Four similarly themed exhibitions, soon to open at the Mennello, are anchored by Jesse Aaron: Spirit In the Wood. | Courtesy Mennello Museum of American Art
Naturalist and conservationist John Muir, known as the Father of National Parks, once wrote: “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.”
Truer words were never spoken. Which is why the Mennello Museum of American Art will concurrently launch several exhibitions that celebrate artists who, like Muir, found spiritual salvation or relief in nature. The four similarly themed exhibitions will be on view from February 6 to May 3.
The anchor display, Jesse Aaron: Spirit in the Wood, will feature wood carvings by the sculptor, who said that he began his artistic journey at the age of 81 after receiving this specific directive from God: “Jesse, carve wood.”
Aaron—who died in 1979—insisted that the unambiguous message came to him in the middle of the night after he sought guidance on how to care for his wife’s worsening eyesight. His first carvings were on trees surrounding his home in Gainesville because he believed that faces growing on living bark would ward away evil.
He later carved stand-alone sculptures and displayed them on his covered front porch studio, inviting curious students, inquisitive curators and interested collectors into his makeshift gallery. Admonished Aaron: “God put the faces in the wood. Don’t bring me a piece of wood and ask me to carve something out of it, ’cause I won’t. Don’t tell me what you want, it might not be there, you understand?”
Complementing Spirit in the Wood will be Our Collection: Spirit of the Landscape, which will feature paintings that explore humanity’s bond with the natural environment. The exhibition will feature, among other works, recent acquisitions of contemporary art from Lakeland’s Polk Museum of Art.
From John Sloan to Steve Lotz (a late and legendary professor of art at UCF), and from Arthur Bowen Davies to Mira Lehr, the paintings in Our Collection will encourage viewers to reflect on how our ideas and connections to the landscape have changed over time.
Also on view will be John D. Gerdes: Sacred Algorithm, which will feature three paintings from the self-taught artist’s “Kaleidoscope” series, in which the works are rooted in the mythology of the mandala or the circle. These meditative pieces, which include electric diodes, were painted to mimic the texture of wood inlays.
Gerdes’s symmetrical, mirrored and reflective shapes and patterns evoke highly symbolic traditions like Buddhist or Hindu mandalas or Celtic knots. Their vibe creates a space for reflection and thought within the gallery, encouraging viewers to contemplate their connections with technology art and spirituality.
While you’re at the museum, visit Faith and Vision: Spirituality in Self-Taught Art, which will examine themes of religious belief among self-taught artists who—inspired by their faith and traditions—painted and sculpted otherworldly visions to share. Among the artists whose works will be featured are the acclaimed Mose Tolliver—whose paintings have been featured in the Smithsonian American Art Museum—and Sister Gertrude Morgan, who completed an estimated 800 drawings, paintings and sculptures to illuminate her sermons.
“What’s exciting to me is that each of these artists has a common thread of coming from environments or geographies or families that endured great personal struggle and challenge,” says Executive Director Shannon Fitzgerald.
The 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.
