RINGLING MUSEUM OF ART FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Margaret D. Hausberg, Sr., Chair
H. Michael Bush, Vice Chair
David W. Benfer, Treasurer
Mercedes Soler-Martinez, Secretary
Jasleen “Ritu” Anand
Dennis W. Archer
Adele Fleet Bacow
Amy D. Berk
Francine B. Birbragher
Larry Cuervo, Jr.
Rebecca Donelson
Andrew M. Economos
Leon R. Ellin
Elma Felix
Allison Gregory
Ronald A. Johnson
E. Marie McKee
Janice Tibbals Mobley
Howard D. Noble, Jr.
Gregory Parris
Cynthia L. Peterson
Frederic D. Pfening, III
Kelly A. Romanoff
Ellen Sandor
Mayra N. Schmidt
Debra J. Short
James B. Stewart
Keebler J. Straz
Kirk Ke Wang
EX-OFFICIO BOARD MEMBER
Marla Vickers
2024 was a year of evolution for The Ringling. In this issue, we celebrate the achievements of our volunteers and staff over the past year and welcome two new curatorial fellows. With the openings of exciting exhibitions, global Jazz performances, and engaging programming, this season at The Ringling is in full swing.
Make the most of the cooler months on a Bayfront Gardens Tour or the brandnew Legacy Tour, which takes you on a journey from John Ringling’s youth to the lasting impact that he and his wife, Mable, left on Sarasota. Today, our new teaching artists and arts and health program coordinator are continuing what the Ringlings started and are leaving their own legacies on the community by making art accessible to all.
From February to April, Art of Performance will present exceptional global Jazz performances during this springtime season of rejuvenation. Throughout the Museum of Art, three exhibitions will open, including the much-anticipated Conjuring the Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums, from the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. Robert Rauschenberg: A Centennial Celebration will honor the hundredth anniversary of this groundbreaking artist who lived and worked on the Gulf Coast. Also focused on our region is artist Sandy Rodriguez, who, in partnership with The Hermitage Artist Retreat, will premier her new exhibition, Sandy Rodriguez: Currents of Resistance
I hope that this spring at The Ringling will inspire and delight you, planting the seeds for a wonderful 2025.
Steven High Executive Director
ABOVE
Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925–2008), Lithograph IV, from Glacial Decoy series, 1980. Lithograph on paper, 66 x 40 in. Gift of Myron Friedman, 1986. MF86.2
COVER The Otis Lithograph Company (American), Thurston The Great Magician—Do the Spirits Come Back? (detail), 1929. Lithograph, 86 1/2 × 47 1/2 in. Tibbals Circus Collection. ht2005133
SANDY RODRIGUEZ CURRENTS OF RESISTANCE
By Christopher Jones
Stanton B. and Nancy W. Kaplan Curator of Photography and Media Arts
In April, The Ringling will premiere a new work by celebrated Los Angeles-based artist Sandy Rodriguez (b. 1975), created as part of her 2023 Hermitage Greenfield Prize in Visual Art. The exhibition will be presented in the museum’s Keith D. Monda Gallery for Contemporary Art and represents the latest in a series of exhibitions featuring Hermitage Greenfield Prizewinning visual artists, beginning with the 2012 exhibition of Sanford Biggers, a 2010 recipient, at The Ringling. Rodriguez, a first-generation Chicana who grew up along the US-Mexico border, is an artist who engages with the colonial histories of the Americas, Indigenous knowledge systems, memory, and issues surrounding migration, both past and present, all grounded in the specificity of land. One of the unique aspects of her practice is her engagement with and research into the material aspects of Indigenous artistic
traditions of the Americas. For her watercolors, she uses handprocessed pigments derived from earth, plants, and insects, sourced from specimens collected during her fieldwork. She paints on amate, a material considered sacred in ancient American cultures and outlawed during the Spanish colonial era. For Rodriguez, materiality is a way of reconnecting memory to land and offers an opportunity for healing.
Since 2017, Rodriguez’s paintings have been inspired by her interest in maps, both modern and pre-Columbian. Viewing maps as tools for “articulating positions of power across various time periods,” she began creating her own painted maps to “acknowledge our contemporary understanding of a place while also layering it with historic elements.” 1 Works such as Mapa de Califas—Atrocities, Isolation, and Uprisings 2020-2021 from the Codex Rodriguez-Mondragón (2020-
2021) situate contemporary events and ongoing cycles of violence within the broader history of two hundred years of uprisings and resistance, drawing on iconography from Spanish colonial and pre-contact sources.
