FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 6, 2025
CONTACT:
Amber Sesnick, Director of Communications & Marketing
amber.sesnick@unf.edu // 904.620.3224
The Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville Releases Fall Calendar
Featuring Local Artists, a New Watercolor Workshop, and an Independent Filmmaking Series
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville, a cultural institute of the University of North Florida, announces its fall season of programs and exhibitions. The museum’s calendar features an emphasis on local art and artists and showcases Jacksonville’s place in the larger world of contemporary art. Programs have expanded with a new watercolor workshop, Watercolor Flow, led by local artist and educator Teresa Cook and IndieJAX, a local independent filmmaker screening series presented in collaboration with the Jacksonville Film and Television Office. On October 18, MOCA invites the community to its Fall Arts Celebration, a brunch-style event dedicated to all the new and current exhibitions as well as the announcement of the Jax Contemporary Arts Triennial Award winners. Find details and a full list of programs and exhibitions below.
CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS:
Ideas of Our Time: Robert Rauschenberg in Florida and the Moon Museum Aug 23 | 1 p.m.
This illustrated and insightful lecture with Jade Dellinger, Director of the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery, will explore a little-known chapter in the U.S.-Soviet Space Race and an art project unknown even to NASA astronauts. This event is presented in connection to the exhibition Honoring Robert Rauschenberg.
Ideas of Our Time: Art & Technology Roundtable with Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Michael Nardone Sep 13 | 11 a.m.
Presented in connection to Project Atrium: Spectral Subjects, this roundtable discussion is moderated by Senior Curator Ylva Rouse and features media artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and professor and scholar Michael Nardone. The group will explore how artists have long subverted the intended uses of different technologies, laying bare the ethical and moral impacts of the ever-increasing digital landscape.
New Program
Watercolor Flow Sep 27, Oct 25, Nov 22, Dec 27 | 1 p.m.
Local Artist and educator Teresa Cook leads this three-hour workshop for beginner and intermediate painters covering core techniques, creative exercises, and featuring a themed painting project each month.
Fall Arts Celebration Oct 18 | 12 p.m.
Meet the Project Atrium: Muralists in Action artists, celebrate the announcement of the Jax
Contemporary Arts Triennial Awards, and view Sebastian Vallejo: Where The Wild Zephyrs Sleep with the artist. This brunch-style opening will feature live music, light bites, and a cash bar.
Book Launch & Talk: The Armory South with Dr. P. Scott Brown Oct 29 | 7 p.m.
Join us for the launch of MOCA's newest catalog, The Armory South: The 1924 Jacksonville Woman's Club Exhibition Rediscovered, which provides an in-depth view of MOCA's current exhibition by the same name. This event will begin with a presentation by guest curator and author, Dr. P. Scott Brown in MOCA's Theater, followed by a book signing.
REMAINING PROGRAMMING:
Recurring Free Access
- Lobby & Project Atrium | Always free, including access to Setlan Coffee Co.
- UNF & FSCJ Students, Faculty, & Staff | Always free
- Library Cardholders | The last Friday of each month with a Jacksonville Public Library card
- Free Military Access Presented by CSX | Every day from Armed Forces Day through Veterans Day for families of active duty and former military, plus first responders
- Museum Nights @ MOCA | Every first and third Wednesday from 5-9 p.m.
Free Events During Museum Nights:
Ideas of Our Time: Jax Contemporary Artist Talks Sep 3, Oct 1, Nov 5 | 7 p.m.
Hear from the artists featured in Jax Contemporary MOCA Arts Triennial. This exhibition brings the artistic talent of Northeast Florida to the fore by celebrating the broad vitality of creative voices through the works of 64 artists working in a variety of media.
Sep 3 | Robert Dewitt Adams, d. lance vickery, Jenny Hager, and Erin Kendrick
Oct 1 | Susanne Schuenke Ph.D., Hillary Hogue, Tanner Pletzke, and Chip Southworth
Nov 5 | Yna Cruz, Laura Colomb, Holly Blanton, and Joshua Cooper
MOCA Free Movie Night | 6:30 p.m.
Sep 17 The Phoenician Scheme (2025)
Oct 15 Sinners (2025)
Nov 19 Mur Murs (1981)
IndieJAX: Local Independent Filmmaker Screening Series Dec 17 | 6:30 p.m.
