Art in Orlando

Orlando is synonymous with big, world-renowned destinations that celebrate popular culture. But long before Mickey Mouse discovered Central Florida, artists and their affluent sponsors were drawn to the balmy climate and exotic landscape. Their work and collections are at the heart of several small art museums in the Orlando area. These gems are familiar to art-loving locals, but often little known to shuttle bus visitors who flock to the area. Discover Orlando with a bus, coach bus, party bus, mini bus, passenger coach or school bus chartered from Shuttle Bus Companies, and prepared to be amazed.

The permanent collection at the Orlando Museum of Art includes African pottery and textiles; American art by such notables as Georgia O'Keefe, Ansel Adams, Robert Rauchsenberg and John Singer Sargent; pre-Columbian art; and ancient pieces from the American Southwest. In addition, it offers Orlando shuttle bus visitors a variety of visiting exhibits year-round. The museum's mission is to be an educational resource for the community. The museum shop highlights the work of an individual in-state artist each month, allowing patrons to buy a piece of contemporary Florida art.

The Mennello Museum of American Art is named in honor of Marilyn and Michael Mennello, who acquired a large collection of paintings by Earl Cunningham, recognized as a major 20th century folk artist. Tropical scenes from his travels and his sojourn in Florida inspired his fauvist paintings. Since his death in 1977, Cunningham's work has been acquired by major museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Museum of American Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Mennellos donated their paintings to the city of Orlando. The Mennello Museum, situated on a lake in Loch Haven Park, was built to house the collection. The museum also hosts a number of diverse exhibitions during the year.

The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art is home to what Vivienne Couldrey, author of "The Art of Louis Comfort Tiffany," has called "the most important collection of Tiffany material in the world today." Located a short shuttle bus ride away in Winter Park, a northeastern suburb in the Orlando metropolitan area, the museum has many of the windows, mosaics and furnishings from the chapel Tiffany created for the 1893 World's Exposition in Chicago. The museum's collection also includes decorative arts from the Arts and Crafts movement, the European Art Deco movement, and paintings by noted American and European artists.

Albin Polasek was a Czech-born sculptor who settled in the United States and headed the department of sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago for 30 years. In 1949, he retired to an elegant home in Winter Park, an Orlando suburb, and became an avid gardener and art collector. The home and three-acre garden are now the setting for more than 200 of his sculptures and other pieces by noted artists, and open for viewing by shuttle bus visitors. The museum is one of only 30 included on the National Trust's Historic Artists' Home and Studios list. The gardens serve as a backdrop for both artistic and musical events.

Orlando’s art scene is exciting and vibrant, as you will discover on your shuttle bus rented from Shuttle Bus Companies. Shuttle Bus Companies has a range of shuttle buses that can cater to any shuttle bus group’s travel needs, and their friendly and efficient staff will help organize your shuttle bus trip with a smile.