This museum is a delightful surprise for the visitor to Deland. Split into two buildings, one on the Stetson University campus and the other in the middle town, it houses exhibits that are unexpected for a town of this size. The permanent collection of Samuel Blatt features a number of pieces from the modern period, including Picasso and Dufy, in the main gallery in the north building. The Chinese-American artist Chen Chi dazzles in the adjoining gallery with a collection of intriguing watercolors. A travelling exhibit by John Mellencamp is featured in the downtown building with his strikingly rich and poignant paintings on full display. (The normal admission fee of $5 is doubled when a major exhibition comes to town.) The museum is impressive by its holdings and its ability to attract major artists for is exhibitions, a sign of an excellent curator and staff.
Exhibits rotate but they are always first class. Amazing for such a small town. Near Stetson University on the north side of town, it's truly worth a trip.
The DeLand Museum of Art offers something for everyone. An eclectic mix of installations that are ever changing and evolving. The focus of this team is to engage and educate and their childrens programs are of great value to those in the community. With two stunning locations and room after room of wonderful Art please plan to take at least two hours and don't forget to visit their two Museum Gift Shops for interesting items that you will treasure forever.
As we all know, art is subjective, so it is always a risk to have exhibitions that may offend some individuals. As part of every exhibition the Museum provides visitors with both written documentation about the artist and schedules many gallery talks with the artist and with trained docents to discover more about the artist’s techniques and the motivation behind their work. This extremely talented artist with more than 40 years working exceptionally in every medium has an extreme affection for the canine breed and has owned many dogs over the years. In addition to the title of the work of art that lived on the Museum exterior for four months: “After Andrew”, text panels, title cards and talks, revealed that the artist lived in Miami and weathered Hurricane Andrew with her beloved pets in 1992. She did not paint for 8 months following this horrible event. The fear she depicts in many of her furry subjects are an emotion she identifies as personal, real and symbolic. As many exceptional artists try to have their work evoke an emotion, Jill Cannady’s unmatched talent in every form of medium achieved just that, which was evident in the record numbers in attendance and membership growth during her exhibition. During this exhibition, hundreds of children from elementary and middle school ages to the college level visited the museum as part of in depth field studies, conducting art reviews and assessments that resulted in positive feedback from teachers, parents and students. During the past year alone, Museum members and visitors have been enlightened by the works of art by more than 100 different artists demonstrating the continued contributions in cultural arts and educational programming to the local community and schools, and to the visitors of DeLand. We hope you will visit us again to see other talented and experienced artists display their work and to attend a gallery talk. On July 11 Collector Samuel Blatt will be conducting a gallery talk on the exhibition Collector’s Choice: Blatt Collection.
Deland is a small university town somewhere in Central Florida, a little off the beaten path. The town itself is quaint and beautiful and welcoming. It's no wonder John Mellencamp felt comfortable having their Museum of Art host his Paintings. The Museum is actually a 2 part venue about 5 blocks apart from each other and the walk between is quite nice and relaxing. The main downtown portion was bigger inside than I had imagined it, and very well laid out. It was beautiful, clean and the staff were perfectly friendly. But being in a small town, I already knew they would be. We were there for a couple hours and by the time we left it felt like leaving old friends. The Mellencamp exhibit was fantastic. If you are traveling in Central Florida stop by and give it a look. John Mellencamp is not only a talented singer/song writer, but a very soulful painter as well. Don't expect landscapes though, John is all about the human experience.
It's a cute museum with about 2 rooms of art. We stayed for about 40 minutes. I'm not sure that we'd return, though. Once was enough.
This museum offers a lot - the quality of art they present is a wonderful addition to Central Florida. From sculptures & multi-media, to paintings. They exceed other museums in our neighboring towns. Well done!
We really enjoyed the exhibit of Photographs and the gift ship was quite extensive. Staff were very helpful and friendly.
What an interesting museum, very up-to-date with a current painting exhibition by John Mellencamp. They also have a wonderful shop with lovely and unusual gifts for the holidays!
I loved the Museum of Art - Deland. The exhibition of Jill Cannady was powerfull, it was truly inspiring. Last but not least, the entry fee is very affordable and you get to see two museums. The staff was extremely nice especially Susan who works at the reception of the "smaller" museum. I enjoyed also the "Wearable Art" show. It was so much fun. I'll come back definitively!