Dr. Anne B. Kerr, President of Florida Southern College, is proud to announce a historic transformational gift to the Polk Museum of Art, through a generous donation from the Nicholas and Ashley Barnett Foundation at GiveWell.

In tribute to Florida Southern College and Museum Trustee Ashley Gibson Barnett's deep commitment to the arts, the Smithsonian-Affiliate museum will be renamed The Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art (The AGB) at Florida Southern College, effective July 13, 2024. This generous gift establishes an endowment to support world-class exhibitions, operations, community art and educational programs, expanding the Museum's engagement, accessibility, and influence.

In the lead up to its major expansion opening in Fall 2024, the Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College is excited to announce a multi-year partnership with the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation to display a suite of 14 bronzes by French master sculptor Auguste Rodin. The Museum first brought Rodin’s work to Central Florida in late 2022 with “Rodin: Contemplation and Dreams/Selections from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collections.” The exhibition was one of the Museum’s most popular and highest attended to date.

The Polk Museum of Art is pleased to announce the opening of its latest exhibition, “Remembering Vilna: The Holocaust and the Art of Samuel Bak” on view July 29, 2023, through January 7, 2024. Featuring nearly 30 paintings in the Museum’s Dorothy Jenkins Gallery, this powerful exhibition uses Bak’s personal history as a child of the Holocaust as a jumping off point to explore universal themes of conflict, resilience, and hope, the consequences of prejudice and persecution, and the necessity of preserving historical memory for future generations.

Citizens Bank & Trust Mayfaire by-the-Lake is excited to reveal the Feature Poster Artist and Image for the 51st Mayfaire celebration on May 13 & 14, 2023. In a dynamic scene by artist Alex Lanier, Mayfaire’s signature swan is reimagined as a futuristic explorer.

This winter, the Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College presents “Edward Hopper and Guy Pène du Bois: Painting the Real,” an original, loan-based exhibition on view December 17, 2022, through March 26, 2023, in the Museum’s Dorothy Jenkins and Harper Family Galleries.

Smithsonian-affiliated Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College opened its newest exhibit, “Lauren Austin: Life in Quilts,” on November 12. The former civil rights attorney turned full-time artist creates large-scale figurative art quilts incorporating her family photos, artist dyed fabric, stone lithography, printmaking, and beading to develop and describe her memories, experiences, and thoughts in a visual story. This original Polk Museum of Art exhibition showcases Austin’s unique vision.