Stories of Community: Self-Taught Art From the Hill Collection

May 29, 2010 – August 23, 2010
Edward E. and Jane B. Ford Gallery

This exhibition includes thirty-four works of visionary art by sixteen artists from various southeastern states.  Some of the artists included in Stories of Community are Tennessee’s Georgia and Henry Speller; Georgia’s Archie Byron; Alabama’s Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Mose Tolliver, and Thornton Dial; Florida’s O. L. Samuels and Mary Proctor; and Mississippi’s Mary T. Smith.

Drawn from the larger collection of Lou and Calynne Hill donated to the Mary Brogan Museum, this exhibition evidences the vitality and originality of these important folk artists. None of the artists in this exhibition studied art in any traditional fashion, but responded to their personal experiences by creating highly idiosyncratic art that defies categorization.

Visit The Mary Brogan Museum's website for a full online catalog of the Hill Collection and other American Folk Art in The Mary Brogan Museum's collection. 

Reis's Pieces: The Paintings of Tom Reis

May 21, 2010 - August 29, 2010
Gary R. Libby Entry Court

The museum is pleased to present the paintings of Tom Reis, a nationally known illustrator whose art has appeared with stories in Time magazine, Rolling Stone, the Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, Business Week, Smart Money, and other prestigious publications. A 1988 Stetson University graduate, Reis began work as an art director at JP Morgan Chase in New York City, shortly after receiving his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1993. Two years later, he began working as an illustrator for a wide range of nationally-known publications. His corporate clients have included MGM, Dupont, and Colgate. Throughout his career, Reis has also worked as a fine artist, producing work with all the refinement that one would expect from a classically trained painter. His paintings are represented in numerous permanent and private collections throughout the United States. Tom Reis currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia. 

To view more of Reis's art, please visit his fine art website at www.thomasreisfineart.com or his illustration website at www.thomasreis.com.

Got Feathers?

 Long - term display
Karshan Center of Graphic Art

This new exhibition features not only the most beautiful Audubon bird engravings in the MOAS collection, but also selections of the porcelain bird artistry of Edward Boehm, examples of rare feathers, and serious and amusingly lighthearted bird-related objects.  For example, the exhibit includes a recreation of an American Indian Chieftain’s  headdress used in the Hollywood movie epic Dances with Wolves alongside a showgirl’s  finery from the 1930’s; an engraving from Diderot’s 1763 Encyclopedie contrasts with a modern-day Shoe cartoon.

 
The Armory

Long - term display

Mary Louis Marzullo Gallery

Antique firearms, weapons and armor from the collections donated to MOAS by Kenneth Worcester Dow and Mary Mohan Dow in 1998, these spectacular artifacts have never been exhibited before. 

This includes the artistry of some of the most famous gunsmiths and weapon makers from the medieval period to the 19th century illustrated through a wide range of finely designed and decorated muskets, rifles and pistols, lions-head daggers, war axes, knives, sabers and straight-edge swords together with a rare late 17th century inlaid German crossbow.

The repeat performance of this exhibit is explained by its universal popularity and the many regrets expressed when last May’s “no-name” storm caused the West Wing’s closure.