RINGLING MUSEUM OF ART FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Margaret D. Hausberg, Chair
H. Michael Bush, Vice Chair
David W. Benfer, Treasurer
Mercedes Soler-Martinez, Secretary
Jasleen “Ritu” Anand
Dennis W. Archer
Adele Fleet Bacow
Semmes Brightman
Larry Cuervo, Jr.
Rebecca Donelson
Andrew M. Economos
Leon R. Ellin
Elma Glisson
Allison Gregory
Ronald A. Johnson
E. Marie McKee
Janice Tibbals Mobley
Xochitl Napoles
Howard D. Noble, Jr.
Gregory Parris
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
ISSN 2165-4085
With engaging exhibitions, captivating performances, and inspiring programming, the past few months have been a whirlwind at The Ringling, and the summer season shows no signs of slowing down.
Mark your calendars for the 2025 Wonder: Art + Healing Symposium, where you will experience remarkable connections between the role that wonder and the arts play in the healing process. Summer Circus Spectacular returns June 14, bringing big top excitement back to the Historic Asolo Theater. In this issue, discover upcoming exhibitions, go behind the scenes in our Community Gallery, and get to know some of the faces of The Ringling.
If you are feeling summer wanderlust, there are plenty of exhibitions to see at The Ringling. Check out Yoshida Hiroshi: Journeys Through Light, featuring intricate polychrome woodblock prints of destinations from this Japanese artist’s travels across the Americas, Europe, North Africa, and Asia. Then, explore our newest permanent gallery, Ancient Art from Cyprus and the Mediterranean. This installation highlights Cypriot art from our permanent collection—nearly all of which was purchased by John Ringling at auctions in 1928—including sculptures in limestone and terra cotta as well as ceramic vessels, glass, and gold and silver jewelry. Also, Seventeenth-Century Dutch Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, will be on view.
Conjuring the Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums, organized by the Peabody Essex Museum, will be on view through July 13; and Robert Rauschenberg: A Centennial Celebration and Sandy Rodriguez: Currents of Resistance will be on view through August 3 and 10, respectively.
And, opening in September, is a new contemporary exhibition: Ancestral Edge: Abstraction and Symbolism in the Works of Nine Native American Women Artists
Wherever this summer takes you, we hope that you will make The Ringling a part of your adventures!
Steven High Executive Director
ABOVE
Yoshida Hiroshi (Japanese, 1876–1950), Lugano (detail), from the series Europe, 1925. Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, 9 13/16 × 14 9/16 in. Gift of Charles and Robyn Citrin, 2016, SN11557.122
COVER
Grave stele of a reclining man, Cyprus, early Classical Period (second half of the 5th century BCE). Said to be "from a necropolis" at Salamis, Cyprus. Limestone with red paint. Collection of Luigi Palma di Cesnola; purchased by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1874–1876; Anderson Galleries sale, purchased by John Ringling, 1928; bequest of John Ringling, 1936. SN28.1910
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS
ANCESTRAL EDGE: ABSTRACTION AND SYMBOLISM IN THE WORKS OF NINE NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN ARTISTS
Funding is generously provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY DUTCH PAINTINGS FROM THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON
Support for this exhibition was generously provided by the Arthur F. and Ulla R. Searing Endowment. The works on loan are courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
THE COMMUNITY GALLERY
The Community Gallery is generously funded by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.
ANCESTRAL EDGE Abstraction and Symbolism in the Works of Nine Native American Women Artists
By Ola Wlusek Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
Native American art is instrumental to a fuller understanding of the history of abstraction, which as the Sičáŋǧu Lakota artist Dyani White Hawk posits is a global practice that reaches further into the past than we probably understand. Yet, contemporary Native American abstract art has been historically underrepresented in exhibition programming at major museums in Florida and across the United States. Ancestral Edge: Abstraction and Symbolism in the Works of Nine Native American Women Artists demonstrates the important role of contemporary Native American art, which employs the formal and aesthetic elements of abstraction as a meaningful motif. Native American art also serves as a coded tool of Indigenous expression to communicate tribal cultures and histories, ancestral knowledge, and the lived experiences of the artists and their communities.
