The Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida opened its doors 30 years ago on September 22, 1990. Since then, the Harn has served a growing diverse audience of more than 2.5 million visitors with a broad range of exhibitions and programs, made accessible through free admission. The museum invites the public to celebrate the Harn’s 30th anniversary by viewing new exhibitions and attending the first of many virtual events over the next year.
Breaking the Frame: Women Artists in the Harn Collections opens to the public on Thursday, Sept. 24. The exhibition not only marks the Harn’s 30th anniversary but celebrates and reflects its robust effort since 2012 to enhance the representation of women artists’ in its collections. Works in the exhibition are drawn from the Harn’s five main collecting areas: African, Asian, modern and contemporary art, and photography. More than forty-four international works by thirty-four women artists feature painting, mixed media, photography, prints, drawings, ceramics, sculpture and fiber arts.
The first 30th Anniversary celebratory event will be held online Thursday, Oct. 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. during Museum Nights. Visitors to the Harn’s YouTube channel during this event will hear directly from internationally known artist Radcliffe Bailey in conversation with Dr. Porchia Moore, Department Head and Assistant Professor of Museum Studies at the University of Florida in the School of Art + Art History. Bailey will discuss his artistic process and specifically the artwork “Returnal” which is a part of the Harn’s collection. Harn curators will discuss the collections they work with in the galleries and reveal interesting facts about specific works of art. Visitors to this event will be inspired with an art-making activity, also featured on the museum’s virtual series “Harn at Home,” that they can create and share with the community using #Harn30. Museum Nights will be offered the second Thursday of every month throughout the rest of this year, virtually and then eventually in person—each with a new theme and topic.
“We are excited to celebrate our anniversary this year,” said Dr. Lee Anne Chesterfield, Harn Museum of Art Director. “We take pride in the Harn’s long history of providing art-centered experiences for all and want to bring awareness to our innovative exhibitions made up of our extensive collections that we have been building since 1990.”
Additional featured exhibitions include Everyday to the Extraordinary: Highlights from the Korean Collection; Dreaming Alice: Maggie Taylor Through the Looking-Glass; and Peace, Power and Prestige: Metal Arts in Africa. Everyday to the Extraordinary opened Aug. 27 and features Korean objects from everyday life alongside exemplars of artistic production. Ceramics in the exhibition span nearly 2,500 years of history, from the Three Kingdoms Period (57 BCE–668 CE) to the present, while paintings date from the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910) and into the 20th century. Dreaming Alice demonstrates Maggie Taylor’s innovative use of 19th-century photography (daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and tintypes), as well as scanned images of insects, dolls, flora and fauna to illustrate Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.” Peace, Power and Prestige explores the roles of metal objects in sustaining, unifying and enhancing life in African communities, while demonstrating the aesthetic and expressive power of metal arts.
Released September 22, 2020
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