Permanent Collection

Since the year 2000, the Gadsden Arts Center & Museum has been growing and developing its Permanent Collection, which now maintains and preserves 172 works of art by 42 artists, and focuses primarily on contemporary art from the Southeastern United States. The Permanent Collection includes an ever-growing visual repository of paintings, sculptures, drawings, and assemblage pieces, and within the collection are significant collections of Southern Vernacular Art, and work by artists in this group, including Thornton Dial, Sr., Eddy Mumma, O.L. Samuels, Purvis Young, and Mose Tolliver.

The strength and cohesion of the collection are due in great part to Lou and Calynne Hill of Tallahassee and Josh Feldstein of Gainesville. These generous donors have made significant gifts to the collection over the past decade, which have allowed Gadsden Arts to create subsets of the collection to travel to other institutions. Exhibitions from the Gadsden Arts Permanent Collection have traveled to the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC, the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD, and the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art in Tarpon Springs, FL. The Southern Vernacular Art Collection is educating the public, well beyond Florida, on the work of artists who were formerly overlooked, and further fulfills the ethical obligation of a collecting institution to share this artwork with other communities. For collection loan information, contact Curator Angie Barry at 850.627.5021.

Behind the scenes tours of collections areas are available by appointment, call Executive Director Grace Robinson at 850.627.5020.

Browse the Collection

Detail of Haitian Hat Man by Suzanna Winton

Currently on View

Detail of untitled collage by Purvis Young

Vernacular Art

Detail of Gadsden Arts Center & Virginia Coultas

Organizational History

Thornton Dial, Sr.

Dean Mitchell

Florida Artists

Recent Acquisitions

Mission of the Permanent Collection

The Gadsden Arts Center & Museum seeks to strengthen its permanent art collection through acquisition by gift, bequest, or purchase of American art with a particular focus on the Southeastern United States. Works of art beyond the scope of this definition will be considered when they are of outstanding quality, educational or historical value, and/or are consistent with the Gadsden Arts Center & Museum mission and audience interests. (Approved by Collection Committee February 8, 2011)

Donations

The Gadsden Arts Center & Museum seeks to strengthen its permanent art collection through acquisition by gift, bequest, or purchase of American art with a particular focus on artists working in or works of art from the Southeastern United States.

The objects’ relevance to existing areas of strength within the Permanent Collection, or relation to categories in the collection the museum wishes to develop.

The objects are in sound condition and do not require conservation.

Gadsden Arts will be able to provide for the storage, protection, and preservation of objects under conditions in keeping with professional standards.

All donations are considered outright and unconditional gifts to be used at the discretion of the museum. If you would like more information about making a donation of art to Gadsden Arts, contact Curator Angie Barry at 850.627.5021.

Access

The Gadsden Arts Center & Museum encourages public access to the collection and strives to provide digital access to its collection online, and will continue to provide images, basic information, and artist’s information on each piece in the collection, as it is available. All requests for access to the collection must be presented to the Curator, and approved by the Executive Director, and contain the following information: specific information about the proposed use, what access is required, research methodology, and which objects will be used. Please contact Curator Angie Barry, (850) 627-5021 for more information.