On view in the exhibition are two- and three-dimensional works by some of the most exciting Native American and mixed heritage artists working today, including Teresa Baker (Mandan/Hidatsa, b. 1985), Natalie Ball (Klamath/Modoc, b. 1980), Kiana Bell (Seminole, b. 1998), Elisa Harkins (Cherokee/ Muscogee [Creek], b. 1978) , Erica Lord (Iñupiaq/Athabascan, b. 1978), Sarah Sense (Chitimacha/Choctaw, b. 1980), Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos, b. 1976), Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota, b. 1976), and Marie Watt (Seneca/German-Scot, b. 1967). Explored in a variety of media, including basket weaving, beadwork, collage, clay, textiles, photography, metalwork, and printmaking rooted in ancestral technology, their work shares similar stylistic and social concerns, such as vibrant color, hard-edged geometries, curvilinear patterns, and bold mark-making, all infused with personal stories and those of their kin.
Ancestral Edge celebrates the material culture and techniques informed by Indigenous knowledge systems, such as those employed by Dyani White Hawk, whose work combines influences from European and American abstraction with abstract Lakota art forms to challenge the hierarchy of art history. The Ringling recently acquired two works by this
celebrated artist: They Gifted (Day) and They Gifted (Night) According to White Hawk, these companion screen prints, based on Lakota symbology and abstract motifs associated with Lakota beadwork and quillwork, explore the potential to communicate the powerful concepts of balance and interconnectivity, including to “one another, the land, and all forms of life.”
By presenting Ancestral Edge, The Ringling invites museum visitors and local communities to learn about contemporary Native American work of our time and to celebrate in Native visual expression. As The Ringling’s collection of abstract art mostly includes examples in sculpture and oil painting of American and Western European abstract art from the postwar period until the present time, Ancestral Edge offers a broader consideration of abstraction in both techniques and materials as found in the multifaceted work of the nine artists.
Major lenders to the exhibition include the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum on the Big Cypress Reservation, the Gochman Family Collection, and the Rubell Museum. Ancestral Edge: Abstraction and Symbolism in the Works of Nine Native American Women Artists, accompanied by a scholarly catalogue, is on view September 13 – April 12 in the Keith D. Monda Gallery for Contemporary Art.
OPPOSITE PAGE, LEFT TO RIGHT
Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota, b. 1976), They Gifted (Day), 2024. Screen prints on Lanaquarelle, edition of 24, 58 x 28 1/2 in. Printed and published by Tandem Press. Museum purchase with funds from Drs. George and Sarah Pappas Art Acquisition Fund, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Tandem Press, Madison, WI. TR2025.3.1
Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota, b. 1976), They Gifted (Night), 2024. Screen prints on Lanaquarelle, edition of 24, 58 x 28 1/2 in. Printed and published by Tandem Press. Museum purchase with funds from Drs. George and Sarah Pappas Art Acquisition Fund, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Tandem Press, Madison, WI. TR2025.3.2
YOSHIDA HIROSHI Journeys Through Light
By Rhiannon Paget, PhD Curator of Asian Art
Renowned for his evocative renderings of light, mist, and glowing color, visionary artist Yoshida Hiroshi (Japanese, 1876–1950) gathered his subject matter from his travels across the Americas, Europe, North Africa, and Asia. Back in his studio, he translated his sketches into the medium of polychrome woodblock printing—an artform perfected over 200 years of Japanese history.
Drawing from The Ringling’s extensive holdings and local private collections, this exhibition focuses on Yoshida’s betsu-zuri or “separate printings,” referring to multiple color versions of single designs. Yoshida, or an artisan working under his close supervision, would print a single design using the same set of wooden printing blocks in different palettes of color and textures to suggest varying times of day, climatic conditions, and emotional states. Further variation may result from the colorants being prepared, applied, and printed by hand; the paper, sizing treatments, and moisture levels; and wear sustained by the blocks. Although a single design may be produced in the hundreds, each impression is unique.
