The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens will host a special Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event, featuring art engagement and special commemorations along with free admission.
Organizers said the event on Monday, January 21, will feature art-making activities, live music and trolley transportation will run from noon to 5 p.m. between the Cummer Museum and the Ritz Theatre and Museum. At 3 p.m., an Ecumenical prayer for peace, organized by OneJax (a nonprofit interfaith organization that promotes respect and understanding among people of various religions, races, cultures and beliefs), will be held in the museum’s gardens.
Visitors will also get the chance to help create a collaborative “Art Peace” that will be displayed in the Cummer Museum.
Those who choose to participate will use watercolor resist and paper folding techniques to make quilt squares and paper chains. Visitors’ artwork will then be combined to create a larger display promoting a message of peace and unity.
There will be opportunities for visitors to participate in this collaborative project at both the Cummer Museum and the Ritz Theatre and Museum.
“It is part of our commitment to our community to provide opportunities for engagement and reflection on this important day,” said the Cummer Museum’s new George W. and Kathleen I. Gibbs Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Adam Levine. “The Cummer Museum is committed to being an inclusive arts and culture institution, and we plan to continue to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy of peace beyond this single day.”
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And while guests are at the Cummer Museum on Monday, Levine recommends they experience the exhibition currently on display.
“The Cummer has an extraordinarily important exhibition open right now titled ‘Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman,’ about local artist, an African-American female artist from Green Cove Springs, who was an incredibly important figure in the Harlem Renaissance who ended up spending the lion's share of her life in New York as an artist and arts educator,” he said.
Throughout her life, Savage faced racism, sexism and discrimination, making it difficult for her to achieve commercial success. “Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman” is the largest ever exhibition organized by the Cummer Museum.
Free admission on Monday, January 21, is made possible through grants and sponsorships from The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida, JAX Chamber, JEA and the United Way of Northeast Florida.
The Cummer Museum regularly offers free admission on Tuesday evenings, courtesy of Florida Blue and VyStar, and on the first Saturday of every month, courtesy of the Weaver family.
Brendan Rivers can be reached at brivers@wjct.org, 904-358-6396 or on Twitter at @BrendanRivers.
