Museum Prepares for a Busy Summer Season

Preparator Robert Russell helps to install "Bloom Where You're Planted"

With Memorial Day just around the corner, summer has officially arrived. The Georgia Museum of Art has several events and exhibitions planned over the next few months to help everyone in Athens enjoy their summer. Visitors can escape the heat and come spend the day at the museum, where they’ll find a collection that suits a wide range of interests. We’ll also participate in the National Endowment for the Arts’ Blue Star Museums program once again, which runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day. This program offers free admission to active-duty military personnel and their families. As we already have free admission for everyone, we’re extending a 10 percent discount in the Museum Shop to those folks.

Upcoming Exhibitions

The museum has a few exciting new exhibitions this summer, which are diverse in content and offer three distinct collections. This past Friday, “Bloom Where You’re Planted: The Collection of Deen Day Sanders” opened, highlighting one of the most important Georgia-based collections of American art. The exhibition will be on view until July 29, and features a wide range of art including porcelain, paintings and furniture.

On June 30, “Central to Their Lives: Southern Women Artists in the Johnson Collection” will open, allowing visitors to view art spanning the decades between the late 1890s and early 1960s. This show will examine the challenges these artists faced in the traditionally conservative region during a period of change for women in the social, cultural and political spheres. The show will be on view until September 23.

Beginning July 21, “One Heart, One Way: The Journey of a Princely Art Collection” will debut, introducing a collection of Russian fine and decorative arts from ca. 1660 to 1952 to the public. With a storied past and long journey, this exhibition announces the survival of paintings that had been thought lost and the existence of other highly significant, hitherto unknown works of art belonging to the same collection. This show will run until January 6, 2019.

To see a list of all of our current and upcoming exhibitions, please see our website.

Summer Events

In addition to our upcoming exhibitions, the museum is also offering a number of free events open to the public all summer long. Next Thursday, May 31, at 7 p.m., our Museums on Film series kicks off with “Night at the Museum.” Other films in the series include “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” on June 7 and “The Thomas Crown Affair” on June 14.

We will also be hosting a number of Family Day events and Toddler Tuesdays. Family Day is a great chance for kids of all ages to create their own art after viewing works from our collections. Toddler Tuesday is a free, 40-minute program designed for families with children ages 18 months to 3 years. This program includes a tour, story time in the galleries and an art activity just for the little ones.

Finally, our next Museum Mix party will be on June 28 from 8 – 11 p.m. This late-night event will feature a live DJ (Kurt Wood this time) and free refreshments for all visitors.

For a full list of all of our events, you can view our calendar, and we look forward to seeing you this summer at the museum!