Highlights of the exhibition include eight versions of Acropolis (1925) depicting the ancient citadel of Athens in daylight and under the night sky. Also on view are rare trial printings
bearing Yoshida’s annotations, a preparatory drawing, and a process set of the print Lugano (1925) that demonstrates the over 40-step process required to complete this single design. These give visitors a rare and memorable opportunity to learn about Yoshida’s exacting process.
Yoshida trained to paint in the Western style under his adoptive father Yoshida Kasaburō, and later with painters Tamura Sōryū and Koyama Shōtarō. Together with his wife Fujio, he forged an artistic career between his native Japan and the West, where they found their principle audiences. The couple made multiple trips to the US and Europe to paint, study, and exhibit and sell their work (and the work of their peers), including at the Detroit Museum of Art (today’s Detroit Institute of Arts) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Yoshida also received commendations at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1900 and the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904.
The Yoshida lineage continued with Hiroshi and Fujio’s sons Toshi (1911–1995) and Hodaka (1926–1995), daughtersin-law Kiso (1919–2005) and Chizuko (1924–2017), and granddaughter Ayomi (b. 1958), each of whom developed their own independent style in printmaking and other media.
Yoshida Hiroshi: Journeys Through Light is on view from June 21 – January 11 in the Charles and Robyn Citrin Gallery of the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Center for Asian Art.
OPPOSITE PAGE
Yoshida Hiroshi (Japanese, 1876–1950), Acropolis—Day, from the series Europe, 1925. Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, 11 5/16 × 15 11/16 in. Gift of Charles and Robyn Citrin, 2016. SN11557.116
ABOVE
Yoshida Hiroshi (Japanese, 1876–1950), Acropolis—Night, from the series Europe, 1925. Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, 10 5/8 × 15 11/16 in. Gift of Charles and Robyn Citrin, 2016. SN11557.112
SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY DUTCH PAINTINGS from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
By Lindsey Hewitt David W. and Mary S. Benfer Curatorial Research Fellow
The Ringling is pleased to present Seventeenth-Century Dutch Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, a new, long-term loan installation in Gallery 10 of the Museum of Art. This exhibition is made possible through the generous collaboration of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and showcases five outstanding works from its exceptional collection of Dutch paintings. The works on view—a seascape, an evocative landscape, a soaring church interior, and two unusual double portraits—offer a window into the vibrant artistic production of the Netherlands as the small nation rose to global prominence in the 17th century.
Among the exhibition’s highlights is View of Alkmaar by Jacob van Ruisdael, one of the most talented and prolific landscape artists of the 17th century. Here, he carefully renders the atmospheric effects of a billowing, cloud-filled sky on the distinctive flat topography of the Netherlands. Emanuel de Witte specialized in church interiors, capturing the beauty of Dutch architecture and the centrality of these spaces to the community. De Witte’s Interior of the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam bustles with congregants listening to a sermon and collecting alms within the lofty sanctuary. Other paintings in this exhibition similarly convey the aspirations and character of the thriving republic through dynamic seascapes with fast-moving vessels and alluring portraits set in carefully appointed domestic interiors.
By the end of the 17th century, Dutch artists had produced an estimated five million paintings chronicling the beauty and ambitions of the thriving Dutch Republic. These five pieces from the extraordinary holdings of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, complement The Ringling’s collection of Dutch art and provide additional perspective on the artistry, historical significance, and continuing appeal of Dutch painting from this period.
Seventeenth-Century Dutch Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, will be on view through November 1, 2026.
MUSEUM OF ART REINSTALLATION
ANCIENT ART FROM CYPRUS AND THE MEDITERRANEAN
By Joanna Smith, PhD
Consulting
Curator of Ancient Art
and Sarah Cartwright, PhD
Chief Curator and Ulla R. Searing Curator of Collections
This summer, The Ringling will unveil a new permanent collection gallery, Art from Cyprus and the Mediterranean to reinstall all twenty-one original galleries of the Museum of Art, Gallery 12 provides a compelling overview of the museum’s permanent collection of ancient Mediterranean art through a selection of 201 works spanning in date from the Early Bronze Age to the Late Roman Period (ca. 2500 BCE to 500 CE), including sculptures in limestone and terra cotta, ceramic vessels, glass, and jewelry. The gallery is The Ringling’s first permanent gallery installation devoted to ancient Western art and has a special focus on the art of ancient Cyprus.
