Free Admission on Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day

The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art will open its doors free of charge to all Museum Day ticket holders on Saturday, September 21, 2019, as part of Smithsonian magazine’s 15th annual Museum Day, a national celebration of boundless curiosity in which participating museums emulate the free admission policy at the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington D.C.-based museums.

Museum Day represents a nationwide commitment to access, equity and inclusion. Over 450,000 tickets were downloaded for last year’s event, and Museum Day 2019 is expected to attract more museumgoers than ever before.

This year, Museum Day will celebrate the Smithsonian Year of Music, an institution-wide initiative celebrating the Smithsonian’s vast musical collections and resources through 365 days of music-related programming. Music is not only a reflection of human creativity and innovation but also a key method of communication and cross-cultural exchange and understanding. The Smithsonian Year of Music crosses disciplines, bringing together music-related resources in art, history, culture, science, and education.

Get your ticket here!

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Ohr Fest Video Premiere Unveils Limited VIP Beer Stein

Ohr Fest 2019 is fast approaching! Admission is free but those participating in the beer tasting will need to purchase a wristband. With a wristband, donors receive unlimited 3 oz. taster pours. VIP level wristbands also come with our annual limited-edition beer stein made right here in our City of Biloxi Center for Ceramics by Ceramics Director Charlie Mabry. VIP purchasers will also enjoy three full pours of beers of their choice during the festival along with their taster pours. The limited-edition beer steins can be seen in the new Ohr Fest promotional video below.

The festival will offer a diverse array of arts and craft vendors, craft beer tents, a homebrewers’ competition, live music, a ceramics throw-down between the coast’s finest potters, a whacky ceramics-based performance by the Mad Potter of Bay St. Louis Steve Barney, and some of the Southeast’s most sought after food trucks—all on the beautiful Biloxi Town Green.

The cost of admission is free, but access to the beer tents will require purchasing an armband:

General Admission armbands: $35
Buyers will receive unlimited 3 oz. beer pours.

VIP armbands: $60
Buyers will receive a commemorative ceramic beer stein(a $40 value)
Three full 16 oz. pours.
Unlimited 3 oz. pours.

*Only 100 VIP armbands will be available for purchase.

This year’s festival thanks Premier sponsors TD Ameritrade and the City of Biloxi. Support also provided by Coca-Cola, F.E.B. Distributing, The Harrison County Board of Supervisors, Lazy Magnolia Brewery, The Mississippi Arts Commission, Mitchell Distributing, and Yeastie Beastie Homebrew Supplies. Contact community@georgeohr.org to get involved as a vendor or sponsor.

Get your wristbands now and join us on the Biloxi Town Green on October 5th from 11 am to 8 pm!

 

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John McDonald Digital Mural on View at OOMA

The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art is proud to announce that Gulfport-native painter John McDonald’s 12’ x 6’ digital painting “Shore Birds” is now on view in the Mississippi Sound Welcome Center.

“Shore Birds” is the result of more than 10 years of work that serves to highlight the roots of painting as a process rather than relying on the power behind Photoshop to produce a digital painting. McDonald began the work on canvas and transferred the work to digital via a 6-step process which he will discuss at OOMA’s next opening reception for new exhibits on September 26th from 5 to 7:30 pm. The artist will speak at 6 pm.

John McDonald was born in Bay St. Louis and received his BFA from The University of Georgia in 1976. He received his MFA from Yale University in 1978. McDonald went on to work in art preparation and handling for the Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim Museum of Art, The Rothko Art Foundation, The Dia Art Foundation, and Pace Gallery in New York before returning to the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1985. Throughout his career as a working artist, he has won a long list of grants and awards including the Ford Foundation Grant, Southern Arts Federation Grant, the Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant, and more. His work can be found in the Mississippi Museum of Art, Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, and seen at Heriad-Cimino Gallery, and The Painting Center, New York.

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“The World Through My Eyes” Program Receives Funding, Brings Student Work to Museum

The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art has received a grant from Wells Fargo to continue a new program that promotes art literacy in South Mississippi schools.

 

“The World Through My Eyes” began this year as a collaborative project between the museum and school districts in Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson counties in South Mississippi. It brings professional artists into a participating classroom to guide the creation of student artwork and then installs student artwork as a three-month exhibit at the museum.

 

The goal of “The World Through My Eyes” is to expose school children to the arts and invite them to the museum through experiential art education. The program is open to classrooms from kindergarten through 12th grades and gives teachers and students the tools to connect fields of study to the arts.

 

Funding from Wells Fargo allows this program to expand and benefit more students around the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This grant will help to cover the costs of art supplies, artist compensation and installation for the exhibit.

 

During the first collaboration, artists Rebecca Alston and Allison Stewart worked with 20 fourth- and fifth-grade gifted students from West Wortham Elementary and Middle School. The artists and students created work that explored the importance of protecting and valuing their local environment on land and in the sea.

 

The first exhibit for “The World Through My Eyes” opened May 17 and remains on view.

