OMA Book Club
Select Fridays, 2-4pm
The OMA is excited to host a book club for lovers of literature and art. Each month we’ll discuss a different text in relation to works on view in the Museum. Join us for an afternoon of literary gossip in the galleries.
2018 SEASON
Why is that art? It is a question not easily answered, but it is one we ask ourselves as we meander through a museum. Effective art has the ability to challenge and transform both the artist and the viewer. This season, the OMA Book Club will explore artists and artworks that push the limits. We’ll also consider what part we play as museum visitors—how can we learn to see what the artist sees, feel what the artist feels. Is this even possible? Spend your Friday afternoons exploring these ideas and more with a selection of evocative books covering a wide range of subjects. A gallery talk will follow each book discussion.
BOOKS
JANUARY 5: THE BEAUTIFUL THINGS THAT HEAVEN BEARS
By Dinaw Mengetsu
Join us for a special meeting of the OMA Book Club presented in partnership with the University of Central Florida’s Art Gallery. The book tells the story of an Ethiopian immigrant living in Washington, D.C. after fleeing his country seventeen years prior. The text, which is a National Endowment for the Arts Big Read selection, will serve as the inspiration for an exhibition at the UCF gallery in January. Members of the book club are invited for a private tour of the UCF exhibition the following Friday, January 12 at 2 pm. Additionally, the author will be giving a lecture and book signing at UCF on January 18 at 5 pm.
FEBRUARY 2: RESTLESS AMBITION: GRACE HARTIGAN, PAINTER
By Cathy Curtis
This first biography of this American abstract expressionist legend, Curtis traces the fascinating life story of Hartigan from her beginnings as a self-taught painter to her later years as a fierce art instructor. Hartigan’s resilience shines through in the paintings she created throughout her lifetime. Following the discussion of the book, we will take a jaunt across Loch Haven Park for a tour of the Mennello Museum of American Art’s Grace Hartigan 1960-65, The Perry Collection, on view January 19 – March 11.
MARCH 2: STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS
Edited by Diana Secker Tesdell
Compiling two centuries of short stories related to art and artists, this collection features classics written by authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Albert Camus, Bernard Malamud, and Aimee Bender.
APRIL 6: WALK THROUGH WALLS: A MEMOIR
By Marina Abramovic
Known for her haunting performances, Marina Abramovic is an artist whose work challenges the limits of the body and the possibilities of the mind. This memoir, which in and of itself is an act of performance, traces her life story and elaborates on her career-long quest for spiritual and emotional transformation.
PRICE
SEASON PRICE
$55 season price
Members save 10 percent
INDIVIDUAL SESSION PRICE
$12 per individual session
Books can be purchased in the Museum Shop
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