October 10, 2016
The Mennello Museum of American Art is pleased to announce our 2016 Fall Exhibitions featuring three extraordinary women sculptors: Alice Aycock, Deborah Butterfield and Barbara Sorensen. Shannon Fitzgerald, Executive Director, states: “We are delighted to present three outstanding American sculptors whose work powerfully explores materials and process in three different compelling ways to contemplate nature and the environment ranging from wind, earth, mountains, water and horses. Nationally renowned artists Alice Aycock and Deborah Butterfield push boundaries in scale, human perception and grace in aluminum, bronze, fiberglass and found scrap metal that awe. In addition, Orlando and
Shannon Fitzgerald, Executive Director, states: “We are delighted to present three outstanding American sculptors whose work powerfully explores materials and process in three different compelling ways to contemplate nature and the environment ranging from wind, earth, mountains, water and horses. Nationally renowned artists Alice Aycock and Deborah Butterfield push boundaries in scale, human perception and grace in aluminum, bronze, fiberglass and found scrap metal that awe. In addition, Orlando and Aspen-based artist Barbara Sorensen creates works in clay and aluminum that beautifully explore both the fragility and forces of our earthen elements.” She continues: “This season is a celebration of women sculptors who have, for decades, significantly contributed to the still largely male-dominate field of sculpture in monumental ways.
Please join Mayor Buddy Dyer in celebration of the opening of Three American Sculptors. The City of Orlando, Friends of the Mennello Museum of American Art, The Mennello Museum Board of Trustees together with Shannon Fitzgerald, invite you to celebrate the work of Alice Aycock, Deborah Butterfield and Barbara Sorensen on October 14.
Preview & Opening Reception
Friday, October 14, 2016
Member Preview: 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Free members-only event
Public Opening Reception: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Free for members | $5 for Visitors
Culinary delights by Ruth’s Chris Steak House, signature drinks by Hanson’s Shoe Repair and music by Fox Force 005.
Alice Aycock: Waltzing Matilda and Twin Vortexes
Grounds for Exhibitions− Inaugural Outdoor Exhibitions Series
September 2016 through September 2017
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 twin 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.”
Deborah Butterfield: Horses from Florida Collections
October 14, 2016 – January 8, 2017
The horse for Deborah Butterfield serves as a metaphoric self-portrait – it represents the embodiment of historic and deeply ingrained feelings of strength, beauty and an inherent spirituality. The horse can transport us from place to place and from realm to realm; since prehistory it has remained one of the most constant images created by human beings. Her work is a combination of abstraction and reality. Butterfield has sculpted horses from many materials including mud and sticks, copper, scrap metal, and cast bronze. She creates sculptures that are strong, grand—yet always gentle—representing grace, gesture, solitude, and beauty.
Barbara Sorensen: Recent Acquisitions & New Work
October 14, 2016 – January 8, 2017
The Mennello Museum of American Art is delighted to share with the community recent acquisitions from celebrated artist Barbara Sorensen. Based in Orlando and Aspen, Sorensen has long been inspired by nature and the diverse materiality of our every changing environment. Michael A. Mennello has followed Sorensen’s career for over thirty years, has acquired work for his personal collection, purchased work and donated it to Orlando Museum of Art, and is now gifting 14 major pieces to the Mennello Museum of American Art in honor of Marilyn L. Mennello. For this acquisition highlight exhibition, Sorensen is also creating a new, site-specific installation that continues her experimentation with materials, movement and form as located in nature and constantly shifting, in undulating rhythm, pattern and palette.
Shannon Fitzgerald states: “Barbara Sorensen creates work in clay and aluminum that beautifully explores both the dynamism and force of nature, but also its calm and quietude that remain in and outside time. We are thrilled also by the opportunity to unveil a new body of work entitled Ripples created this summer in her mountainside studio specifically for our space. It will inspire and surprise!”