Rodriguez has previously engaged with the specific histories of the US-Mexico border region and the southwestern United States, but for this new project, she will explore the history of the southeastern US, specifically the Gulf Coast region of Florida. She will incorporate stories of resistance among communities of color along the coast, visually interweaving these narratives into the topography of the coastline. Her residency at the Hermitage Artist Retreat on Manasota Key has given her an up-close experience of Florida’s unique landscape, flora, and fauna. This new site-specific work will be presented in a panoramic format, along with a “cabinet of curiosities” that references the culture of natural history displays and the golden age of Florida tourism.
This exhibition features art works originally commissioned by The Hermitage Greenfield Prize and The Hermitage Artist Retreat, Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO, Sarasota County, Florida in 2023 in collaboration with The Greenfield Foundation.
Sandy Rodriguez: Currents of Resistance opens April 5 in the Keith D. Monda Gallery for Contemporary Art.
1. Tatiana Flores and Sandy Rodriguez. “To Translate the Unfathomable: Tatiana Flores in Conversation with Sandy Rodriguez.” ASAP/Journal 9, no. 1 (2024): 1-16, https://dx.doi. org/10.1353/asa.2024.a929793.
I think a picture is more like the real world when it is made out of the real world.¹
–Robert
Rauschenberg
By Ola Wlusek
Keith D. Monda Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
American artist Robert Rauschenberg was a major figure in New York’s postwar art scene of the 1950s and 60s before relocating to Florida’s Captiva Island by the end of the 1970s, where he lived and worked for nearly four decades. He described the island as “the foundation of my life and my work; it is the source and reserve of my energies.”² To celebrate Rauschenberg’s centennial, The Ringling will present a selection of work by this prolific artist from our collection. On view will be major pieces from significant series, including selections from the sculptural Glut series (1986–89/1991–94), an example from the textile Hoarfrosts (1974–76), photography from the Studies for Chinese Summerhall portfolio (1989), and work on paper from The Indomitable Spirit (1989) portfolio—an assembly of prints by major artists from the New York art scene, such as John Baldessari, Cindy Sherman, Annette Lemieux, and Duane Michals, and others who along with Rauschenberg contributed work to the Photographers + Friends United Against AIDS fundraising campaign in the 1990s.
Considered one of the most influential artists who reacted against Abstract Expressionism, Rauschenberg’s oeuvre, which spanned six decades and was a precursor to the Pop Art movement, challenged the gesturalism and expressiveness of abstract painting. His educational pursuits ranged from working under the mentorship of Bauhaus teacher Josef Albers at the experimental Black Mountain College in North Carolina to taking classes at the Art Students League of New York. Throughout his art career, Rauschenberg befriended and collaborated with key figures from the American avant-garde movement, including composer John Cage, artist Cy Twombly, choreographers Merce Cunningham and Trisha Brown, and later, artist Jasper Johns. Rauschenberg’s unprecedented vision and radical blending of materials and methods reshaped and redefined the course of the second half of twentieth-century art.
Rauschenberg also left a lasting legacy in Florida— he maintained a longstanding connection to The Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College in Fort Myers, which, beginning in the 1980s, staged numerous exhibitions of the artist’s work. In 2012, The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation launched an international artist residency program located on Rauschenberg’s former property on Captiva Island in Lee County. Rauschenberg’s large studio,
built in 1992, is now open to renowned artists from around the globe, such as the Los Angeles-based interdisciplinary artist Cauleen Smith, who filmed her new work Egungun: Ancestor Can’t Find Me (2017) while in-residence. Her video, inspired by the beauty of the Gulf and Indigenous history of the island, features Rauschenberg’s private swimming pool and the surrounding buildings set against a lush environment and sandy shores. In 2021, The Ringling acquired this piece of Smith’s work, which is currently on view in the group exhibition Embodied: Highlights from The Ringling Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art in the Museum of Art. Smith’s work offers viewers a deeper insight into the area where Rauschenberg produced work until his death in 2008.
Robert Rauschenberg: A Centennial Celebration opens March 1 in the Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing. The exhibition honors Rauschenberg’s impactful time in Florida and his fresh approach to art making, which is celebrated for challenging the status quo. Special thanks to The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and the Trisha Brown Dance Company.
1. Chris Jenks, ed. Visual Culture (New York: Taylor & Francis Group, 2017), 107. 2. “Rauschenberg in Captiva,” Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, accessed November 18, 2024, https://www.rauschenbergfoundation.org/ rauschenberg-captiva.
