MOFAC Reception for Exhibitions of Traditional African Art and Aerial Photography

Two exhibitions are, currently, open at the SFSC Museum of Florida Art and Culture (MOFAC) on the Highlands Campus. A reception for these exhibitions will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 12:30-2:30 p.m. at MOFAC. Refreshments will be served.

On view in MOFAC’s main exhibition space is “Living with the Spirits of Tradition: African Art from the Betty Ford-Smith Collection.” Featuring over 60 works of traditional African art from the collection of Sebring, Fla. artist Betty Ford-Smith, visitors will find rare and finely crafted artworks from her collection of sculptures, masks, and other carved, cast, and beaded objects from various traditional artforms made by cultural groups throughout West and Central Africa.

“I can understand how someone might initially be surprised to see that there is an exhibition of traditional African art at the Museum of Florida Art and Culture,” said Anthony Record, MOFAC curator, “but the works in this show represent one of Central Florida’s major collections of art, developed by a Florida collector.”

These works represent a significant living and evolving aspect of the shared cultural heritage of many diverse populations in Florida. Artworks like the ones in “Living with the Spirits of Tradition” have had a massive impact on the development of modern art in Europe in the 20th century, and they continue to influence and inspire contemporary artists all over the world.

“This exhibition is a fraction of Betty’s collection,” Record said, “and represents a relatively small number of cultural groups in Africa, yet these artworks exhibit an incredible combination of visual inventiveness and technical skill. Walking through the exhibition, it’s not hard to see how these varied approaches to abstraction were such a major influence on Picasso, Matisse, and other artists considered to be among the most original and influential artists of the 20th century.”

“Living with the Spirits of Tradition: African Art from the Betty Ford-Smith Collection” is in the main exhibition space through Friday, Nov. 17.

“Hidden Divisions” by Tampa artist Andrés Ramírez is on view in the lower lobby galleries. Consisting of large photographs taken from a propeller plane during downtime at his day job, Ramírez creates arresting images of sugar cane fires, workers in strawberry fields, surfers, boaters, and other subjects familiar to Floridians but seen from an unfamiliar perspective.

“His photographs can seem like colorful abstract paintings at first, but Ramírez has captured some amazing moments from 1,000 feet in the air,” Record said. “They allow us to see the surprising structure and the breathtaking scale of a lot of ordinary things that we drive by all the time.”

One photo depicts the baffling density of a community built along canals where everybody has waterfront property, and another reveals the uncanny emptiness of a planned community that was abandoned during the last housing crisis. “When you’re talking about Florida right now,” said Ramírez, “how can you not talk about housing?”

“Hidden Divisions” is on view through Friday, Dec. 15.

To see more artwork and hear Ford-Smith and Ramírez speak about these exhibitions, visit https://www.youtube.com/@mofac_sfsc. For more information about MOFAC or these exhibitions, call the Museum Office at ext. 7130.