The Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida will welcome visitors of all ages with free admission, tours, art creation, music and more to the Community Day featuring the exhibition Silver Linings: Celebrating the Spelman Art Collection. Silver Linings: Community Day will be held on Saturday, May 31, from noon to 4 pm.
The museum-wide celebration will include community partners Bailey Learning and Arts Collective, Inc. (BLAAC) who will lead journal-making sessions and a collage-making art activity inspired by the work of artists Romare Bearden and Deborah Roberts. Traditional healer, storyteller, folklorist, visual artist and oral historian Turbado Marabou will use his talents to entertain and educate through an art activity to take home. Artist-in-Residence Jessica Clermont, who creates work on site inspired by the exhibition, will also offer an art activity as an extension of her exhibition studio space. LVR Ink will direct visitors on how to screen print an original work of art, by Artist-in-Residence Jessica Clermont, onto a t-shirt to take home.
“We’re thrilled to present the vibrant spirit of the Spelman Art Collection to our community,” said Harn Museum of Art Director Dr. Lee Anne Chesterfield. “The Harn’s Community Day is a chance to come together, make art and be inspired by the talents of the visionary artists featured in Silver Linings. We’re grateful to Art Bridges for supporting this community day and to all of our local sponsors, including presenting sponsors James and Sara Toussaint, for making this exhibition and programming possible.”
Visitors will listen to the spinning tunes of DJ Wax Atom and take dance lessons from Smooth Flava Dance. Docent-led tours of the exhibition will be offered throughout the event. Free lite bites and refreshments will be provided by Jerica’s Scratch Kitchen. All youth participants will be given a free art kit encouraging creativity at home.
Silver Linings: Celebrating the Spelman Art Collection, which is the focus of the Community Day, includes 39 works—paintings, drawings, sculptures, mixed-media collages, prints and photographs—by nearly 30 artists of African descent spanning the 20th century through the contemporary moment. The exhibition is on view through July 6, 2025.
Silver Linings: Celebrating the Spelman Art Collection is organized by Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia and curated by Liz Andrews and Karen Comer Lowe with initial contributions from Anne Collins Smith.
Generous support provided by Art Bridges.
The local presenting sponsors for this exhibition are James and Sara Toussaint with additional support provided by Marcia Isaacson; Visit Gainesville, Alachua County; Laura L. Berns; David Etherington and Jeffery Dunn; and other generous donors.
The event is free and open to all. For more information visit www.harn.ufl.edu/silverlinings-communityday.
About the Harn Museum of Art
Founded in 1990, the Harn Museum of Art is an integral part of the University of Florida. The Harn contributes to an interconnected, international community by integrating the arts and culture into curricula throughout the university’s system of colleges and centers. Its holdings include more than 13,450 works in five main collecting areas: Asian art, African art, photography, modern art of the Americas and Europe, and international contemporary art. The museum also has noteworthy collections of Oceanic, Ancient American Art and works on paper. In addition to rotating installations drawn from its permanent collection, the Harn organizes traveling exhibitions and virtual educational programs for adults, students and children.
The Harn Museum of Art, at 3259 Hull Road in Gainesville, Florida, is part of the University of Florida’s Cultural Plaza, which is also home to the Florida Museum of Natural History and the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Admission is free. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am – 9 pm Thursday, and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information visit harn.ufl.edu.
About Art Bridges Foundation
Art Bridges Foundation is the vision of philanthropist and arts patron Alice Walton. Founded in 2017, Art Bridges creates and supports projects that share works of American art with communities across the United States and its territories. Art Bridges partners with a growing network of over 250 museums of all sizes—impacting more than 20 million people nationwide—to provide financial and strategic support for exhibitions, collection loans, and programs designed to educate, inspire, and deepen engagement with local communities. The Art Bridges Collection represents an expanding vision of American art from the 19th century to present day and encompasses multiple media and voices. For more information, visit artbridgesfoundation.org.
Media Contact:
Tami Wroath
Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Harn Museum of Art
352.294.7067
twroath@harn.ufl.edu