OPPOSITE PAGE
Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925–2008), Preview from the Hoarfrosts Editions, 1974. Offset lithograph, screenprint transfer and paper bag collage on silk chiffon and silk taffeta. 69 x 80 1/2 in. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Zell, 1982. MF82.10 ABOVE
Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925–2008), Bottles (detail) from the series Studies for Chinese Summerhall, 1983. C-print color photograph, 40 x 30 in. Foundation purchase, 1985. MF85.4.2
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP
JAZZ DIPLOMACY
IN A CHANGING WORLD
By Elizabeth Doud, PhD
Currie-Kohlmann Curator of Performance
The Ringling’s performance program has reflected the everevolving landscape of global culture through festivals and programming that are distinctly international. The Art of Performance series has also built a reputation for presenting exceedingly high quality live Jazz from a range of emerging and seasoned practitioners in the Historic Asolo Theater (HAT), which is arguably one of the best venues in the area to experience the genre live. These two curatorial threads are responsible for the burst of global Jazz that will take the stage in the HAT in spring of 2025.
A categorically American art form at its core, Jazz is a language with a multitude of dialects and patois that refract its contributions from around the world—most importantly from Africa and Europe. From the syncopated rhythms of ragtime to the complex harmonies of bebop, the soulful expressions of blues to the vibrant fusion of Latin Jazz, it offers a rich tapestry of sounds and styles. While we may take for granted that this musical idiom is played and appreciated worldwide today, the depth of its penetration into every contemporary musical market is remarkable. In a robust analysis of its continued relevance, authors Gerald Early and Ingrid Monson expound on “Why Jazz Still Matters,” observing that—while American in its origins, it has become a global phenomenon, “attracting listeners from all walks of life, from sophisticated urbanites to rural enthusiasts, crossing age, cultural, and socioeconomic boundaries” like few other genres. Since the early 1930s, Jazz has been on a relentless journey, influencing musicians and arts scenes internationally. In less than a century, this musical migration has left an indelible mark on diverse cultures, creating a fascinating cross-ethnic pollination. Through artist-driven cultural exchange, it has had a profound impact in fostering global citizenship and promoting mutual understanding across continents.
This season’s global Jazz performances include musicians from Brazil, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, and an ensemble of New York-based artists with deep roots in Middle Eastern forms.
NÉLIDA KARR
(Equatorial Guinea)
In Africa, Jazz found a natural home with traditional rhythms and melodies. Artists like Hugh Masekela in South Africa and Manu Dibango in Cameroon blended it with local sounds, creating vibrant new forms of expression. As one of the leaders of a new generation blending African rhythms with Jazz sensibilities, Karr and her music are a testament to its adaptability within cultural traditions. Her sound is a captivating fusion of African rhythms, Spanish influences, and Jazz improvisation. Her rich and emotive vocals reflect historically layered influences from the polyrhythmic beats of West African music to the melodic strains of Spanish ballads. Karr demonstrates how traditional Equatoguinean melodies can be reimagined through a Jazz lens, creating a flow that is both rooted and revolutionary. Karr’s scat singing pays homage to icons like Ella Fitzgerald while maintaining the storytelling tradition of African griots, who are tribal storytellers and musicians.
AMIR ELSAFFAR (NYC) This Iraqi American trumpeter and composer has made significant waves in the Jazz world with his unique fusion of Jazz and traditional Middle Eastern music. ElSaffar’s work is particularly notable for its incorporation of maqam, the system of melodic modes used in traditional
Arabic music, into Jazz frameworks. ElSaffar’s trumpet playing is characterized by its haunting, microtonal inflections that evoke the sound of Middle Eastern wind instruments while maintaining the genre’s improvisational spirit. His compositions often feature complex rhythmic structures that blend Jazz swing with Arabic and Persian rhythms, creating a truly crosscultural musical experience. ElSaffar’s Two Rivers Ensemble reflects how Jazz reverberates in the cradle of civilization: Middle Eastern musicians are incorporating traditional maqam scales and instruments like the oud into Jazz compositions, creating a mesmerizing East-meets-West soundscape.
ALAIN PÉREZ (Cuba) Born out of an established lineage of Latin Jazz masters, this virtuoso bassist seamlessly integrates Afro-Cuban rhythms with contemporary Jazz, pushing the boundaries of Latin Jazz. Pérez’s journey began in the musical hotbed of Cienfuegos, Cuba. From an early age, he was immersed in the sounds of son, rumba, and timba. However, it was his insatiable curiosity that led him to explore Jazz as a language, creating a unique sound that respects tradition while pushing boundaries. Pérez’s bass lines, for instance, often follow the clave rhythm central to Cuban music, but his improvisations soar with the freedom of Jazz. His album El Alma del Son: Tributo a Matamoros is a prime example of his artistry. Here, Pérez pays homage to the legendary Miguel Matamoros while infusing the classic son with modern Jazz harmonies. The result is a sound that feels both familiar and refreshingly new.
