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!