Mennello Museum of American Art unveils new exhibition celebrating Orlando artists
Tasanee Durrett, (b. 1994 Chicago, IL), Oceanic Origins, 2025. Ink and acrylic on canvas. 48 x 48 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
ORLANDO, FLA.—
The Mennello Museum of American Art announced the opening of Our Orlando: Tasanee Durrett, Martha Jo Mahoney, and Mado Smith, from May 15 to August 16, 2026.
The exhibition, the fourth iteration of Our Orlando celebrated series, is an exhibition program that presents remarkable art by Orlando artists at exciting junctures in their careers, particularly generative practices, curated from the artists' studios to support and share their unique contributions to Orlando's cultural scene and to give visitors a platform that underscores the essential role artists play in Orlando.
Shannon Fitzgerald, executive director of the Mennello Museum, states:
We are delighted to share the rich and compelling work of three exciting Orlando artists, celebrating local makers who are dedicated and vital to our community. Our goal is to highlight outstanding work. Three artists from two generations, with diverse backgrounds, interests, and experiences, offer meaningful reflections on our community.
Tasanee Durrett examines the traditional and natural relationships among humans, plants, and our oceans across cultures and history, visually emphasizing human connections across societies and our reliance on natural resources. Martha Jo Mahoney creates emotionally powerful abstract paintings with subtle references and symbols, often capturing life's fleeting nature through bold gestures, dynamic lines, and vibrant colors. Mado Smith highlights the human figure in harmony with nature. From murals to small, intimate works, he creates fresh, striking, and positive contrasts in which both human form and its environment are celebrated, illuminated, and slightly exaggerated for emphasis.
Tasanee Durrett’s work explores the African diaspora through illustration and material culture, emphasizing figuration and storytelling. She’s developing a unique visual language that is personal, grounded in her internal journeys and experiences. Although autobiographical, her work expresses themes of longing and belonging that extend beyond her individual story and sense of self. She works primarily with line - the sharp, flowing black marks that seem to stretch and define the figure, portrait, or persona. Portraits reveal and develop their stories before being enhanced with flora and fauna, crowned with oceanic organic forms, and decorated with lush headdresses. By emphasizing color and pattern through exaggeration and perspective, she offers figurative glimpses of characters that blend confidence, assertion, and a joyful presence.
Originally from Chicago and educated as an architect, Durrett states she explores the “journey of self-discovery and well-being through abstract figurative work by infusing vibrant flora, natural elements, subtle architectural nuances, intricate line work, and aboriginal patterns to pay homage to [her] Afro-Indigenous heritage while reconnecting with the natural world.”
Martha Jo Mahoney has spent many years creating abstract paintings that appear in notable collections, reflecting her deep connection to nature, the Florida landscape, and light through vivid brushwork and color. Her work conveys emotion through abstract forms, capturing transient moments from culture, society, or personal experience with expressive gesture, line, and color. Her quick, gestural approach allows her to explore themes from her travels, current moments, and landscapes—some feeling new and fleeting, others familiar and intimate. Rooted in nature, her visual language uses vibrant colors, bold brushwork, and animated gestures to produce lush, subdued, or energetic compositions.
Mahoney has long been a leader in the arts in Orlando, sharing studio space with Orlando’s longest established and largest professional artist collective, McRae Art Studio, along with some of Orlando's foremost artists over the years (Marty Whipple, Jackie Otto Miller, Chris Robb, Nancy Jay, Rima Jabbur Macksoud, and Robert Ross). She is part of a broad painterly discourse in Orlando, and her work from the last two years is vibrant, meaningful, and a strong assembly of artistic excellence.
Tasanee Durrett and Martha Jo Mahoney are curated by Shannon Fitzgerald, Executive Director, Mennello Museum of American Art.
Mado Smith emphasizes the human figure in harmony with nature. From murals to small, intimate works, he creates fresh, striking contrasts that celebrate and illuminate both the human form and its environment, often exaggerating elements for emphasis. In his new body of work, entitled Host, Smith invites viewers into environments shaped by his unique visual language. This approach honors nature and explores the interconnected relationships between human and animal bodies within shared spaces. Smith is interested in how the environment holds memories, presenting lyrical moments in which the past and present converge, and the boundaries between the physical and the spiritual feel particularly close. Through vibrant colors and layered compositions, he encourages viewers to reflect on their role in the world and how they care for it. His work prompts us to consider our responsibilities towards ourselves and our surroundings, emphasizing themes of coexistence, stewardship, and the lasting impact we leave behind.
Smith has made Orlando his creative home and built a successful public art career that is deeply rooted in community and place. Inspired by southern ecosystems, folk traditions, and the layering of multiple histories, Smith aims to uncover and convey a positive mystery through his blending of textures, imagery, and symbolic language. The resulting pieces feel like artifacts of a lost but familiar world.
Mado Smith is guest curated for the Mennello Museum of American Art by Flynn Dobbs, Public Art Coordinator, City of Orlando
