The Cummer Museum's Newest Exhibit of the Project: Our Shared Past

Our Shared Past

"Our Shared Past is a project that began by accident. Jefree Shalev's parents had tucked away their 8mm home movies for about 45 years. Long gone was the Kodak projector they used to haul out from the coat closet on special evenings when they would select a couple of these 4 minute spools to watch. Jefree offered to have the box of films, which suddenly appeared in a pre-move purge, transferred to DVD.  He didn’t know that by watching them before he mailed the discs back to his parents, he would be forever changed.
All the work in the exhibition is based on stills Jefree extracted from these films. Each artist picked an image from a pool of 175 stills. The stills were initially chosen for their colors, for the composition, for the way the figures communicate with each other, and often, with the viewer. Simply stated, Jefree chose each image, because to him, it longed to be a painting.
Each artist in this show is a painter or visual artist whose work Jefree admired. Together, through the investigation and manipulation of these iconic, yet deeply personal images, the artists and Jefree grapple with the realization that there is nothing more fundamental than the joy and struggle we all experience finding our place within our own families and within our own memories. The truth about such things is hazy and sun bleached, like the films themselves.  From our shared past, we concoct our very lives." 
 (*pulled from the Cummer Museum Website)
 
A member's opening will be held tomorrow night(Jan 24th) with live music, cash bar, hors d'oeuvres and an exclusive look at the exhibit. Contact Wendy Stanley, 904.899.6007 or wstanley@cummer.org for reservations. The event is free to members, and non-members admission is $10.

Exhibition Details:
December 17, 2013 - May 25, 2014
Location: The Joan Wellhouse and Martin Stein, Sr. Gallery

Alumni Brianna Angelakis, Rebecca Hoadley, and Denise Liberi, as well professors Patrick Moser, Sara Pedigo, and Leslie Robison all participated in creating a work of art for this project.

Rebecca Hoadley, Courage, from the film still Bathers, 2013, Oil on canvas