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OOMA Membership Drive Enters Final Stretch

OOMA’s Annual Membership Drive ends on September 1st. This is the last chance to take advantage of the 20% discount on membership levels available on our website. Here are 5 great reasons to become a museum member today!

Invitations to museum events

Members get the first chance to opt-in to our mailing lists for breaking news about our opening receptions and after-hours events ranging from free and fun community events on the museum grounds, to extravagant parties off-campus, to our annual Horn Island Expedition (a 4-day camping expedition dedicated to tapping into the artistic spirit by communing with nature and fellow artists).

Free admission to our Annual Member Party

Members are invited as VIPs to our annual member party with a plus one for a friend. This year, the Mad Potter Block Party was a huge hit that involved free BBQ plates, artsy activities, and our very own George Ohr riding into our Mississippi Sound Welcome Center on an Indian Motorcycle – just as he would have back in his prime!

10% Discount in the Museum Store

The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art store sells the work of local ceramicists and artists from across the Southeastern United States. There is always something new showing up on the store shelves and as a member, you’ll receive 10% off your orders online and in the store. Our online selection will be expanding to include art, books, and clothing that you can have shipped straight to your house if you don’t have the time to stop in while you’re visiting.

10% Discount on Classes & Workshops

The museum’s City of Biloxi Center for Ceramics features classes for all ages! As a member, you’ll take advantage of 10% off all classes and workshops available in our world-class pottery studio featuring 10+ pottery wheels, 2 electric kilns, and a full-size gas kiln capable of firings up to cone 10.

10% Facility Event Rentals

Members get first dibs and a 10% discount on facility event rental reservations. Make your next party, wedding, bridal shower, work convention or meeting into the talk of the town when you bring your guests to the Frank Gehry-designed campus of the Ohr-O’Keefe museum of art!

 

Those are just 5 of the many reasons to become a member at OOMA. Along with those reasons you’ll become a supporter and an integral part of a community of support for the legacy of George Ohr and our art community as a whole on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Get your membership today and become a part of The Mad Potter Society. Join in on the madness now!

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Zach Harris Opening Reception Draws a Crowd

Zach Harris’s Opening Reception was this Thursday, August 1st, and drew a crowd of around 100 people. The gathering was planned as a celebration of Harris’s sculptures as they interact with the museum’s Frank Gehry-designed-buildings and the Live Oaks on the campus. Harris was present to speak with museum members and visitors about the work. Harris’s artist statement speaks of his intentions with the body of work:

Inorganic Accoutrements

Zachary Harris was born and resides in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Mississippi State University in 2011 and a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the University of Georgia in 2018. In 2012, Harris was awarded a commission by Jackson County for a work to be permanently placed on the campus of the Jackson County General Services Complex in Pascagoula, MS.

Harris has a passion for framing his influence of nature and for the well-designed. He views his sculptures as archetypes in choreographed space. His works project themselves form the ground with a force-like entelechy. Etching themselves into the presence of the viewer. His background includes dabbling in subjects of land conservation, environmental system design specific to park design, watershed management systems, landscape architecture, and Design Thinking.

Using his affinity for tectonics, Harris invites participants and viewers to experience a familiar space in a new way. He believes his objects to enhance a view while more importantly enhancing the experience of a viewer.

The works are less about their title or what he was thinking and are more about projecting an opportunity for a viewer to foster an interior dialogue of which his motives become constructively and divergently separate from the artist and his vision for the viewer. It is here that Harris manipulates dense inert materials to balance with environment freeing them from finite definition.

As with all opening receptions at the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, admission was free for every exhibit on view during the event. Wine and light hors d’oeuvres were served. A welcome new addition to the event was Makin’ Groceries, a new local catering service. They provided shrimp tacos with yum yum slaw that were an incredible hit, selling out just before the event concluded. Thank you to everyone that came, and be sure to mark the next opening reception on your calendar. More info on new exhibits is coming later this month!

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Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art Re-Opens July 16th

After closing early on July 12th and continuing the closure through Saturday due to severe weather surrounding Hurricane Barry, The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art returned to regular business hours on July 16th. Hurricane Barry brought no damage or flooding to the Frank Gehry designed campus in Biloxi, MS. The storm did cause the rescheduling of George Ohr’s 162nd Birthday Celebration and The Mad Potter Block Party to this upcoming Saturday, July 20th. Blackwater Brass was originally scheduled to play the Mad Potter Block Party but, due to scheduling conflicts, will be replaced by Sicily Swing.

The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art will celebrate the 162nd birthday of its namesake, George E. Ohr, on Saturday, July 20, 2019, from 10 am to 5 pm. Nicknamed the “Mad Potter of Biloxi,” Ohr’s legacy lives on 100 years after his passing in the wild and wacky STEAMpunk Pottery Project performance by Bay St. Louis artist Steve Barney. Featuring “The World’s Most Amazing Pottery Machine,” Barney will hoist himself in the air and throw pots upside down. Moreover, Steve will use his head to mold and shape clay vessels, designed to inspire students and integrate Art with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Enjoy FREE museum admission, FREE cake, FREE refreshments, and exciting interactive art demonstrations with Steve.  The “California Taco Shop” food truck will also be available.

