For many in Easton’s arts community, Ernest Cox was not only a respected sculptor but also a teacher, mentor, and neighbor whose influence helped shape the creative culture of the Eastern Shore. The Academy Art Museum is honoring that legacy with A Fragile Symbiosis: The Sculpture of Ernest Cox, the most comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work in nearly thirty years.
On view through May 24, 2026, the exhibition celebrates the life and artistic career of Cox (1937–2024), bringing together more than 20 mixed-media sculptures that trace the full arc of his creative vision—from his early “Slab Series,” wall-mounted works fashioned from fabricated and salvaged metal, to his intricate later multi-part assemblages.
“I consider most of my sculpture a fragile symbiosis,” Cox said in a 2017 reflection on his work. “I want it to achieve a visual sensuality which is at once part of, and independent of, ‘other’ content. That pure visual quality is perhaps less at the heart of my work now than at the beginning, but for me it still provides a critical transformation.”
Throughout his career, Cox worked in a variety of materials, including terra cotta, concrete, bronze, iron, and steel. Early in his practice, however, metal became his preferred medium—an interest possibly influenced by his time working at the General Motors Styling Division. One early sculpture, Figure with Shield, composed of welded machine parts resembling a dancing figure holding a shield, received an award at the Florida State Fair in 1965 and was praised by critics as “an impressive piece… purposefully and skillfully assembled.”
Later that same year, Cox received one of his most notable public commissions: Talisman (1965), an eight-foot copper-clad welded-steel sculpture designed for the lobby of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation building in Washington, D.C.
Though Cox enjoyed critical success, he largely avoided commercial gallery representation, which limited widespread recognition of his work. Yet his impact as an educator and artist was significant. Cox taught for more than three decades in the art department at the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he worked alongside fellow artists Dr. Donald Saff, George Holzer and Kenneth Elliott—artists who would later join Cox in establishing creative roots in Easton and across the Eastern Shore.
Organized by the Academy Art Museum, A Fragile Symbiosis is presented in conjunction with the museum’s exhibition Rauschenberg 100: New Connections, highlighting the deep artistic relationships that formed among artists who came to call the Eastern Shore home.
“Curating this exhibition offered me an opportunity to engage deeply with Ernest Cox’s sculptural practice,” said Brian J. Lang, Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Academy Art Museum. “His extraordinary ability to transform disparate materials into cohesive and compelling forms is truly remarkable and unique. Whether visitors knew Ernie personally, or are encountering his work for the first time, I hope this exhibition brings renewed attention to the sophistication of his craftsmanship and his lasting contribution to the artistic community of the Eastern Shore.”
A Fragile Symbiosis: The Sculpture of Ernest Cox is on view through May 24, 2026, in the Spitaleri and Calvert Galleries at the Academy Art Museum.
About the Academy Art Museum
Founded in 1958, the Academy Art Museum is the Eastern Shore’s leading cultural institution, accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It combines the dynamism of an ambitious contemporary art museum with the intimacy of a community space. With five working studios, a 24,000 sq. ft. facility, and innovative programs including a robust artist-in-residence initiative and major commissions for its soaring atrium, the Museum is a destination for artists, scholars, collectors, and families alike. For more information, visit academyartmuseum.org.