In this first installation of works on long-term loan from the collection of the Woodsby family, we start appropriately at the beginning, with the rise of the Highwaymen and a focus on the two founding figures of this much-loved yet under-sung art movement, Alfred Hair and Harold Newton.

We’re So Glad You’re Here is our welcome party for works that are new to us — and to our audiences — and features recent loans and recent acquisitions of artists well-known and under-sung, across media, and many on view at The AGB for the first time. 

As explored in this exhibition of ceramic works from the Museum’s permanent collection, some objects on view have survived for millennia and offer us a connection to peoples across time, both those who produced these works and those who used or displayed them. The works also link us to the history of visual culture, wherein artists use imagery — abstract, representational, or otherwise — to entice our eyes or even to tell stories.

From the 1960s onward, as this exhibition of works from the Museum’s permanent collection seeks to demonstrate, American artists leapt into the void left by a Europe in reconstruction, staking their places in art history in ways American art had never before.

Artwork by Polk County Middle School Students, Grades 6 through 8

In our galleries this fall, Surreal Scenarios: The Art of Susanne Schuenke invites visitors to explore the imaginative and thought-provoking works of a narrative surrealist painter. Through intricate detail, vibrant color palettes, and layers of allegorical imagery, Schuenke’s paintings blur the lines between conscious and unconscious realms offering visitors a glimpse into the psyche of an artist who dares to imagine beyond the ordinary.

Tracing the trials and tribulations of the legendary Medici dynasty and their influence, power, and patronage over the Italian Renaissance, this evocative exhibition arrives in the United States for the first time, offering visitors to The AGB a rare opportunity to experience over 60 paintings of Renaissance portraiture and artifacts from the Stibbert Museum in Florence, Italy.

Artwork by Polk County High School Students, Grades 9 through 12

Harrison School for the Arts Senior Showcase

The Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art is excited to announce that it will be hosting the nationally-renowned 103rd annual Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for the Polk County, Florida Art Region.

Artwork by Polk County Students, Grades 3 through 5

Artwork by Polk County Students, Grades K through 12