LÍVIA MATTOS (Brazil) Lívia Mattos is a Brazilian accordionist and circus artist who has emerged as a powerful voice in the world of Jazz fusion. Her unique approach to the accordion— an instrument often associated with traditional folk music— demonstrates the instrument’s versatility and potential in contemporary Jazz settings. Mattos’s playing style wildly blends the rich rhythms of Brazilian forró and choro with the improvisational freedom of Jazz, creating a sound that is both familiar and cutting edge. Uniquely charming, her performances are characterized by their dynamic range, from delicate, introspective passages to explosive, rhythmically complex sections that showcase her virtuosic technique. Her ability to incorporate elements of Brazilian folk music into a Jazz context not only pays homage to her cultural roots but also contributes to the ongoing dialogue between traditional forms and modern Jazz expressions. This spring, we celebrate Jazz as a civilizational soundtrack of the last century and artists who are setting the pace for its future. Within
The Ringling’s wider programming, we acknowledge the genre’s emphasis on improvisation and individual voice, which has made it a natural ally to experimental movements in visual arts, literature, and philosophy over the last century. These artists’ work not only pushes the boundaries of musical expression but also exemplifies Jazz’s enduring role as an influence for counterculture, liberation movements, and sophisticated avant-garde expressions across artistic as well as non-arts disciplines. The work of Karr, ElSaffar, Pérez, and Mattos mirrors Jazz’s long tradition as an inspiration and outlet for social and cultural movements. Their fusion is as much about musical innovation as it is a powerful tool for cultural preservation.
OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP TO BOTTOM Nélida Karr, Amir ElSaffar.
THIS PAGE, LEFT TO RIGHT Alain Pérez, Lívia Mattos.
Photos courtesy of the artists.
NATURE AND ARCHITECTURE
POSTWAR CREATIVE PRINTS OF JAPAN
By Mew Lingjun Jiang, Curatorial Intern
The Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation Gallery will feature a series of postwar Japanese woodblock prints for its spring 2025 rotation between April 12 and November 9, highlighting the subjects of nature and architecture rendered through the eye of twentieth-century printmakers in Japan. Acquired mainly through local collectors in recent years, this collection reflects American tastes for Japanese prints during the immediate postwar era, which favored minimalist compositions, abstract forms, and an interest in traditional architecture and stone gardens. The exhibition also includes two suiseki, or Japanese viewing stones, that echo the garden theme.
The Ringling is home to a significant collection of twentiethcentury Creative Prints (Sōsaku hanga) produced by Japanese artists who extolled the principles of self-designing, selfcarving, and self-printing ( jiga, jikoku, jizuri ) their own work.
Inspired by early 1900s European modernism, these artists emphasized self-expression and artistic exploration through the medium of woodblock prints. Leading figures like Onchi Kōshirō (1891–1955) and Hiratsuka Un’ichi (1895–1997) are in our collection of Creative Prints. This mode of production differs from the workshop-style ukiyo-e multi-colored woodblock prints of the Edo period (1615–1868), whereby prints were produced collaboratively by the designer, the carver, the printer, and the publisher. Creative Prints also distinguish themselves from New Prints (Shin hanga) that emerged in the late Meiji era (1868–1912). New Prints adopted Western-style realism and naturalism while inheriting the ukiyo-e collaborative system and established themes such as landscapes and beautiful women. Itō Shinsui (1898–1972) and Kawase Hasui (1883–1957) were prominent figures in New Prints collected by The Ringling.
In contrast to ukiyo-e and New Prints, Creative Prints are a testament to the individual artistic originality and the probing of printing techniques. This exhibition includes Creative Prints by artists from the famed Yoshida family: Hodaka (1926–1995), son of the renowned landscapist Yoshida Hiroshi, and Chizuko (1924–2017), wife of Hodaka. Both artists broke with Hiroshi’s realistic style and sought abstract artistic expression in Creative Prints, in which they designed, carved, and printed the woodblocks by themselves. In addition, Saitō Kiyoshi (1907–1997), one of the most popular artists of New Prints among postwar American collectors, is featured in this exhibition with a woodblock-printed folding screen and a single-sheet print, both newly acquired by The Ringling. Saitō was also known for his woodgrain printing ( mokume-zuri ) technique, which utilizes the natural pattern of the woodblock to leave a vivid texture on the paper.
Most Creative Prints at The Ringling were made during the postwar era (1945–1970s) and were donated by local collectors. This period, marked by significant global changes and the rebuilding of nations, served as a background for the collectorship. American buyers, including military personnel and their families in Japan during the Allied Occupation (1945–1952), were a major source of patronage that invigorated the Japanese production of Creative Prints. At the time, collectors could purchase prints in Tokyo department stores, as well as post offices that were run by the US military. Catering to the Western interest in “traditional Japanese-ness,” postwar printmakers turned to historic sites. Many of them visited places like Katsura Imperial Villa and Ryōan-ji Temple, as well as its raked gravel garden in Kyoto. The minimalist aesthetic in these architectural and garden designs resonated with the abstract forms and subdued tones found in global modernism, attracting artists and architects within and outside Japan. Drawing from our collection, this exhibition presents Creative Prints of Japan's nature, gardens, and architecture produced between the 1950s and 1990s, rendered through each artist’s expressive techniques and color combinations, against the backdrop of a rehabilitating Japan.
