St. Louis-based artist Juan William Chávez is an activist, educator and beekeeper whose work will be on display at the Mennello Museum of American Art in Juan William Chávez: Art Pollination. Among the pieces in the exhibition will be Support Native Bees, Plant Native Flowers and Calamintha Wak’a. | Courtesy Juan William Chávez
St. Louis-based artist Juan William Chávez is also an activist, educator and beekeeper. Wait, a beekeeper? That makes sense when you understand that Chávez’s social-justice-focused practice encompasses themes of agriculture, ecology and environmental stewardship.
Last year, Chávez—a native of Lima, Peru—was named lead artist for the City of Orlando’s Art Pollination: Building Food Justice through Creativity project, which will result in an array of temporary public art installations related to food insecurity.
The project, which involves 18 artists, was funded through a $1 million grant from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge. Orlando’s proposal was one of just eight selected out of more than 150 submissions from around the country.
Over a two-year period, creators from Central Florida will debut new works for display along the Orlando Urban Trail, at community centers, on high-visibility billboards, in exhibitions at the Downtown Arts District’s CityArts venue and at the City Hall Terrace Gallery in Downtown Orlando.
Chávez’s own creations for the timely effort will be on display at the Mennello Museum of American Art in Juan William Chávez: Art Pollination, which features drawings, embroidery, zines, artifacts and ephemera that mine creativity through the pollination (remember, he’s a beekeeper) of art and ideas. The exhibition will run from October 10 to January 8, 2026.
Is food insecurity really a problem in Orlando? Yes, as it is in many cities. Locally, 588,450 people, or one in seven across seven counties, are food insecure. That includes 153,460 children, or one in six, according to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.
The Orlando art initiative aims to showcase impactful work being done to combat food insecurity. Collaborators include several food-related nonprofits including Black Bee Honey, 4Roots, Hebni Nutrition Consultants and IDEAS for Us.
Others include Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida and the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences in Orange County. Collaborators from the cultural community include the Downtown Arts District and FusionFest.
“In Orlando, we prioritize arts and culture because of the unique way it unites us and defines us,” says Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. “That’s why we’re so excited to be selected for this grant opportunity and utilize art to shed light on a local issue and help create and inspire change.”
Adds Chávez: “Public art can be a powerful tool to illuminate these often hard-to-see issues. We strive to foster interventions that promote active listening, knowledge sharing, environmental stewardship, self-expression and community engagement through the arts that support food rights.”
Mennello Museum of American Art is located at 900 East Princeton Street, Orlando, in Loch Haven Cultural Park. For more information, visit mennellomuseum.org or call 407.246.4278.
Mural Portrays Food as an Essential Human Right
Justice—or a lack thereof—is often the theme of Luca Molnar’s paintings. Many of the Hungary-born artist’s layered, decorative (but politically charged) works focus on women’s resistance to all forms of abuse perpetuated against them.
Molnar says: “I’m drawn to the friction between violence and decoration—to how injustice can coexist with something as benign as a nice floral print.”
The Stetson University assistant professor of studio art, who recently completed the artist-in-residence program at the Maitland Art Center, is one of the 18 local artists who created temporary public art for Art Pollination: Building Food Justice through Creativity.
For the project, and working with lead artist Juan William Chávez, Molnar created a 7-by-38-foot mural on the Mennello Museum of American Art’s exterior display wall that visually addresses access to healthy food as part of “pollinating” creativity, ideas and knowledge to foster awareness.
“The mural highlights the history, present and future of food justice in our region,” says Molnar. “Food justice asserts that we all have a fundamental human right to affordable access to nutritious foods—yet so many of our neighbors face food insecurity. I feel honored to be given the opportunity to use my art to inspire awareness and action in this area.”
The unveiling of Luca Molnar: Art Pollination Mural will be held in conjunction with the opening of Juan William Chávez: Art Pollination exhibition on Friday, October 10, at 10:30 a.m. Look for Molnar’s Thief! painting and concept sketches for the mural at additional Art Pollination programs held at CityArts and FusionFest in November.
In addition to participating in Art Pollination, Molnar will offer two public workshops at the Maitland Art Center in September: “Oil Painting 101” on Saturday, September 20; and “Exploring Tiles” on Saturday, September 27.
The Maitland Art Center is located at 231 West Packwood Avenue, Maitland. For more information, call 407.239.2181 or visit artandhistory.org.