The Mad Potter Block Party takes place later that day from 4 pm to 8 pm, co-hosted by O’Keefe Financial Services, Museum members and O’Keefe Financial Members are admitted FREE! We recommend that members bring a plus one who would be interested in museum membership. Non-members are welcome with $10 admission. Attendees will enjoy a BBQ featuring two 50 lb pigs with sides provided as well! Become a member now to begin enjoying the benefits of 20% off during our annual membership drive! The Block Party will host a few surprises, including a possible appearance by George Ohr himself, made possible in part by Hattiesburg Cycles.

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OOMA Membership discounted by 20% for July and August

SUMMER MEMBERSHIP DRIVE Going on NOW!

Become a member or renew your membership to the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art during July or August and receive a 20% discount on all membership levels.

6 Great Reasons to Become a  Member of The Mad Potter Society:

  • Invitations to all exhibition openings and events.
  • Free admission to our Annual Member Party. Become a member before or during our July 12th  “Mad Potter Block Party”  and you’ll get all-you-can-eat BBQ from 4 pm – 8 pm during our Membership Pig Roast.
  • A subscription to the museum e-newsletter (weekly on Tuesdays).
  • A subscription to the quarterly museum magazine (due to launch in 2020).
  • 10% discount on all museum store purchases, classes and workshops, and event rentals on the museum campus.
  • 50% off all guest admissions.

Your support as an OOMA Mad Potter Society member helps to ensure that this amazing museum will remain a vital source of inspiration for generations to come as well as a continuing source of pride for all Gulf Coast residents. Purchase a membership today and become a Benefact-Ohr of the arts!

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Mad Potter Block Party Offers BBQ, Music, Museum Membership

The Mad Potter Block Party member appreciation event co-hosted by O’Keefe Financial Services kicks off on Friday, July 12th, from 4 pm to 8 pm. The party starts at the end of George Ohr’s 162nd Birthday Celebration and is meant to bring members together in support of the museum. Members are asked to invite a friend that would be interested in becoming a member. Members and their guests will be treated to all-you-can-eat BBQ with two 50 lb roasted pigs, a (foam) brick toss game that offers a chance to win membership and other prizes, OOMA Trivia, the funktastic sounds of Blackwater Brass, and many other activities! BBQ plates will be $10 per plate for non-members.

Rumor has it that the event will also be attended by George Ohr himself, recently returned from a long hiatus on the other side of the River Styx. Patrons are asked not to inquire with George about what awaits in the afterlife as it seems he can’t remember very well himself. Please be patient with George while he re-acclimates himself with not just the living world, but the world of technology with which he now finds himself surrounded.

Museum memberships are available via the museum’s newly redesigned website georgeohr.org. Members and non-members can also RSVP at this link.

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Celebrate George Ohr’s 162nd Birthday with Free Admission and Activities

The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art will celebrate the 162nd birthday of its namesake George E. Ohr with free general admission on Friday, July 12, 2019 from 10 am to 5 pm. Nicknamed the “Mad Potter of Biloxi,” Ohr’s legacy lives on 100 years after his passing in the wild and wacky STEAMpunk Pottery Project performance by Bay St. Louis artist Steve Barney. Featuring “The World’s Most Amazing Pottery Machine,” Barney will hoist himself in the air and throw pots upside down. Moreover, Steve will use his head to mold and shape clay vessels, designed to inspire students and integrate art with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Enjoy free museum admission, cake, refreshments, food trucks, and exciting interactive art demonstrations and activities with Steve all day.

Exhibitions on view during the event will be Visionary Bayou Technician by Steve Shepard in the IP Casino Resort Spa Exhibitions Gallery and Southern Witness by John Barnes in the Beau Rivage Casino Gallery of African American Art.

Steve Shepard’s Visionary Bayou Technician, in the words of the artist, “speak(s) a visionary language of deep ecology inspired by the natural history of the northern Gulf of Mexico and its disintegration at the hands of developers investing in sprawling overpopulation and exploitation.” The artist includes among his influences the art of Walter Anderson, the Post-Impressionists, and the Chicago Imagists. Steve Shepard’s education includes a BFA from the University of South Alabama in 1977 and a summer at the Santa Fe Workshops of Contemporary Art in 1976.

The works collected in Southern Witness by John Barnes are painted wooden assemblages inspired by the historic cycle of race-positioning in relation to power and servitude in the contemporary South. The works use a variety of surfaces from lush, colorfully painted surfaces to heavily-grained bare plywood. John Barnes received his MFA in Sculpture from The Memphis College of Art in 1999. He now works out of New Orleans and is currently an artist-in-residence at the Joan Mitchell Center.

 

Become a member on Ohr’s Birthday and stick around for our Mad Potter Block Party member appreciation event presented by O’Keefe Financial Services from 4 pm to 8 pm. Non-member admission is $10 and we’ll have an appearance by George Ohr, a BBQ including two roasted pigs, and fun for all!

 

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