This exhibition was curated by Mew Lingjun Jiang, the 2024 Summer Curatorial Intern at The Ringling, supervised by Dr. Rhiannon Paget. She is a doctoral candidate at the University of Oregon studying the aesthetic of European-patterned karuta playing cards in early modern Japanese visual culture.
OPPOSITE PAGE
Saitō Kiyoshi (Japanese, 1907–1997), Screen (Katsura Palace), 1957 or earlier. Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, mounted as two-panel folding screen, 43 × 59 3/4 × 1 in. Museum purchase, 2024. 2024.14
ABOVE
Yoshida Hodaka (Japanese, 1926–1995), Tea House, 1956. Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, 17 1/2 x 9 5/8 in. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Karl A. Bickel, 1961, SN8061
CONJURING
By Christopher Jones, Stanton B. and Nancy W. Kaplan Curator of Photography and Media Arts and Jennifer Lemmer Posey, Tibbals Curator of Circus
Are the dead still among us? This question lies at the heart of the Spiritualist movement, which took root across the United States and Europe in the last half of the nineteenth century. The stories of believers and skeptics, mystics and magicians, and the public that hoped for answers are explored in Conjuring the Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums, an exhibition opening at The Ringling in March 2025. Organized by the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts—the oldest continuously operating and collecting museum in the United States (founded in 1799)— this multisensory exhibition is the first to explore the integral role that art and material culture played for mediums and magicians “conjuring” or “proving” the existence of spirits.
Featuring a combination of material culture objects and fine art, the exhibition traces the development and influence of the Spiritualist movement and related popular entertainments
OPPOSITE PAGE
(British, 1820-1883),
1872.
print.
Strobridge Lithographing Company (Cincinnati and New York), Kellar's Startling Wonder—The Cassadaga Propaganda, 1894. Lithograph. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington D.C., POS - MAG - .K44, no. 1.
from the nineteenth century on. Handbills, commercial spirit photographs, and performance props are juxtaposed with the work of contemporary artists whose paintings, sculptures, and mixed media pieces reflect the continuing fascination with the spirit world. Additionally, the exhibition includes interactive experiences featuring illusions, magic tricks, and other wonders that captivated nineteenth century audiences.
Organized thematically, the exhibition’s sections include Materializing the Dead; Communing with the Departed; Magicians Among the Spirits; and Belief, Perception and Identity. Subsections and thematic throughlines in the show will highlight Spiritualism’s influence on religious, scientific, and social thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; the role of mediums and magicians as agents of empowerment and reinvention for a diverse group of people; as well as the contributions of international figures such
John Beattie
Abstract manifestations (detail),
Albumen silver
Collection of Tony Oursler. Photo courtesy of Oursler Studio.
RIGHT
The
as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, and illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini, both of whom played instrumental roles on opposite sides of the supernatural spectrum.
Spiritualism piqued American and European interest in communicating with the dead, attracting believers, skeptics, and those in between, while influencing Western popular culture. Bringing to light the factors that help shape belief systems, the exhibition also addresses the blurring of truth and falsehood that is part of today’s cultural landscape through a neuroscientific understanding of the brain and belief.
Conjuring the Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums opens March 15 in the Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing.
OPPOSITE PAGE
Artist in the United States, Ava Muntell—The Woman with a Million Eyes, early 20th century. Hand-painted photo collage. Collection of Tony Oursler. Photo courtesy of Oursler Studio.
THIS PAGE, LEFT TO RIGHT
Frederick Hudson (British, died 1889) and Georgiana Houghton (British, 1814-1884), Georgiana Houghton, Tommy Guppy and the spirit of Tommy's grandmother, 1872. Albumen silver print. Collection of Tony Oursler. Photo courtesy of Oursler Studio. The Otis Lithograph Company (American), Thurston The Great Magician—Do the Spirits Come Back?, 1929. Lithograph, 86 1/2 × 47 1/2 in. Tibbals Circus Collection. ht2005133
VOLUNTEER PROFILE
Mark Mason
By Steven High, Executive Director
In the outer courtyard of the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Center for Asian Art is a small treasure called The Ringling Zen-style Dry Garden. The Garden, along with the Nancy L. and George R. Ellis Tea House on a nearby pond, were the final structural elements built as part of the Chao Center. The Garden consists of a square with white pebbles, (suna), and three black stones to represent landscape elements. Both the suna and the stones were imported from Japan. Though simple in design, the Garden is not static; the installation requires attention and creativity to keep it fresh. Zen priests often provide this service in Japan, but at The Ringling, we are fortunate to have Mark Mason, a sand and rake artist who travels throughout the world for his profession and recently returned to Sarasota from San Sebastián, Spain, where he frequently rakes on the beach. When I caught up with Mark, we chatted about his career and his work on our Garden.
