Connecting the Community: Maitland and Eatonville

ORLANDO, Nov. 7, 2005 - The University of Central Florida Libraries and the African-American Studies Program are co-sponsoring Connecting the Community: Maitland and Eatonville, a series of exhibits and events build around the Maitland Art Center's traveling exhibit Connecting Andre Smith and Zora Neale Hurston: Maitland and Eatonville as Joining Communities.

This culturally diverse and education exhibition features 12 paintings by the Maitland Art Center's founder, visionary artist and architect, Andre Smith (1880-1959). The paintings depict Eatonville in the 1930's and 40's, and are accompanied by text panels of Eatonville folklore and photographs. It explores the relationship between these two artists, their creative endeavors, and their respective communities.

The exhibition, originally held at the Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts in Eatonville in 2001, a joint project between the Maitland Art Center and Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc., was curated by the brilliant late cultural historian Dr. Beverly Robinson of U.C.L.A. Other supplemental exhibits created for the University of Central Florida Libraries by the Maitland Historical Society and UCF faculty, explore the Maitland community and Hurston's literary legacy.

Zora Neale Hurston grew up in Eatonville where the creative and inquisitive spirit that inspired her to write was nurtured. Hurston attended Howard University where she studied English, then won a scholarship to Barnard College in New York. She explored anthropology and folklore under the direction of Franz Boaz, and received fellowships to do ethnographic work in the Southern U.S., Haiti, and the West Indies.Hurston's work, much of which is deeply rooted in Eatonville, has inspired this community, as well as people all over the country, to study and celebrate the richness of African American folklore.

The UCF Library is open to the public and the UCF community seven days a week, excepting major and university holidays. The exhibits are located on the main (2nd) floor of the Library. For more information or to RSVP for an event, please call 407-823-2576 or e-mail speccoll@mail.ucf.edu.

DATE
November 7, 2005

CONTACT
Special Collections Dept
407-823-2576
speccoll@mail.ucf.edu

DOWNLOADS
Call For Papers (PDF)

LINKS
Special Collections
African American Studies
Maitland Art Center