Pat Greene is Bungalower Media’s first sponsored Resident Reporter. Greene has joined our team as our Arts and Culture Correspondent, supported by the efforts of Interstruct Design + Build, an award-winning Orlando-based design and build firm.
I have lived in this area for most of my life, and have been involved in the arts for a long time. For some reason, I have never toured the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens (Website).
The museum primarily showcases the late Czech artist Albin Polasek’s art. Polasek lived from 1879 to 1965. He moved to Winter Park in 1950. Previously, he had been the head of the sculpture department for 27 years at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
The museum is one of 36 Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios (HAHS) sites. These are museums that have or are living and work spaces for artists but The Polasek is the only HAHS site in Florida.
The museum is currently showing Je, Niko Huru? Threads of Freedom: Njeri Kinuthia (Website). Kinuthia is a Kenyan-born artist who received considerable local attention when featured in the Orlando Museum’s Florida Prize Exhibition (Website).
She received her MFA from UCF and now teaches there. Her art tells her story of coming from a close-knit, conservative community in Kenya, and she addresses the restrictions and the warmth and humanity of her community. Her paintings and textile work are often large-scale and dramatic, with warm colors.
Her current exhibition runs through August 17.
I enjoyed the beautiful grounds and a slice of history from Polasek’s life alongside Kinuthia’s life. They come from different backgrounds and periods, but they both tell their stories through art. Polasek’s story is less direct. Without the background offered by our tour guide, the story wouldn’t be as clear, while Kinuthia’s art is presented as a story.
I admit that I hadn’t gone inside the museum mainly because I viewed it as an eccentric vanity project. Now I love that idea. I also realized how these projects might seem individual, but they also tell the story of our local history.
I went to Winter Park High School. I remember when Park Avenue felt more like part of a college town. The history has become interesting to me. The town, at one point, was hailed as the New England of the South.
The museum property is on three acres. It sits on Lake Osceola. Polasek’s sculptures are scattered throughout the grounds. It is a beautiful place, worth visiting.
My father used to tell me, “Every day when you wake up, and walk outside to your familiar surroundings, look at the plants, the buildings, and look for things that you may not have noticed. Treat every day like it’s an adventure.”
Part of the opportunity I get, writing for the Bungalower, is to look for things I might have previously missed or ignored. I suggest that you take my father’s advice.