In collaboration with the Jacksonville Film and Television Office, IndieJAX is a new series celebrating local filmmaking in Jacksonville. The December event will feature short films from three different artists, followed by a conversation with the filmmakers. The films will be announced later this fall, after a selection committee has chosen the finalists.
Art of the Figure
Sep 20, Oct 4 & 18, Nov 11, Dec 6 & 20 | 3 p.m.
Figure drawing workshop with local artist and educator William McMahan open to all experience levels and featuring a live model.
Artful Movement
Aug 17, Sep 21, Oct 19, Nov 16, Dec 21 | 11 a.m.
In collaboration with local non-profit Yoga 4 Change, Artful Movement is an all-levels yoga class that takes place in the galleries at MOCA Jacksonville.
Coffee with a Curator: Sebastian Vallejo with Ian Carey
Oct 4 | 11 a.m.
Enjoy drinks and snacks from Setlan Coffee and dive into the details about Sebastian Vallejo's exhibition Where The Wild Zephyrs Sleep with UNF Galleries Director Ian Carey.
Jazz in the Afternoon
Sep 7 & Dec 7 | 2 p.m.
These performances are presented in partnership with the John Lumpkin Institute and feature local musicians. Enjoy drinks from the bar, SoulFULL Eats charcuterie "Board in a Box," or treats from Setlan Coffee.
MOCA Winter Market
Nov 29 | 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
As a part of Shop Small Saturday, MOCA will feature local tabling artists and creators presenting a variety of unique goods.
Seize the Clay & Ceramics Open Studio
Aug 9 & 23, Sep 13 & 27, Oct 11 & 25, Nov 8 & 22, Dec 13 & 27 | 2 p.m.
Develop your hand building and glazing skills in Seize the Clay, a recurring class for artists of all abilities. Low-fire clay, tools, and basic glaze options are provided. Ceramics Open Studio is self-led and includes access to throwing wheels and kiln firing.
Studio Practice: Introduction to Film Photography with Tanner Pletzke
Sep 13 | 12 p.m.
Through straight-talk lecture and hands-on demonstrations of film photography practices, Pletzke offers MOCA students the opportunity not only to understand their film camera's functions, buttons, and levers, but to understand the magic of the chemistry and physics taking place inside the camera.
Studio Practice: Pinhole Camera Photography with Tanner Pletzke
Oct 11 | 12 p.m.
In this class, students will construct a pinhole camera. Groups will set up their cameras in the windows of the MOCA classrooms while Pletzke teaches exposure basics and explains what's happening inside. At the end of the class students will develop their negatives to reveal the shadow of the image they just took.
Studio Practice: Mixed Media Collage with Austin Lightholder, UNF AIR
Dec 13 | 12 p.m.
Participants in this workshop will work with MOCA's current Student Artist-in-Residence, Austin Lightholder, to learn about his unique collage techniques. The workshop will include instructions in simple media layering, including custom paper cutouts, photography, and incorporating paint, oil marker, and other media.
