Grounds for Exhibitions − Inaugural Outdoor Exhibitions Series
September 2016 through September 2018

The Mennello Museum inaugurates Grounds for Exhibitions with two large-scale works by American sculptor Alice Aycock installed in the Marilyn L. Mennello Sculpture Garden. The beautiful works, Waltzing Matilda and Twin Vortexes were originally part of series of seven sculptures in Aycock’s significant outdoor exhibition on Park Avenue in Manhattan entitled Park Avenue Paper Chase. Grounds for Exhibition features year-long large-scale sculpture exhibitions by nationally renowned American artists who otherwise would not be shared with Orlando audiences.

Shannon Fitzgerald states: “It is thrilling to inaugurate this outdoor exhibition program with such beautiful work by Alice Aycock, one of America’s most recognized and respected sculptors of her generation. I think visitors will delight in experiencing the stunning sculptures nestled in our lakeside landscape that challenges perspective, materiality, whimsy, and nature—in all its power and fragility.  She continues: “This is an extraordinary opportunity for our community to contemplate the vital role art has and the impact it can have when shared in the Public realm.”

With short, bold strokes of oil built upon the canvas, Laurence A. Campbell presents triumphant scenes of Philadelphia and New York City high rises draped in American flags with streets, mid-century cars, and passersby covered in snow, under rain, or lit with the setting sun of an autumn day. Campbell is a modern painter inspired by the late 19th to early 20th century technique and thought of the American Impressionists.

COLLECTORS PASSION is curated by Katherine E. Navarro, Marilyn L. Mennello Associate Curator of Education. The Mennello Museum is pleased to present paintings from the collections of Michael A. Mennello, The Allan E. and Linda S. Keen Family, and Dr. Manuel and Destiny Perez. An exhibition catalog will be accompanying the exhibition with an essay written by Navarro.

The Mennello Museum of American Art is pleased to announce two returning exhibitions, Our Orlando: Making Sense of our World and American Youth: Our Future.

Our Orlando: Making Sense of our World
Opening August 24, 2018, Our Orlando: Making Sense of our World will feature the work of four rising local artists: Sarah M. Bender, Peterson Guerrier, Boy Kong, and Kelly Ladd.  These four artists conceptualize a multitude of relationships within our shared world – ranging from the personal and familiar to the mysterious and universal. In this exhibition, human experience is depicted, varied as it is in its accounts, through figuration and form, in two and three dimensions. The voices and visions of the artists presented here can be seen in a consideration of how we, as humans, relate to one another and our time on earth by reflecting upon their representations of individuality and imagination.

American Youth: Our Future
American Youth: Our Future is an exhibition to support and foster the creativity of Orlando’s talented teen artists. In this exhibition’s second year, the Mennello Museum of American Art will hold a juried art show and currently has an open Call for Art to all Orange and Seminole County high school students as part of our increasingly expansive, diverse, and inclusive exhibition program. American Youth: Our Futureaspires to empower rising artists and give them a space to engage in conversations through their art with our community.

The Mennello Museum of American Art will open its doors free of charge on Saturday, September 22, 2018, as part of Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day, an initiative in which participating museums across the United States emulate the spirit of the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington DC-based facilities, which offer free admission every day, and open their doors for free to those who download a Museum Day ticket.

Museum Day is a one-day event in which participating museums and cultural institutions across the country provide free entry to anyone presenting a Museum Day ticket. Participants are allowed to download one ticket per email address. The ticket provides free general admission on Saturday, September 22, 2018, for two people.

Download your ticket: smithsonian.com/museumday

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Smithsonian recognizes the extraordinary power of museums, and other cultural institutions, to provide visitors with insight and inspiration. The event represents a nationwide commitment to boundless curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge wherever you are.

For more information about Museum Day 2018 and a full list of participating museums and cultural institutions, please visit smithsonian.com/museumday.