Lakeland Day Trip: Medici Art Exhibit & Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture Tour with Ruth Grim

Wednesday, April 1, 2026 | 9:00am - 5:30pm

Join OMAM Guest Curator Ruth Grim on this bus trip to downtown Lakeland to visit The Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art with a guided tour of The Medici Dynasty: Renaissance in Florence exhibition.

Tracing the trials and tribulations of the legendary Medici dynasty and their influence, power, and patronage over the Italian Renaissance, this evocative exhibition arrives in the United States for the first time, offering visitors to The AGB a rare opportunity to experience over 60 paintings of Renaissance portraiture and artifacts from the Stibbert Museum in Florence, Italy.

After a short lunch break, we'll head to the campus of Florida Southern College for a 90-minute, guided tour to view all 13 structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959). Additionally, the interiors of the Annie Pfeiffer Chapel, the E.T. Roux Library, and the new Usonian Faculty House are visited, allowing you to explore their timeless beauty from within.

Considered by many to be the greatest of all American architects, Wright pioneered a style of “organic architecture” that connects buildings harmoniously with the natural landscape around them. Twenty-eight of Wright’s projects are National Historic Landmarks, including the campus of Florida Southern College. From the date of Wright’s first visit to the Florida Southern campus in 1938, he delivered 18 unique and distinctive building designs over the course of more than 20 years, longer than any other commission in his career. Thirteen of his proposed structures were funded and built, one of them posthumously. This easily makes Florida Southern the world’s largest single-site collection of Wright’s architecture for one client, as well as his only executed design for a college campus.

Our chartered bus will depart from OMAM promptly at 9:00am and will return back to OMAM by 5:30pm. The (non-refundable) trip registration fee ($95 OMAM Museum/Guild members; $115 Future Members) covers all tour/admission fees, bus transportation to and from Ormond Beach, and Ruth's discussions during the ride. Participants are responsible for paying for their own meals, and other expenses. 

Tentative Trip Itinerary

April 1, 2026

• 9:00AM: depart OMAM
• 11:00AM: arrive at Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum
• 11:30AM: docent tour
• 12:30PM: lunch (restaurant TBD)
• 1:30PM: board bus
• 1:45PM: arrive at Florida Southern College
• 2:00PM: Frank Lloyd Wright Tour
• 3:30PM: depart Lakeland
• 5:30PM: arrive at OMAM

About the Curator

Ruth Grim has a Master of Arts from the New York University Institute of Fine Arts with a specialization in 18th and 19th century European art. Her museum career spans 32 years of curatorial work throughout the state including 18 years at the Bass Museum in Miami Beach, seven years at the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, and more than six years as chief curator at the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Daytona Beach.