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February 09, 2007
Hope McMath, Director of Education at The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, Jacksonville, FL, 2-9-07
The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens is presenting Temples and Tombs: Treasures of Egyptian Art from The British Museum, on view until March 18, 2007. The Cummer is one of only five stops in the United States for this exhibition, which is organized by the American Federation of Arts and The British Museum. Temples and Tombs is made possible, in part, by the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation Fund for Collection-Based Exhibitions at the American Federation of Arts.
The exhibition comprises nearly 85 pieces from shortly before the Third Dynasty, about 2686 B.C., to the Roman occupation of the fourth century A.D. The collection explores four aspects of ancient Egypt: the king and the temple, which represents the divine in everyday Egyptian life; objects preserved from the lives of artists and nobles; statuary from temples and tombs; and finally the tomb and the significance of death and the afterlife in ancient Egypt. This stunning collection showcases a variety of items, including sculpture, relief, papyri, ostraca, jewelry, and an assortment of funerary items.
The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, located on the St. Johns River in the Riverside Avondale historic district in Jacksonville, FL, is the second largest art museum in Florida and is noted for its collection of more than 6000 masterworks of American and European paintings, beautiful historic gardens in the European style and an outstanding collection of Meissen porcelain. Art Connections is the museum’s nationally renowned interactive learning center where visitors experience art through all senses.
Hope McMath is Director of Education at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens and has 11 years of experience in museum education. During her time at the Cummer, she has designed and implemented programs that bring arts opportunities to over 50,000 students and adults annually. She is the Site Director for the local VSA Arts affiliate. In this role she has been responsible for creating a nationally recognized art festival for over 2000 students with profound disabilities and Women of Vision, a program bringing art making and literacy to a group of women who are blind and visually impaired.
Hope has written successful grants to support programs in arts infusion, school partnerships, youth and family initiatives, arts in healthcare, and disability projects. Due to her efforts, the Cummer was awarded the first Disability Access award from the city of Jacksonville, and has been recognized by the Council for Exceptional Children. She was named Museum Educator of the Year for the state of Florida in 2003 by the Florida Art Education Association and the Art Educator of the Year by the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville in 2005. In addition, she was recognized with the National Community Service Award by VSA Arts in 2005.
Most recently Hope received the national Art Education for the Blind Community Service award for her efforts in making art accessible to children and adults who are blind and by Arts for a Complete Education as the Doris Leeper art educator of the year. She is also a working artist whose relief prints, etchings, and monotypes are exhibited and collected throughout the Southeast.
Posted by David Lemberg at February 9, 2007 08:37 AM Return to ARTSCAPE home page