Mark grew up in Fort Lauderdale, the site of the oldest ongoing sand sculpture contest in the world. He went to Florida State University where he and a group of friends began entering contests. Owing to their designs and preparation, they soon
started winning competitions. They began tackling other sand sculpting jobs, and before long they turned their hobby into a profession, and opened a business known as Team Sandtastic. Last November, they sculpted the thirty-fivefoot-tall Christmas tree, Sandi the Holiday Sand Tree, in West Palm Beach. They sculpted the first Sandi in 2012. Because large projects like this require lots of assistance, he brings in professional sculptors from the US and abroad to help and exchange ideas.
While Mark was traveling in Japan, he came across all types of Zen and Rock Gardens and connected with the workers who tended them. He studied their processes, their rakes, and learned about the significance of the patterns they created, including the style used in karesansui, which literally means dry landscape, garden installations featuring raked gravel associated with Zen temples. Using stones and raked pebbles, these types of gardens capture the natural landscape or seascape. Samon, meaning ripple patterns created by raking the sand, evoke the appearance of waves, rivers, and oceans. “It’s just so fun to think that there is that history, passing down from moving their gardens to dry areas, yet still wanting the feel of water flow, and then coming up with the idea to rake it permanently to look like water,” he says. “And I get to participate in that history.”
Seven years ago, Mark, his mother-in-law, and I were touring the museum when we came upon the Garden. Mark and I reflected on the experience later, and he told me that that was the first time he’d seen the Garden. In that first introduction to the Garden, he had turned to me and asked if he could rake it and I said, “Sure.” He responded, “That’s it, don’t oversell it. He said, ‘sure,’ so I’m going to do this. I went home and started making rakes.” Since then, he has created over fifty different rakings in our Garden, and no two are alike.
Mark raked the Garden the day before he departed for San Sebastián, hoping to leave it in tip-top shape. “I came back after a month in Spain, and it was like I did it yesterday. And I was like, oh, God, that is so nice to see people respect it,” he adds. “And that’s either a tribute to your guests or just that theory of, you don’t want to be the first one to mess with something so peaceful.”
Mark continues to create rakings and care for our Garden. On your next visit to The Ringling, please explore and enjoy this beautifully evolving art form.
NEW STAFF MEMBERS IN CURATORIAL
David W. and Mary S. Benfer
Curatorial
Research Fellows
This fall, The Ringling’s Curatorial Department welcomed two new full-time staff members, the inaugural David W. and Mary S. Benfer Curatorial Research Fellows.
Lindsey Hewitt holds a BA in Art History from Washington and Lee University and an MA in Art History from the Syracuse University program in Florence, Italy. A specialist in Italian Renaissance Art, Lindsey is working under the supervision of Chief Curator and Ulla R. Searing Curator of Collections Sarah Cartwright, researching Italian sculpture in the museum’s permanent collection, and supporting various upcoming exhibition and reinstallation projects.
“As someone with a specialization in Italian Renaissance art, I was drawn to the Ringling’s incredible collection of pre-1900 European art. I am incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity to perform the kind of work I love within a collection that perfectly fits my academic interests.”
Alexander Buchheit received his BA in History and German with Honors from Hillsdale College and his MA in Public History from Wright State University. Alex brings his experience working with a variety of historical collections, including an internship at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, to his responsibilities assisting Tibbals Curator of Circus Jennifer Lemmer Posey with rotations of objects and exhibitions in the Circus Museum.
“I wanted to be a Benfer Fellow because the circus is a significant part of American culture, alongside baseball, apple pie, and the Fourth of July, and its history deserves to be preserved and shared with the public. Working at a world-renowned museum such as The Ringling and learning from experts in the museum field is an amazing opportunity that I could not let pass by.”
These one-year staff positions were made possible through the generosity and vision of Ringling Board Member Dave Benfer and his wife Mary. Working closely with Ringling curators on research projects related to specific areas of the collection, the Benfer Fellows gain hands-on experience to prepare them for future professional work in museums, cultural heritage organizations, and other related career paths.
A CLOSER LOOK
Hollis Chitto's Bloodwork Number 2
By Ola Wlusek, Keith D. Monda Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
WHO CREATED THIS ARTWORK?
