ORLANDO — If you’re an artist in Central Florida, are you also a pollinator?
And does your art practice cultural kindness?
Those questions, and the clever concepts behind them, are at the core of Art Pollination, a new exhibition at The Mennello Museum Of American Art that showcases the works of artist Juan William Chávez. This exhibit, which opened at the Mennello on Oct. 10 and will be on display at the Loch Haven Park museum through Jan. 25, 2026, is part of a series of creative projects in Orlando using art to engage area residents to explore solutions to an age-old challenge: fighting hunger and poverty.
“Orlando is a city that embraces the power of art to inspire,” the Mennello team emphasizes in the liner notes for this special exhibit, “to bring us together, and to raise awareness about important community issues. That’s what Art Pollination is all about.”
Chávez’ ‘s rich exhibit takes a multimedia approach to raising awareness, using a mix of drawings, embroidery, and artifacts from Peru to create a theme around a united collaboration to combat hunger. It’s an exhibit that, as the City of Orlando notes, joins Central Florida’s going efforts to elevate food justice through creativity.
What is the Exhibit Art Pollination?
This mix of social justice and art started when the City of Orlando got a $1 million grant from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge, a program designed to help city officials and artists launch temporary public art projects that address community issues such as hunger and social justice.
Orlando used the funds to launch Art Pollination: Building Food Justice through Creativity as a long-term project that aims to inspire residents to focus on solutions to hunger.
“The artists participating in Art Pollination will lend their creative skills to create art installations that bring attention to the work our nonprofit partners are doing to help solve hunger-related challenges in Orlando,” the City notes on its website.
As the Mennello Museum stresses, Chávez was chosen because of his ongoing focus on using art as a tool for social justice, through a series of works that “reflect a specific archaeology of place and explore how the environment fosters creativity through the cross-pollination of art and ideas. The exhibition showcases dozens of artworks and ideas that serve as ‘pollinators’ of art and well-being, rooted in the concept of generosity.
“The exhibition presents a year of workshops in Orlando as intentional gestures of cultural kindness,” Mennello added.
How Does Chávez Convey Social Justice?
One of the fascinating aspects of Chávez’s art is his use of the bee as pollinator, a process essential for the fertilization of plants. One of his drawings of the bee, sketched in dark black lines with red coloring inside it, immediately reminded me of Franz Kafka and his enduring masterpiece The Metamorphosis, the tale of salesman Gregor Samsa waking up one morning to discover he’s been transformed into a giant insect. The comparison works in another way: Kafka was the author of “The Hunger Artist,” the story of a hunger artist in a traveling circus who performs in an empty cage for curious spectators, assuring them he lives but does not eat – for a while, anyway. Hunger, after all, is the Art Pollination theme as well.
Through vivid works such as “Basement Birds” and “Food Is Medicine,” Chávez connects art and ecology, art and nature. It’s notable that the bee becomes his mascot here, since the artist also created a Native Bee Sanctuary as a teaching garden that supports native bees.
His work at the Mennello Museum beautifully taps into our wonder and appreciation for nature, and how its beauty can inspire us to tackle the challenges we face in our urban areas. It’s a fascinating exhibit.
Where Can I See Art Pollination?
Art Pollination by Juan William Chávez is now on display at The Mennello Museum of American Art, 900 E. Princeton St. in Orlando’s Loch Haven Park. The exhibit will be available now through Jan. 25, 2026.
The Mennello Museum also has a gift shop, offers tours, and has a gorgeous setting where guests can explore the lake at Loch Haven Park. To learn more, call (407) 246-4278.
The City of Orlando will also host an Art Pollination: Local Artist Exhibition and Opening Reception on Thursday, Nov. 20 from 6-9 p.m. Patrons can join 20+ Central Florida artists as they celebrate the opening of Art Pollination: Building Food Justice through Creativity, a new art exhibition at City Arts, 39 S. Magnolia Ave. in Downtown Orlando.
Michael Freeman is an Orlando journalist, playwright, and author of the book A Christmas Eve Story. Contact him at Freelineorlando@gmail.com.
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