Off the Beaten Path Insider

One of the most fascinating art shows you'll ever see will be presented at DeLand's Museum of Florida Art from Dec. 7-Apr. 7 Credit: Museum of Florida Art

I’m not an art critic, so I can’t tell you exactly why I enjoy an at museum, but I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoy (and highly recommend) DeLand’s Museum of Florida Art.

DeLand is absolutely pleasing for a number of reasons (Stetson University, wonderful independent restaurants, a variety of stores carrying everything from band instruments to antiques, etc.), but it becomes especially enjoyable when you meet folks that are dedicated to delivering the best exhibitions possible.

And the folks at the Museum of Florida Art have outdone themselves with this one: Duane Hanson.

If you’ve ever flown into Orlando, you may be familiar with Hanson. You know the weary traveler you see when you arrive? The one enclosed behind plexiglass? That’s one of his works. Hanson left behind a population of fiberglass and polyester resin residents that look exactly like people we pass every day, but barely favor with a second glance.

It’d take pages to describe Hanson’s works, let alone the feeling you get when you walk through the gallery and interrupt a bodybuilder pausing on a weight bench, a cleaning woman waiting to go to sweep up, a couple sharing a morning cup of coffee, or a weary security guard waiting for the end of his shift. None of them are real, yet all of them are really, really familiar to us -- and they’re all here, along with other members of Hanson’s world, and the exhibit (which begins December 7), will be here until April 7 – a full four months.

Keep in mind Hanson’s works are displayed around the world (a showing even attracted 300,000 people to NYC’s Whitney Museum), so no doubt I’ll write more about this marvelous exhibition later. Especially about the Polaroid photos he used to help create his sculptures (they're here, too).

For now I encourage you to visit DeLand – and soon – to see one of Florida’s nicest towns and a mid-sized museum that’s really doing something monumental.

If You Go

Museum of Florida Art
600 N. Woodland Boulevard
DeLand
(386) 734-4371
MuseumofFloridaArt.org