Nearly all the museum’s collection of ancient Mediterranean art was purchased by John Ringling at two sales held by The Anderson Galleries in New York in 1928. These sales contained works from the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met). In a separate purchase, Mr. Ringling acquired a collection of ancient gems from Mrs. Alva Vanderbilt Belmont that had previously been amassed by the Parisian collector Émile Gavet. More recent gifts to the museum have added to the collection’s greatest strength, art from the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1973 the museum received the contents of an Early Bronze Age tomb excavated in 1961 by James R. Stewart at Karmi-Lapatsa, Cyprus. In 2012 Helen Fleder gifted a Cypriot amphora that had once been in the collections of The Met.
The majority of The Ringling’s collection of art from ancient Cyprus was unearthed in temples and tombs on the island by Luigi Palma di Cesnola (1831–1904) when he was American Consul there from 1865 to 1876. Cyprus is the third-largest Mediterranean island. Located close to the
coastlines of Syria and Turkey, Cyprus was and is a place of cultural connection. The arts of Cyprus draw on Egyptian, Phoenician, Near Eastern, and Greek subjects and styles, and Cypriot artists created their own approach to the human form. The gallery themes are Cypriot Art (creativity and expression as well as an eye for detail), Art and Experience (sanctuary and funerary), and History (ancient history as well as collection history).
When Mr. Ringling acquired his collection of ancient Western art in 1928, his aim was to build a separate building to house it. This aim was not realized due to the stock market crash of 1929 and Ringling’s financial downturn before his death in 1936. Selected objects were displayed in the Museum of Art loggia from 1948 to 1981. Starting in 1978 there were also temporary displays of ancient Mediterranean art inside the museum, including a traveling exhibition of The Ringling’s Cypriot collection in 1983. Eight objects from Mr. Ringling’s purchases at the Anderson Galleries are currently on display in the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Center for Asian Art: three large Cypriot limestone sculptures, three other Cypriot sculptures, and two Greek transport amphoras. Seven more Greek vessels from different periods, also from the Anderson sales, can be found in Gallery 17, while a selection of the Gavet gem collection is on display in Gallery 3.
The story of the Cesnola collection at The Ringling is at the heart of the story of ancient Mediterranean art in North America. These and other works of art found by Cesnola formed the core of the original collection of The Met, of which Cesnola was the first director when it opened at its Fifth Avenue location in 1880. Parts of his collection were sold off by The Met at a time when many new museums were being established. As The Met made way for the expansion of its collection, Cesnola collection objects found their way into museum collections throughout the United States and Canada. Mr. Ringling made the most significant purchase from the original Cesnola collection in New York. The Met considered the works that they sold to be duplicates of other pieces in their collection. Even so, some of the pieces purchased by Mr. Ringling are unlike those that remain in The Met today; for example, The Ringling collection includes several extraordinary female sculptures. The Ringling has the third-largest collection of Cypriot art in North America (which is the second-largest collection of works found by Cesnola in the world) and has the second-largest collection of Cypriot sculpture in the United States.
OPPOSITE PAGE
Left hand of a statue holding a double cornucopia. Cyprus, early Hellenistic period (3rd c. BCE). Said to be “from the ruins of the temple” at Golgoi, Cyprus. Limestone with red paint, Height 47 cm. Cesnola collection; purchased by The Met, 1874–1876; Anderson Galleries sale, purchased by John Ringling, 1928; bequest to The Ringling, 1936. SN28.1842
ABOVE
Double tube for cosmetics. Southern Levant, early Late Roman Period (4th–early 5th c. CE). Said to be from Phoenicia. Glass, Height 18.2 cm. Gréau collection; Morgan gift to The Met, 1917; Anderson Galleries sale, purchased by John Ringling, 1928; bequest to The Ringling, 1936. SN28.1439
The purchases at The Anderson Galleries also included vessels and fragments of ancient glass from the Julien Gréau collection gifted to The Met in 1917 by J. Pierpont Morgan. Research over the last decade shows that in addition to the Cesnola and Gréau collections, Greek, Roman, and Etruscan objects in Mr. Ringling’s 1928 purchase come from several other of The Met’s collections. Accounted for to date are objects from the collections of Arthur Lincoln Frothingham Jr., Samuel T. Baxter, Cesare and Ercole Canessa, Edward C. Moore, and Elbert Eli Farman, as well as objects purchased for The Met by John Marshall, including pieces from the Stroganoff collection.
