Presents
September 15- October 28, 2001
An exhibition of 41 paintings by Central Florida grandmothers.

Click here for a list of artist names.

Anna Mary Robertson ("Grandma") Moses created paintings of New York rural landscapes from her memories of pleasant local activities. Similarly, some Central Florida grandmothers paint from memory. They also depict various other kinds of images, reflecting the diversity of their backgrounds and life experiences. The artists selected for the exhibition, From Grandmother’s Brush, paint about honest labor, a desire for or a fear of isolation, a search for spirituality or heritage, and childhood memories. Colorful garden scenes and still lifes are also favorite subjects. In keeping with Florida’s general population, while some of these artists are lifelong Floridians, others come from various places, and reflections of these assorted locales are evident in their works of art.

Photographs of the artists, taken by University of Central Florida (UCF) photography students under the direction of Laine Wyatt, as well as brief artists’ biographies, written by UCF students Ximena Cisneros and Sydney Pettus, accompany the exhibition.

The works presented here include those with formalist or narrative focus. But perhaps what is most important is that, collectively, they represent the spirit exemplified by Grandma Moses. It is in her later years that her creativity flourished; and so, too, it is for the artists in this exhibition. They give us all reason to celebrate our lives, our experiences and our joyous creative gifts.

The Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) would like to thank Jeanine Taylor, who arranged for several of the artists’ paintings to be in this exhibition. The Museum would also like to express appreciation to UCF student Jennifer Collier who worked with Dr. Joo Kim to create a special website for the exhibition on the OMA website (www.OMART.org). Most especially, the OMA would like to recognize posthumously Aubrey Bennett Pruet (1924-1984), a well-known local conservator and good friend of the Museum, for the idea for this exhibition. In his conservation work he saw so many excellent paintings by grandmothers from throughout our community that he felt confident an extraordinary showing of their work could be curated. And he was right.


Kristin Congdon
Guest Curator
Professor of Art and Philosophy
University of Central Florida