Annual Permanent Collection exhibition at the Pensacola Museum of Art

Description

Behind a heavy iron door, hanging on racks and tucked away in well-padded boxes, the PMA Permanent Collection waits for its time to shine. While many visitors ask ongoing about the PMA's Calders and Warhols and Picassos, the Museum's most famous artists come out only once a year for the Annual Permanent Collection Exhibition. The 2012 dates for this popular exhibition are February 17 to March10. The Permanent Collection consists of 20th and 21st century work of art by both acclaimed artists and those lesser known. A wide range of modern and contemporary styles and periods including, Cubism, Realism, Pop Art, non-objective art, folk art and Illlustration are all featured within the Collection. The approximately 400 works include pieces by artist such as John James Audubon, Emil Holzhauer, Thomas Hart Benton, Alexander Calder, Pablo Picasso and Louise Nevelson. The Museum also owns a selection of European and American dedorative glass, African tribal art and sculptural works. Deciding which pieces will be exhibited during the annual show isn't easy said Collections Committee Chair Robert Turner. "The purpose of the show is to illustrate to the community what we do have in the Collection - the variety the Museum owns, focusing works from the 20th century." Each year the challenge is to both please the visitors and expose them to new art, he said, adding that there is a delicate balance to be achieved between the famous names and lesser-known, the old favorites and new acquisitions. During the year, the Permanent Collection is tucked away in a vault in the Museum, a secure room left over from the buildings's earliest days as the Old City Jail. Selected pieces hang in the Museum lobby and change throughout the year. Through its history, the Collection has grown both through generous donations and through purchases made by the Collections Committee. The Collections Committee, chaired by Board appointee Mr. Turner and comprised of Nancy Miller, Norman Ricks, Teresa Dos Santos, Gloria Turner, Lori Storey, Bill Donahue and Brian Finger will curate the show.