Ohr--O'keefe Museum In Biloxi

[Marcia Selsor]

Driving back from the East coast we stopped in Biloxi to visit the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum which houses a collection of George Ohr's work, plus exhibitions of Mississippi Artists as well as pieces by Jun Kaneko in the permanent collection. In 2012 there will be more that 200 additional Ohr pieces displayed. I have always admired his ability to manipulate extremely thin forms.

The first million dollar donor had the title O'Keefe added as a dedication to his wife who was an artist. The museum is a collection of buildings designed by Frank Gehry who was impressed by the huge live oaks on the campus. The buildings are dented where Katrina blew a casino barge into them. Things have been repaired. There were no pots lost during Katrina.

I have admired Ohr's works for decades and have seen them in person only twice. So this was a real treat. He was truly ahead of his time. After negative criticism of his work, he packed it up and stored it in a warehouse. It was discovered in 1968. The opening of the entire Ohr collection and the new education center will happen in 2012. It will be an even more fantastic museum complex.

Marcia

[Mr. X]

When I was in "Nawlins" two years ago they had a little special exhibit of his pots at the Ogden museum.

A few didn't do anything for me, but a couple looked as if they had been made yesterday, they had such a contemporary look to them. After seeing his pots in books and magazines for years, it was a real treat to finally see some "in person."

What else was kind of nice was that I didn't even know they were there, we rounded the corner and there they were, so it was a very pleasant surprise.