Ancient Art from Cyprus and the Mediterranean is curated by Dr. Joanna S. Smith, The Ringling’s Consulting Curator of Ancient Art since 2014, in collaboration with Dr. Sarah Cartwright, Chief Curator and Ulla R. Searing Curator of Collections. Over the past three years, Amanda Robinson, Assistant Director of Collections and Senior Registrar, together with Emily Brown, Conservator of Sculpture and Decorative Arts, have led The Ringling’s efforts to bring this complex, multifaceted gallery project to fruition. Future articles in this magazine will provide more detail about the objects and themes featured in the gallery and will highlight the range of conservation work that was required to prepare the objects for display.
OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP TO BOTTOM
Bowl. Cyprus, mid-Late Bronze Age (1450–1200 BCE). Said to be from Cyprus. Ceramic with white slip and reddish-black paint, Diameter 18.75 cm. Cesnola collection; purchased by The Met, 1874–1876; Anderson Galleries sale, purchased by John Ringling, 1928; bequest to The Ringling, 1936. SN28.126
Male colossal statue head. Cyprus, late Archaic Period (late 7th–early 6th c. BCE). Said to be “from the temple” at Golgoi, Cyprus. Limestone with red paint, Height 61.5 cm. Cesnola collection; purchased by The Met, 1874–1876; Anderson Galleries sale, purchased by John Ringling, 1928; bequest to The Ringling, 1936. SN28.1755
THIS PAGE, LEFT TO RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM
Scarab, underside with a nude male athlete. Italy (Etruscan), early Classical Period (third quarter of the 5th c. BCE). Carnelian, Height [of intaglio] 1.53 cm. Gavet collection; purchased by Mr. and Mrs. William K. and Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt, 1889–1895; transferred to Mrs. Smith Vanderbilt Belmont in divorce, 1895; Duveen Brothers; purchased by John Ringling, 1928; bequest to The Ringling, 1936. SN1435.149
Tulip bowl. Cyprus, early to mid-Early Bronze Age (2400–2100 BCE). Found in Tomb 15 at Karmi-Lapatsa. Ceramic with red and black slip and lime-filled incised decoration, Height 12.4 cm. Excavated by James R. B. Stewart, 1961; donated by the University of Sydney, 1973. SN74.23
Head of a bull statuette. Cyprus, mid- to late Late Bronze Age (1450–1050 BCE). Said to have been “found at the temple of Apollo Hylates, near” Kourion, Cyprus. Terra cotta. Height 14.6 cm. Cesnola collection; purchased by The Met, 1874–1876; Anderson Galleries sale, purchased by John Ringling, 1928; bequest to The Ringling, 1936. SN28.2083
THE ART OF COMMUNITY
Located on the first floor of the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Center for Asian Art, the Community Gallery offers a dedicated space where Sarasota’s community comes to life, just steps away from the treasures in our permanent collection. It’s a place where local nonprofits, schools, and community groups share their creativity, their voices, and their vision.
The Community Gallery has a lasting impact on our clients because they can forever say their art was hung among worldrenowned artists at The Ringling. The gallery was truly a representation of community inclusion, access, and opportunity.
—Amanda
Corcoran Easterseals Southwest Florida
The process of exhibiting our community’s art begins a year in advance, with an interdepartmental meeting where museum staff— from curators to museum attendants to accounting representatives— review applications from interested community organizations every year. The staff’s perspectives ensure the selected exhibitions reflect the range of community experiences and missions that define Sarasota. With only three exhibitions and organizations chosen each year, the process is both inspiring and bittersweet. Each proposal is filled with passion and vision, making the final decisions difficult tasks.
