The Museum of Art – DeLand, Florida, is a vital community visual arts museum committed to hosting several rotating master artist workshops, educational programming, reception, gallery talks, exhibits, and special events. The Museum is devoted to the fine arts collection, exhibition, and preservation (moartdeland.org, 2022).
The Museum has two separate galleries: the original Museum and the downtown gallery and museum store. Both museums are open to public members every day of the week except Mondays. Specifically, they are available from Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm on Sundays. The museums are closed during new art installations and national holidays. The Museum charges a fee of $5 for general admission and a cost of $ 10 for special exhibitions. In addition to the individual admission fee, there is a $25 docent fee for every 10 to 15 guests in any group exceeding 10 people. Luckily, there are no charges for children aged 12 years and below and museum members (moartdeland.org, 2022).
The best visiting times are Tuesday through Friday, starting from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. The Museum offers both group and self-guided tours that are generally 45 to 60 minutes in length. However, it can be adjusted to accommodate each group’s specific needs. These tours are booked at least two weeks in advance and are only available to any group comprising 10 or more guests. The maximum size group size is 60 guests at one time. More so, the Museum provides admission discounts for special exhibitions. The two museum galleries exhibit ancient and modern fine arts on a canvas (moartdeland.org, 2022).
The museum has special exhibits that are not part of the Museum’s permanent collection. Currently, there are two pieces of art: (1) “Where We Find Ourselves: The Photographs of Hugh Mangum, 1897–1922,” which is on view through June 12, 2022; and (2) “The Outsiders: Self-Taught Artists of the American South” which is on view through May 8, 2022 (moartdeland.org, 2022). There is an extra fee of $5 for non-members for each exhibit.
Adam Straus, an American artist, based in Riverhead, New York, is the artist behind the Out of Paradise masterpiece. The art is painted on canvas using oil and graphite and transferred into a wooden frame, measuring 34 x 50 x 2 inches. The exhibit features a beautiful skyline and landscape with visible features of clouds, mountains, plants, and animals. There is an illumination of a colorful bird is flying towards a flower to drink nectar. This presents flawless natural world scenes as they appear in real-life (moartdeland.org, 2022).
While this piece of art is effortless, one has to look past the paint on the canvas to see the story behind it. A prominent feature in this painting is a painted crack down the center of the canvas: it appears to be disrupting the image of nature. Straus must have used this crack to articulate his concerns about people’s effect on nature to the viewer. By doing so, we can relate to how humans are impacting the environment in many ways: deforestation, burning fossil fuels, pollution, and overpopulation. Straus also chose the correct wordings to name his piece: the painting of the art is coming out of paradise, but it shows we are running out of paradise.
While the painting looks very appealing, the background creates a certain mood of darkness. There is less contrast between light and dark colors creating an implied illusion of the background’s lack of color intensity. Nevertheless, Straus succeeds in catching moment scenes of the natural world, which allows one to choose this piece of art over another.
Reference
Museum of Art – DeLand. (2020). Home.