As the University of North Florida (UNF) celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville, “FIFTY: An Alumni Exhibition,” showcases the work of 50 practicing professional artists who graduated from UNF’s Department of Art, Art History, and Design. The exhibition is the first of its kind, highlighting UNF alumni in a comprehensive way and showcasing the strength of the university’s programs.
The artists chosen for this exhibition work across a breadth of media—from photography to painting, filmmaking to ceramics, and sculpture to printmaking—and come from the graduating classes of 1985 through 2022. It makes for an exciting exhibition that displays a great variety of art forms and sensibilities that illustrate the wide variety of disciplines and career paths alumni have found success in after graduation and illuminates the strength of the faculty whose passion supported students in their education.
“This exhibition is very personal to me,” says Louise Freshman Brown, exhibition cocurator and UNF Distinguished Professor Emerita. “I taught and supported many of these artists while they earned their degrees and have followed their work since. It is such a tribute to UNF and MOCA that we were able to put this show together and for the community to see the impact both organizations have had on the local and national arts communities.”