Hollis Chitto is an accomplished two-spirit beadwork artist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Traditional Pueblo pottery merged with conceptual and abstract elements are foundational to Chitto’s work, which often explores themes of gender identity and social justice. Chitto’s work has been featured in New Glass Review, Vogue, and InStyle magazines and can be seen in cover shoots of prominent leaders such as Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.
WHAT ARE THESE MOTIFS?
Chitto populates the bag with an abstract floral motif that symbolizes the importance of medicinal plants to the spiritual and physical wellbeing of Native American communities. Imposed on top of the vines is a red vertical stain, which alludes to a drop of blood. Meticulously, it splices the sterile beaded background in half, showcasing the artist’s refined beading technique.
WHAT IS THIS OBJECT?
This stunning flat handbag is a contemporary Native American artwork. Native beaded bags are used to carry personal items, such as mobile phones and keys, as well as tobacco. This artwork is an example of Indigenous regalia worn by many Native peoples from various tribes and communities across the United States and beyond.
WHAT IS THIS WORK MADE OF?
The artist carefully selected the materials, such as antique and contemporary seed beads, Swarovski crystal, Chinese crystal, lapis, Czech glass, silk dupioni, and silk habotai to create this bag.
WHAT ARE THESE SYMBOLS ?
The pink Morning Star motif on the blue silk background represents guidance and confers hope in the future, and it suggests the plus icon that is associated with the positive status of an HIV infection.
WHY IS THE TITLE SIGNIFICANT?
Bloodwork Number 2 suggests Chitto’s desire to bring awareness to the rising HIV infection rates in Native communities. As the artist explains, “my goal for this piece is to act as a starting point of discussion about this topic...it is important to know one’s own status in order to protect others and ourselves.”
WHERE TO FIND IT
EMBODIED: Highlights from The Ringling Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art THROUGH SEP 21
Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing
Hollis Chitto (Mississippi Choctaw/Isleta and Laguna Pueblos, born 1989), Bloodwork Number 2, 2017. 16 x 7 in. Museum purchase with The Colbert Family Charitable Fund, 2024, 2024.2
ACCESSIBILITY PROGRAMS
The Ringling’s Education Department is comprised of eight full-time staff members dedicated to providing unique educational opportunities to community members, volunteers, students, families, youth, and more. Giovana Pérez-Oliveras started in January 2024 as our first Arts and Health Program Coordinator. Her work focuses on ensuring the museum is accessible to everyone, developing programs that promote wellness and well-being, and utilizing the connection between arts and health to foster professional development opportunities for people working in the healthcare industry. Giovana has kicked off her career at The Ringling by rekindling partnerships and growing programming that leaves a positive impact on our local community and creates a welcoming space that sparks joy for all visitors.
RINGLING REFLECTIONS ON THE ROAD
Ringling Reflections programs are relaxed, conversation-based gallery tours in the Museum of Art for people with memory loss and their care partners. Following a forty-minute tour, all tour participants create their own works of art inspired by pieces in the museum. Early in 2024, Ringling Reflections caught the attention of multiple local organizations, particularly The Sunnyside Village Shepherd’s Landing Memory Care Facility. Their work focuses on sustaining purpose by providing choice and continual learning to empower their residents to live enjoyable lives. Seeing a connection between their mission and The Ringling’s, Sunnyside reached out to Giovana to inquire about scheduling consistent opportunities for their residents with memory loss and their caretakers to engage with the museum.
This sparked Ringling Reflections on the Road, in which Giovana visits Sunnyside Village to provide a virtual tour of The Ringling’s galleries followed by an art making activity for their residents. Some residents face challenges with mobility and/ or using transportation to visit the museum in person, so this monthly program serves as a continuation and expansion of our current efforts to make the museum accessible to all.
ACCESSIBILITY TOURS WITH LIGHTHOUSE VISION LOSS EDUCATION CENTER
In early 2024, thanks to Giovana’s efforts, The Ringling rekindled a past partnership with Lighthouse Vision Loss Education Center, supporting Lighthouse’s mission to educate and support those affected by vision loss so they may enjoy happy, healthy, and independent lives.
Last May, Lighthouse committed to monthly Accessibility Tours run by The Ringling for fifteen of their patients, plus their caregivers and staff, to partake in an adapted tour of The Ringling Museum of Art. Participants immerse themselves in this guided journey through the galleries and delve deeper into the works by listening to detailed visual descriptions of various pieces and feeling tactile diagrams and props, encouraging them to experience the artworks through their other senses. These individuals don’t usually engage with artwork in their daily lives due to the vision-centered nature of the activity. However, these tours inspire them to not only be present in conversations about art, but also share their thoughts about it, ask questions to satisfy their curiosity, and know that they belong in the museum space.
