Here’s what’s new at Jacksonville-area museums, which are starting to emerge from the pandemic shutdown:
Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
The Art Ventures 30th Anniversary Exhibition features three decades of the Community Foundation of Northeast Florida’s Art Ventures Fund with 30 pieces by regional artists, one for each year of the program that funds arts through a National Endowment of the Arts grant and local donations. More than 200 artists and 100 organizations have benefited from the program.
Artists included in the show are Gail Beveridge. Linda Broadfoot, Sarah Crooks, Jim Draper, Overstreet Ducasse, Annelies Dykgraaf, Doug Eng, Shannon Estlund, Crystal Floyd, Zac Freeman, Julianne French, Jenny Hager, Thomas Hager, Dustin Harewood, Marsha Hatcher, Christina Hope, Erin Kendrick, Mary Jo Maraldo, Gil Mayers, Traci Mims, Hiromi Moneyhun, Elena Øhlander, Princess Rashid, Joe Segal, Jay Shoots, Kathy Stark, Grant Ward, Mary Williamson, Tony Wood and Mary N. Worthy.
The show will be on display until Feb. 21.
Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville
“Ally Brody: Public Domain” features the works of the latest MOCA University of North Florida Student Artist-in-Residence (the university owns the downtown museum).
Brody, an undergraduate at the university pursuing a degree in photography, mass communication and art history, has been artist-in-residence at MOCA since August. She has spent the semester studying street art — public murals and unplanned graffiti — and how it changes over the time. The resulting artwork is a mix of analog and digital photography and collage techniques.
Her show will be on display until April 18.
Museum of Science & History
Toytopia, a traveling show celebrating the history of classic toys, is at MOSH until May 16.
Visitors will learn about the history of toys, get a chance to play with some of them and learn what those cool toys they had as a kid are worth now. They’ll draw with an 8-foot-high Etch-a-Sketch (the biggest one in the world) and walk through a life-size dollhouse. They can dance and make music on a giant keyboard, build with a huge LEGO collection and pretty much play with every display.