our Patron Members Reception celebrating Inside the Masters’ Studios: Richards Haas Dioramas and Painted Pages: Illuminated Manuscripts 13th-18th Centuries.
Join us for our Members Reception celebrating Degas: The Private Impressionist.
Join us for our Members Reception celebrating Chagall: Stories into Dreams and The Art of Romaine Brooks.
Join us for our Patron Members Reception celebrating Spirits: Ritual and Ceremonial African and Oceanic Art from the Dr. Alan and Linda Rich Collection and Global Art of the 1970’s: From the S.C. Johnson Collection
Join us for our Members Reception at the Melvin and Burks Galleries celebrating Sad Tropics.
