Exhibition Highlights from the Cofrin Gallery
I am happy to serve as the curator of the Cofrin Gallery in Gainesville where we strive to present exhibitions that educationally and culturally enhance our community. While I began the public Gallery at Oak Hall School in 1997, the Cofrin Gallery was constructed and established in 2006 when Doctor David Cofrin donated the Cofrin Art Center to our school. All combined we have displayed approximately 100 exhibitions of local, regional, national, and international artists. The Cofrin Gallery has become one of the premiere exhibition spaces in our city. Below are some highlights:
“Southern Crossroads: The Birthplace of the Blues”
One of my personal favorite exhibitions was “Southern Crossroads: The Birthplace of the Blues”, a celebration of a musically important art form that has become famous around the world. The Blues were born of the poverty and hardships endured by African Americans living in the South in the first half of the 20th century. Musicians were mostly self-taught and in the early days often played on homemade instruments like a cigar box guitar. Curated by myself, my now-retired colleague Gary Bone and guest curator Emmett Lee, this exhibition celebrated the spirit of these musicians and artists. It also honored Willie Green, blues musician, and recipient of the Florida Folklife Lifetime Achievement Award, for dedicating his life to carrying on the Delta-Blues tradition.
The Metal Show: Forged, Poured, and Welded
"The Metal Show: Forged, Poured and Welded" 25 Blacksmiths and metal artists were represented in this exiting exhibition! The reception on August 28 featured live demonstrations! It was a great event!
"One Mountain Many Paths: The Art of Spirituality"
"One Mountain Many Paths: The Art of Spirituality" was one of our proudest exhibitions. This show was organized with the intention of unifying our community as it was quickly organized in direct response to the threats of Gainesville's infamous "Quran Burning Preacher". This exhibition was centered around a peace pole mounted in a steel salvaged from the World Trade Center wreckage, and featured work by artists of every faith, (and non-faith). At a time when so much negative attention was being brought on our city, we were proud to come together to make a unified, creative stand against intolerance.
"Color Theory" A Celebration of Color in Art!
Color is an essential element of creativity. It takes center stage in a personal way for each of us in the way we express ourselves. Color provides inspiration for creativity to many visual artists. Come celebrate the love of color with at this unique and inspiring exhibition!This show will feature paintings, photographs and installations by these colorful artists: Gary Borse, Tyler Pierce Hale, Blake Harrison, Donna Drake, Yvonne Ferguson, Terrence Ho, Frank Barone, Robert Ponzio, Wendy James, and Kate Würstlin.
"Stetson Kennedy: A Life of Purpose"
This exhibition followed the arc of Stetson’s life of accomplishment and the people that he collaborated with as he spoke truth to power. He was the author of eight books, among them Palmetto Country, Klan Unmasked, The Jim Crow Guide, Southern Exposure and After Appomattox: How the South Won the War.
He collaborated with a diverse universe of people such as Zora Neale Hurston, Woody Guthrie, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sarte and Alan Lomax. Kennedy was an author, folklorist, environmentalist, labor activist and human rights activist who won numerous national and international awards. He was active in all of these areas until his death in 2011 at the age of 94. He was a great man and a great social justice warrior. He will be missed.
The Versatile Kimono: From the Collection of Martin McKeller
The Japanese ornamented their clothing with subtle sophistication. Their exceptional techniques for figurative art allowed them to express their status, their beliefs and their hopes for the future...all on the clothes that they wore. This collection of Japanese kimono made for men, women, boys and girls that spans a period of 100 years. The reception also featured a performance by Oak Hall’s own Taiko ensemble, “Tsubasa.”
“Look Up”: The Kite Art of Tim Elverston and Ruth Whiting
Look Up was a fun show about the sensation of flying. Kites are instruments of the wind. They are sensors that can connect us directly to our atmosphere. These are artifacts of playing, dancing, and sculpting in the sky. This work is both retrospective, and a look to the future. Showing more than 20 years of development, these original designs inspired by the natural world have evolved around Elverston's and Whiting's constant studies of the wind.