Following the tour, participants complete an art making project, which is not generally included in our Accessibility Tours. Although the creation of art is also commonly visioncentered and focuses on colors or imagery, we have adjusted our projects to engage the participants’ sense of touch first by working with materials such as Model Magic® air-dry clay, pipe cleaners, textiles, and fabrics to create their own piece of art to take home. Art making projects cement a sense of confidence and empowerment in our participants, and due to the overwhelmingly positive response to this program, these experiences have become an integral part of Lighthouse’s monthly outing opportunities.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Perspective of a Ringling Teaching Artist
Bianca Clyburn is a Sarasota native and self-taught artist disciplined drawing and painting. Following many attempts at having a “regular” job, she began pursuing her passion for fine art after relocating from Atlanta, GA. Her professional work has taken an explosive journey of sharing art throughout the community, from teaching her own classes to selling work from her downtown studio. She also encountered a newer, less explored career path—that of a teaching artist.
“After years of teaching kids STEM-based art, I was curious to know how the opportunity to start the Teaching Artist position would look in a place like Sarasota, where there are so many riches that live in high contrast to pockets of true disparity,” says Clyburn. This pivotal teaching artist program at The Ringling was first initiated by Roy and Robin Grossman, a married couple with a dream, and was funded through their donations. “Being born in Sarasota, as well as working with
local organizations, I know the very real need that exists, despite the optics of a spotless city of wealth and innovation,” Clyburn adds. “Even though Sarasota is a town with ample teachers of all races, resources of all kinds, and venues to teach in, it has a need for the creation of safe spaces for members of the community to creatively express themselves. The Ringling’s Teaching Artist program can help provide that space.”
Serving elementary to middle school-aged youth in the Sarasota and Manatee area, the program gives them the confidence to take risks while having fun and learning about the limitless world of fine art. Students explore weekly projects using quality materials, like wooden 12-inch drawing mannequins and professional drawing pencils, as well as terra-cotta air-dry clay, French curves, and polaroid pictures of artfully arranged still lives. Many have never seen or used these items before. Participants receive additional supplies to take home and a snack. Inspired by work on-view, the teaching artists encourage the students to visit The Ringling in person. Upon seeing the images that the teaching artists bring to the schools as part of “Museum Connections,” some students excitedly identify and recount memories of time spent at The Ringling, while for others it seems a distant land. For some children, this is their first time hearing about the museum.
“In these schools, underserved youth are in the same classrooms as children of privileges the former may never know,” says Clyburn. “These differences in basic needs being met result in a mirrored array of tiers of self-worth, affecting behaviors and responses in the children and their willingness to believe in their own capabilities. Through the now thousands of art making interactions we have shared, every difference a child might have has a chance to shine and be overcome. Together, step by step, we succeed.”
Bianca Clyburn is one of two Ringling Teaching Artists in our community outreach program. Outreach programs are free to nonprofits, libraries, and community organizations from Tuesday to Saturday at offsite locations. To book a program or find out more, email communityengagement@ringling.org.
AROUND THE RINGLING
AVAILABLE NOW
The Ringling’s latest publication, Shinique Smith: PARADE, is now available exclusively in the Museum Store. Magnificently illustrated with dozens of installation images in full color, this hardcover volume accompanies the exhibition of the same title, which was on view from December 16, 2023, through January 5, 2025. PARADE marked the first time that Shinique Smith exhibited her work within a museum collection of historic European art and the first time that The Ringling featured the work of a Black woman artist in direct dialogue with its collection of European art.
Produced by Goosepen Studio & Press, this impressive book contains essays by Shinique Smith and Sarah Cartwright, The Ringling’s Chief Curator and Ulla R. Searing Curator of Collections, as well as an illustrated checklist of Smith’s works and the labels she wrote for the exhibition. As a record of this historic moment at The Ringling, and an important contribution to the literature on the work of Shinique Smith, this volume ensures that PARADE will be remembered for many years to come.
RINGLING LEGACY TOUR
TOURS BEGIN FEBRUARY 1
Discover the remarkable life and legacy of circus impresario and art collectors John and Mable Ringling. From humble origins, John and four of his brothers started a circus, and the rest is history! This journey extends from John's first years running a circus to the lasting cultural legacy the Ringling's built in Sarasota. This 60–70 minute tour begins in the Historic Circus Galleries and ends in the Museum of Art. The tour takes place indoors and outdoors, and is subject to weather conditions.
This ticket includes entry into the Museum of Art, Circus Museum, and Bayfront Gardens.
An enchanted evening affair in the Museum of Art Courtyard
MAR 27, 2025
Ringling and UnidosNow present
Bomba Yemayá + 79rs Gang
@_annabelmitchell
TRUNK SHOW SEASON
at the Museum Store!
Save the dates for these trunk shows, where you will find unique jewelry and other creations made by local artists!
