Sit and chat with artist Emil Alzamora, curators Jenny Hager and Lance Vickery, and MOCA Senior Curator Ylva Rouse, and learn more about Emil Alzamora: Starship Abundance during Coffee with a Curator. Enjoy drinks and snacks from Setlan Coffee and dive into the details about this multidisciplinary exhibition, intended “as a nod to the seemingly unending richness that abounds on planet Earth.”

This exhibition takes place in the UNF Gallery at MOCA Jacksonville, which is programmed in collaboration with the Department of Art, Art History, and Design at the University of North Florida (UNF). The exhibition is made possible by support from the Devereux family and presented in conjunction with the Barbara Ritzman Devereux Visiting Artist Workshops at UNF. Admission is free on Saturdays thanks to the generous support of VyStar Credit Union, and attendees are encouraged to explore the museum after the program.

Non-Members $15 | MOCA Members FREE* | UNF Students, Faculty, and Staff FREE

If you would like to claim the MOCA Member discount on programs, and additional perks such as complimentary parking and invites to exclusive events, become a MOCA Member today.

*The MOCA Member price does not include NARM and SEMC reciprocal members. Reciprocal members receive free general admission at MOCA Jacksonville.

Space is limited. Registration is required. Questions? Contact mocaeducation@unf.edu.

ABOUT EMIL ALZAMORA

Alzamora is best known for his sculpture, where he employs a wide range of materials and techniques to explore the human form, both physically and psychologically. Combining his unrelenting curiosity for materials with an intuitive sense for conveying emotionally charged imagery, his hands-on approach brings forth notions of transience, beauty, harmony, uncertainty, and hope, delivering unexpected interpretations of the sculpted human figure.

“I am interested in presenting the human figure as though seen through a myriad of filters which might reveal the often unseen forces that affect our lives in subtle ways.”

Alzamora’s works have been exhibited in numerous institutions worldwide, including The Queens Museum of Art, Queens, New York; The Knoxville Museum of Art in Knoxville, TN, The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY; The Museum of Biblical Art, Dallas; The United Nations Building, New York; and the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol, UK. In 2014, he was the recipient of two major outdoor commissions, one on the Hudson River waterfront in Peekskill, New York, and another at Seolbong Park. Icheon, South Korea.

ABOUT JENNY HAGER

Jenny K. Hager is Chair of the Department of Art, Art History and Design and a professor of Sculpture at the University of North Florida, where she has been teaching since 2006. She received her MFA in Sculpture and Digital Media from San Jose State University in San Jose, CA. Interested in a variety of processes and materials, including steel, cast iron, post-it notes, video, wood, digital photography and found objects, she finds inspiration in dreams, objects from her childhood, gadgets, sea life and other curiosities. She is also very interested in collaboration; the spirit of community important in both her teaching practice and in her own work.

Hager’s work has been exhibited across the country and recently in the Cymru Ironstone Castle Exhibition in Wales, the Pedvale Open-Air Art Museum in Latvia and Il Giardino di Daniel Spoerri in Seggiano, Italy. Flight Lab, a video installation by Hager, has traveled to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans and York, Pennsylvania. Hager’s most recent series “Second Line” celebrates diversity of culture, individual storytelling and the spirit of the Second Line tradition of New Orleans parade culture. In this series, Hager creates large-scale parade animals inspired by the Chinese zodiac and infused with a personal narrative.

ABOUT LANCE VICKERY

Lance Vickery is an Associate Professor of Sculpture in the Department of Art & Design. Lance has been teaching at UNF since Fall 2007. During that time he has worked to improve the Sculpture Program through new course offerings, collaborations and public art projects.

Aesthetically, Lance's work balances between formalist aesthetics and conceptual considerations of materials. His sculpture concentrates on the tension between interiority and exteriority, both metaphorically and physically. These ideas manifest themselves in the process, materials and concepts.

ABOUT MOCA SENIOR CURATOR YLVA ROUSE

Ylva Rouse joined MOCA in May 2019 from New Orleans, where she moved in 2007 to launch Prospect.1, the citywide international arts triennial founded by Dan Cameron in order to bring positive attention to New Orleans following hurricane Katrina. She served as the Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs for the organization until 2017, when she would lead the implementation of its fourth edition, Prospect.4. as Interim Director. Prior to her tenure at Prospect, Rouse worked as Curator in Madrid, Spain, working with artists such as Elena del Rivero, Pepe Espaliú, Liam Gillick, Jenny Holzer, Alex Katz, or Jeff Wall. During her years as Exhibitions Curator at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, she organized touring retrospectives of work by among others Robert Ryman, Gerhard Richter, Agnes Martin, Richard Serra and Joan Miró, as well as serving as Project Director for the seminal exhibitions El Jardin Salvaje (The Savage Garden) at the Caixa Foundation and Cocido y Crudo (The Cooked and the Raw) at the Reina Sofia Museum. Rouse holds a B.A. in Music and Art, and Master Studies from New York University.

With the firm belief in art as a force for change, she has been active throughout her career curating and writing about art. She has immersed herself in the communities where she has lived, both as advisor and collaborator, participating in diverse arts projects and initiatives with local organizations, community centers, and universities; always in pursuit of spreading the understanding and enjoyment of the modern and contemporary arts and to bring awareness of the importance of nurturing the creative spirit, both as individuals and as community.