Over the months that follow, the selected organizations
work closely with the Community Relations Coordinator to shape their exhibitions. As the organizations and Community Relations Coordinator discuss layouts, create labels, and develop marketing materials, the exhibition begins to take shape. On installation day, the Community Gallery becomes a hive of activity. Organization members and professional art installers work together to bring the vision to life, discussing placement and fine-tuning arrangements to create a seamless flow. It’s not just about hanging art—it’s about telling a story. Whether it’s a painting, photograph, textile, or mixed media work, each piece is placed with intention, ensuring the exhibition reflects the organization’s mission.
“For many organizations, this is their first time creating an exhibition for a museum. Seeing their work come together in the gallery, as a reflection of their organization, friends, and community members—it’s an incredibly powerful and often emotional moment.” says Caitlyn Shanley, Community Relations Coordinator.
Our 2025–2026 season will include exhibitions from Rowlett Elementary Academy and Suncoast Technical College.
Admission to the Community Gallery is always free, making it a welcoming space for everyone in the community to explore and connect. Each visit offers the chance to see the power of art and community firsthand, so check it out on your next visit.
The submission portal for the 2026–2027 exhibition season is open from October – December 2025. For more information or to apply, visit ringling.org/community-gallery/ or email communityengagement@ringling.org.
FELLOW PROJECT UPDATES
This year, The Ringling is proud to host four talented fellows engaged in unique and impactful projects, from curatorial research and conservation to community engagement. Their work is enriching our understanding of the collections and enhancing our community outreach.
Lindsey Hewitt, the David W. and Mary S. Benfer Curatorial Research Fellow, is currently researching four portrait busts depicting prominent Italian Renaissance figures. Her research aims to situate these sculptures in their historical context, provide accurate dates of creation for each bust, and determine their relevance to John Ringling’s collecting practices. Additionally, Hewitt assists Dr. Sarah Cartwright, Chief Curator and Ulla R. Searing Curator of Collections, with the interpretation and display of artworks in the permanent collection through exhibition and reinstallation projects. These projects have allowed Hewitt to develop her curatorial and research skills while expanding the museum’s documentation of its collections.
Alex Buchheit, the David W. and Mary S. Benfer Circus Curatorial Research Fellow, is currently working on a poster gallery rotation focusing on circus music and a case rotation featuring circus priest vestments. As a musician himself, Buchheit is passionate about these projects and believes the Ministry of Circus Priests is an important untold story. Buchheit’s work aims to educate the community about American cultural history, making it accessible and engaging. By sharing these stories, Buchheit hopes to preserve and promote public history, encouraging visitors to learn and spread the knowledge.
Tara Johnston, the Kress Objects Conservation Fellow, supported by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and administered by the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation, is currently treating four marble busts and two fifteenth and sixteenth century stained glass pieces, while also finalizing the installation of Ancient Art from Cyprus and the Mediterranean. Much of her work involves stabilizing and cleaning the pieces prior to display, making them accessible to the public and preserving them for future generations. By conserving these objects, Johnston gains a better understanding of their materials, history, and context, which can then be communicated to the public.
Dominique Goden, the Eleanor Merritt Fellow, is writing a literature review on African Americans who worked for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey ® Circus; creating a short documentary on Eleanor Merritt (1933–2019), a prolific artist, arts advocate, educator, and The Ringling’s first African American docent and board member; and producing a video series called Community Care that shares tips on preserving family treasures. Inspired by her passion for uncovering stories through historical textiles, Goden wants her projects to honor Eleanor Merritt’s legacy by showcasing Merritt’s story, establishing relationships with community partners, promoting community-based exhibitions, and providing scholarship on African Americans in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey ® Circus.
Scan this QR code or visit ringling.org/fellowships to learn more about fellowships at The Ringling.
