Been a while since you visited the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala? Pencil in a visit soon. Things have changed. There is a hushed reverence in the exhibit rooms. Walls are painted with themed colors and room displays unfold gracefully.
Located on East Silver Springs Boulevard, turn in and park for free in their shaded lot. Entering the museum’s large glass atrium, I follow my usual pattern – greet the greeters, pay admission, turn left, walk through the gift shop (resist – save this for last), and start with the first exhibit hall.
Here is where the changes begin. Once crowded with Asian objects, I found fewer objects on display giving me the breathing room to focus on individual pieces.
Looming in the center, like a sentinel guarding all that is to come, is the familiar and imposing warrior monk by Benkei, Japan 19th century bronze with gilding.
Yes, I’d seen him many times before but never really SEEN him – he is softly lit from above and I was attracted to look closely at the details of his costume and stance. Isn’t that the point?
Appleton exhibits have a quiet excitement
Then I found quiet excitement in an exhibit of Chinese funeral objects called Art for the Afterlife. There was a ritual wine jar and statues of horses – each piece carefully selected and artfully placed– meant to capture the viewer’s attention and it works.
Stepping off the elevator to the second floor, one whole wall is a ceramic recreation of an ocean reef, complete with ceramic anemones, by artist Beth Garcia. This installation through Florida Ceramic Arts was created for the Appleton.
If you are a regular art museum visitor you have your rituals – like exhibits you must see. The Appleton’s Asian collection is mine. But there is more here, much more on the two floors – collections of European, American, Contemporary, Asian, African, Islamic and pre-Columbian.
And that’s before you even get to the Appleton’s changing exhibits. Check the Website for a variety of guided tours including a Docents Choice tour twice a month.
The Appleton excels at outreach. Education programs are ongoing for children, adults, families and educators.
And I confess their gift shop is on my must do list, a place to browse and perhaps buy. There was this shirt with the words “DALI LLAMA” and below that a llama pack animal illustration wearing a huge Dali mustache. Well, you can figure out where this is going.
You can stop laughing now.
There are 49 art museums in Florida with fine art collections and an online presence.
A starter selection of Florida art museums
Ormond Beach Memorial Art Museum and Gardens
Malcolm Fraser, a renowned Canadian artist and winter visitor to Florida offered 56 of his paintings as a War Memorial gift if an east coast Florida city came up with a suitable building to house the paintings, a building that would be open to the public and maintained. Ormond Beach residents and businesses stepped up. Using city owned land the building was built, all bills paid, and opened to the public four days after Christmas in 1946.
This lively complex has a rich menu of events for all ages, including music concerts and changing exhibits. Free with a $2 donations requested.
Meandering paths in the garden go past a gazebo with a labyrinth painted on the floor. Often weddings are held here at the labyrinth.
The Harn Museum of Art
Location on University of Florida campus in Gainesville the Harn has extensive collections on African, Asian, modern and contemporary art and photography. Admission is free.
A current exhibit, running through March 3 is “The World to Come: Art in the Age of Anthropocene”
Never heard of the word ‘anthropocene’? Neither had I. Means a new geological epoch defined by human impact.
And, tired from all that viewing, do have lunch, coffee or dessert at Camellia Court Café downstairs.
Salvador Dali Museum
The Dali is a ‘go to’ destination in downtown St. Petersburg. The building itself is bizarre and eye-catching, a glass and steel reflection of the artist’s creative mind-bending style.
Gallery admission prices vary for adults and children. Walking the grounds (including a contemporary labyrinth) is free.
Their permanent Dali collection includes rotating pieces from the vault. Through March 25, 2019 watercolors and drawings are on display. Dali’s technical skills are breathtaking and exquisite, somehow even more magnified in the drawings.
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art
In a sprawling complex befitting a circus show the grounds contain the Museum of Art, Circus Museum, Ca’d’ Zan and Bayfront Gardens. Admission prices vary by venue. Every Monday admission to the Museum of Art is free. And you can walk the grounds at any time for free.
The Ringling is not far from downtown Sarasota.
John and Mable were eclectic collectors. Asian art, Italian, French and Spanish paintings, you name it – the more they collected, the more they wanted to acquire. Ringing built an art museum modeled on the Florentine Uffizi Gallery. The most breathtaking pieces are huge canvases by Peter Paul Rubens.
My favorite place is the Museum of Art’s Courtyard designed as Renaissance garden. Classical, Renaissance and Baroque sculptures have permanent pride of place.
In his will Ringling left the museum to the people of Florida.
UPCOMING EVENTS – mark your calendars!
On Saturday, Feb. 9 from 12noon -2 p.m. Florida author Lucy Tobias will talk about her books and have a book signing at Linda Blondheim’s country studio as part of her annual studio party.
Blondheim’s studio party is Saturday, February 9th from 11 AM – 4 PM at Linda’s Country Studio. Directions are on her Website. This will be her annual Chili Party with homemade chili and all the toppings with brownies for dessert. All 8×10 inch framed paintings in the Country Studio will be $210.00 for the party. Come and walk Deer Woods Trail. It will be lovely in winter.
AND THEN
The same day, Saturday, February 9, 2019, from 3 to 5 p.m. you are invited to meet Lucy Tobias, author of Circle the Center Labyrinths in Florida who will do a book signing and talk in the front lawn at the home of Richard and Mary Lynn Jamison,8820 Millhopper Road, Gainesville, FL 32653. Her book includes a chapter on labyrinths in Gainesville.
This event is free and open to the public. Come meet the author and also walk a rye grass labyrinth, planted every fall by the Jamisons. It is an 11-circuit circular classical design, easily accessible to all ages in their front lawn area. Mary Lynn can easily explain how you too could have a seasonal labyrinth in your garden.
More to Explore