2008-2009 HERITAGE CENTER VISITING EXHIBITIONS

AGAINST ALL ODDS
The Original Highwaymen Painters

April 7 - June 27, 2009
​Requested by both visitors and residents, Against All Odds: The Original Highwaymen Painters, represents 19 of the original Fort Pierce Highwaymen artists. It chronicles a group of African-American men and women, who, in the midst of the deepest segregation of the post-war era, found success through their paintings depicting Florida's natural landscapes, beautified the world and became part of Florida's cultural history. Curated by noted Highwaymen collector Geoff Cook. On loan from the Orange County Regional History Center from the collection of Geoff Cook.

SACRED PLACES, SACRED HISTORY
Black Churches of West Winter Park

July 7 – September 26, 2009
Black church historian Rebekah McCloud, Ed.D. University of Central Florida, was the winner of the 2003/04 Rhea Marsh and Dorothy Lockhard Smith Research Grant from the Winter Park Public Library. With this funding, McCloud conducted research, wrote educational panels and paired them with photographs to create Sacred Places, Sacred History: Black Churches of West Winter Park. The exhibition explores and provides insight into the rich history of west Winter Park’s churches and the important role they have played in community life.

LINDA SCHAPPER
​Central Florida Folk Art Painter of Historic & Sacred Scenes

October 6 – December 19, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 15, 5:00–8:00 p.m. during the Third Thursday Hannibal Square Stroll
Folk Art painter Linda Schäpper is most widely recognized for her “Family of Christ” tapestry — an enormous patchwork of human figures encircling Jesus on the cross that became the spiritual backdrop for Pope John Paul II’s landmark October 1995 mass in New York’s Central Park, and for her “Nativity II,” which became the 1998 UNICEF Christmas card. Linda Schäpper: Central Florida Folk Art Painter of Historic and Sacred Scenes is an exhibition of paintings depicting African-American community life from a historic perspective. The artist will hold a community workshop August 21–23, 2009.

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CENTENNIAL FACES

October 7–December 20, 2008
Centennial Faces, on loan from the Museum of Florida History, is a selection of family portraits by Tallahassee photographer Alvan S. Harper. The early 20th century photographs show members of affluent, upper middle-class African-American families in Florida’s capitol city. These portraits disclose a dignity far removed from the poverty and hardship typically portrayed in photographs of African-Americans in the post-Civil War era. Reflections of Harper’s clients’ prosperity are apparent in elaborately beaded dresses and finely tailored waistcoats. The forty-nine portraits comprising the exhibit are only a fraction of the two thousand glass plate negatives in the Alvan S. Harper Collection in the Florida State Archives.

A DECADE OF ZORA!
Festival Posters

January 13–March 28, 2009
A Decade of Zora! Festival Posters celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the internationally known ZORA! Festival with official posters from ten years of past festivals. Each poster is a print of the work by some of the 20th century’s most noted African-American artists, including Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, Faith Ringgold and the late Dr. John Biggers. Curated by Dr. M.J. Hewitt, member of the ZORA! Festival National Planners and former co-editor of the International Review of African-American Art. On loan from the Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts.
The Hannibal Square Heritage Center is honored to celebrate the Zora Neale Hurston Festival’s 20th Anniversary by exhibiting the posters created to recognize some of the most noted African American artists of the 20th century. We salute the contributions of this internationally recognized festival, its longtime director Mrs. N.Y. Nathiri, and of course, author and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston, for their tremendous contributions to the culture of our region, the nation, and the world.
-Peter Schreyer, Executive Director, Crealdé School of Art, at the opening reception