What is the Heritage Collection? click here!      For a list of programs and driving directions, please click here.

Crealdé School of Art presents the Visiting Exhibition Series, a visually and culturally rich experience of African-American themed artwork, including folk art, photography, painting, quilt-making, and historic works by famous African-American artists.

Currently at the Heritage Center Gallery till July 7...

Against All Odds:
The Original Highwaymen Painters

Image by Mr. James Gibson, one of the original Highwaymen

Against All Odds: The Original Highwaymen Painters, represents 19
of the original Fort Pierce Highwaymen artists. It chronicles a group of African-American men and women, who, in the midst of the deepest segregation of the post-war era, found success through their paintings depicting Florida’s natural landscapes, beautified the world and became part of Florida’s cultural history.

Curated by noted Highwaymen collector Geoff Cook.
On loan from the Orange County Regional History Center.

Click here to see the complete James Gibson story.

2009 Exhibition Schedule

Sacred Places, Sacred History:
Black Churches of West Winter Park
July 16 – September 26, 2009.

Opening Reception: Thursday, July 16, 5:00–8:00 p.m. during the 3rd Thursday Hannibal Square Stroll.

Black church historian Rebekah McCloud, Ed.D. University of Central Florida, was the winner of the 2003/04 Rhea Marsh and Dorothy Lockhard Smith Research Grant from the Winter Park Public Library. With this funding, McCloud conducted research, wrote educational panels and paired them with photographs to create Sacred Places, Sacred History: Black Churches of West Winter Park. The exhibition explores and provides insight into the rich history of west Winter Park’s churches and the important role they have played in community life.

Linda Schäpper: Central Florida Folk Art Painter of Historic and Sacred Scenes, Oct. 6 – Dec. 19, 2009

Opening Reception: Thursday, Oct. 15, 5–8:00 p.m.
during the Third Thursday Hannibal Square Stroll

Folk Art painter Linda Schäpper is most widely recognized for her “Family of Christ” tapestry—an enormous patchwork of human figures encircling Jesus on the cross that became the spiritual backdrop for Pope John Paul II’s landmark October 1995 mass in New York’s Central Park and for her “Nativity II” which became the 1998 UNICEF Christmas card.

Linda Schäpper: Central Florida Folk Art Painter of Historic and Sacred Scenes is an exhibition of paintings depicting African-American community life from a historic perspective.

August 22-23
Visiting Artist Workshop with Linda Schäpper.
In preparation for her Heritage Center exhibition, Linda will conduct a workshop for Hannibal Square residents
to create paintings based on personal photographs
and a collaborative piece to be added to the collection
of the Heritage Center.
Presented through funding from the Orange County Government Tourist Development Grant program.

For more information, call 407-539-2680

Memory Wall now on display
In 2008, Mr. Imagination, (on right, top row) a Pennsylvania-based folk artist, worked with groups of children and Winter Park community members to create The Hannibal Square Memory Wall, a sculpture in front of the Heritage Center. The concrete wall contains Mr. Imagination's characteristic hands, face, and angels, as well as mementos that reflect cultural heritage, personal history and neighborhood pride.

Hannibal Square Heritage Center: rediscover your heritage and neighborhood!

The real impact of the Hannibal Square Heritage Center lives in the heartbeat of the community. The mission of the center is to inspire residents and visitors alike to participate in and celebrate their own community’s history. Through learning about the story and contributions of the West Winter Park community, residents young and old have the opportunity to reconnect and learn about their own neighborhood’s history, and people from everywhere, not just Central Florida or Winter Park, will be moved to explore their own.
   Visitors may tour the many exhibitions and programs offered at the new facility including the Family History Research Library, and the beautiful historic photographs and oral histories that comprise the much celebrated Heritage Collection. Also on view is a carefully researched historical timeline highlighting contributions, successes and hardships of the city’s African American community from the arrival of the first settlers to Winter Park in 1858 to the recent dramatic redevelopment of Hannibal Square.

The Family History Research Library houses the collected family histories of West Winter Park residents, and displays photographs of the 2007 Unity Heritage Festival Feature Family, The Zanders. It is open to the public and staffed by research experts to assist patrons in researching their own family history.

Through innovative programming in the arts and humanities, The Heritage Center is a neighborhood focal point, archive, and home to the Heritage Collection: Photographs and Oral Histories of West Winter Park. Staffed by community docents, the center is hosting art classes for children, adults, and seniors, traveling exhibitions, family history research and cultural programs with a focus on local history, cultural preservation, and southern folklore. These are offered in partnership with area academic institutions and other not-for-profit organizations.

In partnership with the community and the City of Winter Park’s Community Redevelopment Agency, Crealdé School of Art operates the Heritage Center under a 30-year lease as a tribute to the past, present and future contributions of Winter Park’s African American community.