The Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts (MoFA) is featuring three new exhibitions that display the talent and creative explorations of FSU’s Flying High Circus, photographer Bruce Davidson and ceramist Jiha Moon.
“The three shows we have in the museum right now offer something for everyone,” said Meredith Lynn, curator of the Museum of Fine Arts. “‘75 Years of Flying High’ is a fun, engaging show that families will love. Bruce Davidson’s work is foundational in the development of an American approach to documentary photography. And Jiha Moon’s ceramics are beautiful entry points into vital conversations in contemporary culture.”
All three exhibitions are open to the public now through March 19.
“Trust & Transformation at the Circus: 75 Years of Flying High”
MoFA Upper Galleries
Since its founding in 1947, FSU’s Flying High Circus has enjoyed worldwide recognition for its brilliance and creativity. Through countless Home Shows and Halloween performances, summers at Callaway Gardens, over fifteen appearances on national television, and sell-out tours across Europe and the Caribbean, Flying High athletes have earned their reputations as being among the hardest working students at Florida State.
“It takes a lot to be a circus performer, but students and alumni repeatedly reflect on the importance of trust — trusting oneself, trusting one’s partner, trusting one’s apparatus — to achieving the magic that animates each act: a transformation from the everyday and ordinary into the amazing and extraordinary,” said Preston McLane, director of the Museum of Fine Arts.
“Trust & Transformation” features an array of photography and video installations, interactive displays, and historic and contemporary circus costumes together with original drawings by the celebrated costume designer Miles White, vintage circus posters, and works of art on loan from the Howard Tibbals Circus Collection and the Ringling Circus Museum.
This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the staff, students, and alumni of the FSU Flying High Circus, The Ringling, Howard and Janice Tibbals, the Council on Culture & Arts (COCA), the Florida Division of Arts and Culture, and FSU’s Council on Research & Creativity.
“Bruce Davidson: Love and Longing”
MoFA Lower Gallery
For eight decades, Bruce Davidson has documented people on the margins. A master of mood and nuance, his images show us the universalities of not just joy or grief, but also things more difficult to capture – contemplation and hope. “Bruce Davidson: Love and Longing” features more than fifty original photographs from many of the artist’s most acclaimed series, including “Brooklyn Gang,” “Subway,” “Chicago,” “Central Park,” “Florida — Daytona Biker Week” and the “Birmingham Museum Project.”
This exhibition was made possible through the support of an anonymous donor, COCA, and the Florida Division of Arts and Culture.
“Jiha Moon: Chasing Spirits”
MoFA Walmsley Gallery
Combining American pop culture and traditional Korean iconography, Jiha Moon’s ceramics explore issues of global identities and the construction of personal narratives. Utilizing humor and repeated icons and motifs, Moon builds her own rich visual language. With colorful, playful, and ornate ceramic works, the Korean-born, Atlanta-based artist creates objects which speak to the rich possibilities that arise through global cultural dialogues. Moon’s ceramics take on particular potency now, as an increase in anti-Asian hate crimes has given rise to a national conversation about the experiences of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
This exhibition is funded, in part, by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Florida Division of Arts and Culture.
For more information, visit mofa.fsu.edu.