After long apprenticeships with two top kite design studios, Jordan Air Kites in Gainesville FL, and GuildWorks Flight Studio in Beverly MA, Tim Elverston met artist Ruth Whiting. Together Elverston & Whiting founded WindFire Designs, a handmade technology company and fine arts studio. Their innovations in wind arts have been recognized and shown around the globe for their beautiful styles, unique designs and refined systems that make their work possible. http://windfiredesigns.com
“Bulla Cubana: Cinco Naif Artists”
Bulla Cubana is a celebration of arts and culture, promoting the exchange of ideas and inspiration between Cuba and the North Central Florida region. Traveling from Cuba, Nancy Reyes, Sandra Dooley, Guillermo Estrada, Frank Hart and Roberto Gil exhibited their Naïf work at the Cofrin Gallery. Scarce resources in Cuba cause artists to use their creativity to master their crafts. By using fabric and buttons, Susan Dooley creates paintings depicting moments shared between family and friends, while Frank Hart uses wood and structural pieces to create the Cuban flag. Experience the bright, bold and colorful art of Nancy Reyes and Roberto Gil, and the moving paintings of Guillermo Estrada.
William Schaaf: Icons and Artifacts
This retrospective exhibition "William Schaaf: Icons and Artifacts". Schaaf is the featured artist through December, 2014. This video examines Schaaf's creative process of his equine inspired artwork.
¡Celebrate the Santeros!: Selections from the Hector Puig Collection of Puerto Rican Art
The Cofrin Gallery was proud to be part of a community collaboration of exhibitions, which simultaneously celebrate an outstanding collection of Puerto Rican art! Represented are a variety of Puerto Rican art forms, most notably a collection of small wooden sculptures created in the Santos Tradition. These carved wooden Saints held tremendous historic and spiritual value for the people of Puerto Rico since the 16th century, and have been particularly important for use in rural home altars.
We were also pleased to welcome guest artists, José Luis Peña Burgos, Orlando Luque, Xavier Colón Marrero, and Eric Saunders to our gallery where, these “Santeros” demonstrated their carving processes and discussed their work.
Rest in Peace Lennie Kesl: A Great Friend of the Gallery and of Mine.
Lennie Kesl was perhaps the most beloved artist in our region. Luckily before his passing, we were honored to have him show his work and collaborations numerous times in our gallery. He also attended nearly every opening reception we had to encourage and support every artist. Lennie’s work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern art in NYC and he was a Jazz singer who sang with the best singers and musicians of his era! He was a great friend and a great artist. Unfortunately, he passed in 2012. I really miss Lennie. May he rest in peace.
Below is a video that documents the exhibition, “Kesl and the Collaborators”. Lennie loved to make art with his friends and fellow artists. This exhibition celebrated his collaborations and proved what a creative and positive impact he had on our arts community. The exhibition featured collaborations with such renowned artists as: John Tilton (clay), Rudy Strohschein (glass), Sandy Matasick, (silver) John Patterson Wood, Colquit Tanner (clay), Gary Haskin (clay), David Bell (metal), and more!
Here is a link to the film, “Cadmium Red Light”, a documentary about this great artist and man.
“Southern Soul: Unchained and Expressed”
Southern Soul: Unchained and Expressed was an survey of contemporary African American artists in our region. For many years these artists struggled to make their art and achieve recognition. Historically, in public schools attended by African Americans students, art instruction was not available. Art supplies were not locally available nor affordable. Even so, artists innovated and persevered to record important moments in the life of their communities.
The Harlem Renaissance changed forever the position of the African American artist in society by elevating all of the art forms that the artists of those times were working in; music, theater, literature and the visual arts. The art created by members of the Harlem Renaissance eventually spread throughout the world. Florida generated its own African American art genre of landscape painters known as "The Highwaymen." Today many African American artists are still largely self-taught, but a growing number are academically trained.
Southern Soul: Unchained and Expressed presents seven visual artists from this region who work in a wide range of styles, from naïve to academic. African American Artists Ayleen Harris, Emmitt Williams, Rootman, Ernest Lee,Ruben Wilkenson, Turbado and Roy McClendon, Jr. contributed their art for this exhibition.
A reception for the artists in the Cofrin Arts Center was held on on Friday, Jan. 10, 2014 with Angela Terrell, noted gospel vocalist, who provided entertainment for the evening event.
Additionally a fundraiser for Bluesman Willie Green featuring the R. Mutt band and Bluz Rebellion followed the opening in the Edith D. Cofrin Theater.