Foosaner Art Museum Features Photos of Baracoa, Cuba; Joins with Cuban Daydreams July 14-Sept. 9

MELBOURNE, FLA.—The Foosaner Art Museum, Florida Institute of Technology, presents Shared Vision: Photographs of Baracoa, Cuba, in conjunction with Cuban Daydreams: Dionel Delgado July 14 – Sept. 9.

Shared Vision was developed to explore the simple, remote culture of Baracoa through the eyes of the participating photographers. James Quine and Theresa Segal, both St. Augustine photographers, traveled to Baracoa in early summer 2003.Two Cuban photographers, Lissette Solórzano and José Martí, joined them from Havana to photograph this eclectic Cuban city. In two weeks, the photographers took 3,000 photographs; they culled their selection to 100. The final 52 were selected by George Kinghorn, former deputy director and chief curator of the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art. On view will be 36 of these.

Through a generous donation, in 2004, Shared Vision became part of the permanent collection of the Foosaner Art Museum, Florida Institute of Technology. The donation was from the St. Augustine-Baracoa Friendship Association and James Quine, Theresa Segal, José Martí and Lissette Solórzano.

Segal is a southern photographer who studied the arts at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Southeast Center for Photographic Studies in Daytona Beach and the University of North Florida. Currently, Segal continues to live and work in St. Augustine.

Quine is a freelance photographer based in St. Augustine who has an established career photographing cultural, archeological, and historical subject matter for publication in books and magazines.He has traveled and photographed extensively throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Mexico.

Martí, born in Havana, Cuba, was inspired to pursue photography by his father, an artist and photographer. He began his career in 1968 under the tutelage of Alberto Korda, Cuba’s most well known photographer. Martí has exhibited in individual and group exhibitions nationally and internationally.

Solórzano was born in Santiago de Cuba, and later relocated to Havana. She has worked as a medical photographer, photojournalist, photo curator and graphic designer. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout Cuba as well as in Mexico, England, Italy and the U.S.

Through the lens of these four photographers, Baracoa’s unique landscape and people emerge. Kinghorn states, “…the distinctive styles of these photographers, whose images of rural farm areas, mammoth coconut groves, untouched rivers, historic streets, aging architecture and the spirited inhabitants of this rural area are rendered with clarity, respect and sensitivity.”

This project was originally funded by the St. Augustine-Baracoa Friendship Association, the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Showcasing the Havana oil painter, Cuban Daydreams: Dionel Delgado, displays his large-scale “magazine cover” paintings, which are reminiscent of Norman Rockwell’s style but depict everyday life in Cuba. A resident of Habana Vieja (Old Havana), his inspiration comes from the characters that inhabit the surrounding streets near his studio. His art, which appears on the covers of four different magazines published in Mexico, began as a graduate thesis project.

The Foosaner Art Museum is located at 1463 Highland Ave. in the Eau Gallie Arts District of Melbourne. Its hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; and Sunday 1-5 p.m. General admission is $5; $2, seniors, children and students with I.D.; free for museum members, Florida Tech faculty, staff and students with I.D. Thursdays are free for everyone.

Special rates and tours are available for groups of eight or more. For more information, call (321) 242-0737 or visit http://www.foosanerartmuseum.org/

Image credit: Jose Martí, Boy Throwing Top, 2003. From the series Shared Vision, photograph, 16 x 20 inches. Gift of St. Augustine-Baracoa Friendship Association, James Quine, Theresa Segal, José Martí, and Lissette Solórzano. Foosaner Art Museum Collection, Florida Institute of Technology.