TOP ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT
Lindsey Hewitt, Alex Buchheit
BOTTOM ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT
Tara Johnston, Dominique Goden
MEET THE MEMBERSHIP TEAM
ALEXANDRA O’BRYAN Circle Development Manager
I have always been driven by creativity and passion, which are what led me to The Ringling. I previously held a key role on the Events team, planning and executing Development and Membership events, where I immediately fell in love with the museum and its community of members and supporters. As my passion for The Ringling grew, so did my desire to progress and evolve within the organization, which led me to my current role as Circle Development Manager. I am excited to build relationships with Circle Members, help further connect them with their passion for The Ringling, and create meaningful experiences together.
ADRIANA STEELE
Membership Manager
My love of gardens, arboretums, and museums stems from growing up twenty minutes from a world-class public garden, and often visiting museums in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. After a decade in sales, I was seeking a more fulfilling career change. This led me to a rewarding role at one of my favorite cultural institutions in Florida, where I developed an affinity for membership and improving members’ experiences. I am honored to bring this passion and experience to my role serving as your Membership Manager, and I look forward to seeing you at The Ringling.
LILLY GETGEN
Membership Program Associate
My passion for the arts and history began when I first visited The Ringling at age twelve with my family, an experience that sparked my dream of working here. Despite the arts not being as prevalent in my youth, I took a leap and pursued an undergraduate degree in Art History. I began independently curating art shows, managing art galleries, representing local artists, curating exhibitions, and assisting with membership. This eventually led me to The Ringling, where I now have the privilege of assisting with the membership program while supporting our community.
Ceramic Blue Tea Set with Strainer and Bamboo Tray, $35
Thinking Kwan Yin, Blanc-de-chine porcelain, $187
Fu Lion Pair, agarwood, $70
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
EDRIS
WEIS
Local Champion for The Ringling’s Studio Glass Collection
As a local Sarasotan, Edris Weis has been a member of The Ringling since 2008. However, her interest in collecting glass began long before she resided in Southwest Florida, also known as the Glass Coast, for the great number of glass collectors who call the area home.
Weis is an outspoken supporter of The Ringling’s studio glass collection and leads by example.
In 2024, she lent two of her earliest and rarest finds, Portrait of a Lady by Edris Eckhardt, a bust of a young woman cast in blue glass with gold accents, and another version of this self-portrait cast in bronze, for their inclusion in a rotation in the Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion (KCGP). Eckhardt was a Cleveland-based pioneer in the American Studio Glass Movement in the mid-twentieth century, and these pieces were integral to showing a range of innovative work by women artists working in glass.
Weis has been collecting for decades, and she cofounded the Sarasota Chapter of the Art Alliance for Contemporary
Glass (AACG), which hosts educational programs for glass enthusiasts. Over the last six years, Weis has generously donated works from her collection, including Rock Poppy Falcon by Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen , which is on view currently, and a biomorphic, abstract sculpture by Marvin Lipofsky. She also gave a group of stunning goblets, two of which were recently installed in new casework. Now, museum visitors may see the highly skilled technical achievements of glass artists working today, like Charles Savoie and Alan Goldfarb, alongside historic glassware that illustrates the aesthetic and technical virtuosity of the master glassblowers of Murano, Italy, from centuries ago. Momentously, she established the Edris Weis Glass Acquisition Fund to support the growth of the collection and make acquisitions of outstanding works possible.
The Ringling owes a huge debt of gratitude to Weis for her unwavering support, which has enabled the museum to acquire works by rising stars in the glass world, such as Thaddeus Wolfe and Joanna Manousis, as well as influential figures, like Stephen Rolfe Powell. Ultimately, Edris is a true champion of the museum’s efforts, strengthening The Ringling’s ability to tell the vibrant story of international studio glass.
The Ringling MUSEUM STORE
MEMBERS SAVE 10%*
*excludes already discounted items
Open Daily 10:00 AM – 5:30 PM Thursdays until 8:00 PM Located in the McKay Visitors Pavilion
JUL 11–13
Members save 20% Excludes clearance
Kiku (Chrysanthemum) ceramic plate, $30
VINTAGE RINGLING
In this historic photo from The Ringling Archives, John and Mable pose with their niece and nephew Evelyn and Bill Wortman, the children of Mable’s sister Amanda Burton Wortman, but the gator is a mystery!