EXHIBITIONS
Project Atrium: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Spectral Subjects
Presented by Joan and Preston Haskell
Spectral Subjects is a thermal observatory—a constantly updating map of the room’s temperature, projected in the round using state of the art thermographic cameras. The piece is a call to think of the human body as a continuum with the environment around us. Through Sep 14, 2025
Honoring Rauschenberg
We commemorate American artist Robert Rauschenberg for his 100th birthday, celebrating his expansive creativity, spirit of curiosity, and commitment to change. His artistic practice revolved around integrating “the real world” and incorporating found objects into his art. Through Sep 7, 2025
Jax Contemporary: MOCA Jacksonville Arts Triennial
Presented by Dolf and Anna James
Jax Contemporary brings the artistic talent of Northeast Florida to the fore by celebrating the broad vitality of creative voices through the works of 64 artists working in a variety of media. Don’t forget to cast your vote for the People’s Choice Award by Sep 1! Through Nov 9, 2025
The Armory South: The 1924 Jacksonville Woman’s Club Exhibition Rediscovered
This exhibition reassembles core works from a seminal 1924 Modernist exhibition mounted by the Woman’s Club of Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Fine Arts Society (now MOCA). The Armory South contributes to the stories of the introduction of Modernism to the American South, the history of women in Modern art, and the ideas and relationships shaping American art in the 1920s. Through Nov 23, 2025
Sebastian Vallejo: Where The Wild Zephyrs Sleep
The internationally recognized artist is known for his dynamic and evocative artwork reflecting his Puerto Rican heritage, celebrating bold color and symbolic imagery, and addressing the nuanced dialogue regarding Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. Commonwealth nation. Sep 6, 2025 – Feb 22, 2026
Art with a Heart in Healthcare: The Art of Music
Art with a Heart in Healthcare provides art experiences to support the healing process for patients and families at local hospitals. The Art of Music features guitars transformed by patients from Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital into visual interpretations of their favorite songs. Sep 14, 2025 – Jan 11, 2026
Project Atrium: Muralists in Action
Conceived as an exhibition accompanying Jax Contemporary, Muralists in Action showcases the vibrant muralist scene of Jacksonville. Led by veteran artists Shaun Thurston and Dustin Harewood, authors and collaborators of many murals around town, a group of apprentices and students will transform the Atrium Gallery into an engaging mural. During the run of the exhibition, observe how the work progresses, culminating in a final work of art. Sep 22, 2025 – Feb 15, 2026
Whitney Oldenburg: left behind
Whitney Oldenburg’s work explores the boundary between subject and object, unraveling the reciprocal relationship between humans and materials. She is interested in how we form attachments to material things—not only to their functions, but the way they alleviate, fit in, or make sense of our lives—and how objects, in turn, become symbolic. Nov 20, 2025 – Apr 19, 2026
Photography in the MOCA Collection
Tracing an historical arc, this exhibition explores groundbreaking contributions to photography by artists in the early 20th century, such as Imogene Cunningham and Edward Weston, as well as other defining decades in the history of the medium through to our time when digital formats and computer enhanced images have become the norm. Dec 6, 2025 – Jul 5, 2026
MEDIA PORTAL
To schedule interviews or request additional content, please reach out to Amber Sesnick, Director of Communications and Marketing at MOCA Jacksonville at amber.sesnick@unf.edu or 904-620-3224. Jade Delinger, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, and Michael Nardone are available for interview via phone or Zoom. Press releases, images, and credit lines related to each talk can be found through the link below:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/p8szug3ke2n7px4u4f8wl/AB2NZ0REDPXo6yeD_hW--Ys?rlkey=88nokyqu649o0tyolm8lxszrj&st=gr20kr8l&dl=0
ABOUT MOCA JACKSONVILLE
Located in the heart of historic Downtown, the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville is one of the city’s most significant cultural assets. As the oldest art museum in Northeast Florida and one of the first contemporary art museums to be established in the United States, MOCA is focused on promoting the discovery, knowledge, and advancement of the art, artists, and ideas of our time.
In 1924, a group of visionary local women artists came together to imagine the kind of city they wanted Jacksonville to be — the kind of community they wanted to live in and be a part of. At the core of their vision for a rich, vital, dynamic city were art, culture, and education. Thus, what we now call MOCA Jacksonville was born — first as a series of exhibitions by artists of the day, used as a fundraising tool to support public school education; then as a guild; and later as an art museum and educational leader. In 2009, MOCA became a cultural institute of the University of North Florida and in 2025 the museum became one of only three percent of museums to achieve accreditation through the American Alliance of Museums, the highest national recognition afforded to American museums. More than a century later, MOCA’s mission remains focused on the art, artists, and ideas of our time, with a vision that unites education, creativity, and community building in the heart of downtown Jacksonville.
Among the most prominent contemporary art museums in the Southeast, MOCA’s exhibitions and programs set the pace for arts and art-integrated programming on a regional and national stage, with an emphasis on works created from 1960 to the present. Renowned in this community, MOCA casts the spotlight on Jacksonville as a burgeoning, vital arts destination.
For more information including hours of operation, admission prices and upcoming exhibitions and programs, call 904.366.6911 or visit mocajacksonville.unf.edu.
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EMILY BAILEY (she/her)
COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING COORDINATOR
W: 904-620-5624 // e.bailey@unf.edu
MOCA JACKSONVILLE
University of North Florida
333 North Laura Street, Jacksonville, Florida 32202
Follow @mocajax
MOCAJACKSONVILLE.UNF.EDU